Columbus Dispatch: Columbus funds legal representation for tenants in eviction court, hopes to save money
By: Jordan Laird
Six months after supporting the right to legal representation for those facing eviction, and two years after funding a pilot project, the Columbus City Council voted to add some permanency to the effort.
The hope is that the program reduces evictions and ultimately saves the city money by decreasing reliance on services like homeless shelters, according to Council President Shannon Hardin.
Council voted unanimously on May 12 to authorize about $1.5 million for Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio to continue a right to counsel program. The money will pay for attorneys for city residents who fall below the federal poverty line and have a child in the home.
"Last year, this region saw about 25,000 evictions. If you think about that, that's enough to fill Nationwide Arena," Council President Shannon Hardin said while speaking to media ahead of the council meeting.
Kate McGarvey, the executive director of Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, said this program is crucial given rising evictions, rising homelessness and Columbus' affordable housing crisis. McGarvey said attorneys can help tenants fight evictions or at least secure a softer landing, like getting more time from a landlord to move out.
"This funding allows us to provide services upstream before someone becomes homeless," McGarvey. "The highest proportion being evicted are families with children, often times single mothers with children. The funding mirrors the largest group of people going through this process."
Legal Aid also gets funding from other grants to serve more clients than just parents, McGarvey said. Most people who go through eviction court are eligible for Legal Aid's services.
This move by the council comes a week after the Community Shelter Board announced the results of its annual "point-in-time" count, which found more than 2,500 people experiencing homelessness in Franklin County, an increase of 7.4% from 2024.
East Side resident Meegan O’Neal, 56, told The Dispatch that Legal Aid's help last fall was a godsend for her and her family, which includes her 10-year-old nephew and 15-year-old niece.
"If it wasn’t for Legal Aid, me and my children would be evicted. We would be homeless," O'Neal said.
Legal Aid attorneys won her case in eviction court after her landlord incorrectly alleged she did not pay her apartment rent, according to O'Neal.
According to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, Columbus is one of 19 cities, five states and two counties that have passed a right to counsel in eviction court law. The Columbus City Council passed its ordinance in December but did not authorize funding at the time. This ordinance represents the council passing money for the program.
Columbus previously gave $1.5 million to Legal Aid in 2023 in a pilot program for right to counsel. A study of the pilot commissioned by the council found that for every dollar spent on providing counsel in eviction court, there is an estimated $4 in economic benefit due to a decreased reliance on other assistance programs like homeless shelters.
For the first time, Columbus is adding a line item to the mayor's budget for the right to counsel in eviction court, which should make this funding more reliable for Legal Aid in coming years, Hardin said. The budget includes a little under $1 million, and the council approved $500,000 in one-time emergency rental assistance dollars.
Right to counsel in eviction court is part of a package of "Housing for All" ordinances passed by the council since 2023. There isn't one solution to Columbus' housing affordability crisis, Hardin said.
Hardin said funding counsel allows Legal Aid to advise tenants on other housing rights passed by the council in recent years. This includes protection from discrimination based on a tenant's source of income and "pay to stay," meaning tenants can pay the back rent and fees they owe and use that as a defense in eviction court.