Some Akron residents at risk of eviction could soon receive free legal assistance from the city.
Officials introduced legislation to Akron City Council Monday to create a right-to-counsel program.
If approved, the city will work with Community Legal Aid and the United Way of Summit & Medina on a three-year pilot program to provide free legal representation to eligible residents who are seven days from eviction.
“We have an eviction problem here in Akron," said Joe Scalise, United Way's director of housing services. "We have to do something to mitigate harm in every instance, not only with the 3,000 people facing eviction each year, but to make the best use of the limited resources we that we have available to try to stop these things."
Those eligible include families at 100% of the poverty rate with minor children in the home, or seniors with disabilities at 100% of the poverty rate, according to the legislation.
Providing free legal counsel would help level the playing field in eviction court proceedings, Ken Mirkin of Community Legal Aid said during city council's budget committee meeting Monday.
“In 2024, there were 3,055 evictions filed in Akron Municipal Court," he said. "[In] 88% of those cases the plaintiff - so the landlord - had an attorney. Only 3.21% of cases ... the defendant had an attorney.”
Community Legal Aid will staff the program with a managing attorney, attorney and paralegal, Mirkin added.
Additionally, under the pilot program, people who don’t meet the poverty requirements would be connected with resources like rent payment assistance and mediation, said Annie McFadden, interim CEO of United Way of Summit & Medina.
“We will leverage every rental assistance tool that we have in our capacity," McFadden said during the budget meeting.
The program would use $750,000 already approved for this intent by city council in 2023, according to the legislation.
In 2023, the city received $5,335,558 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be used specifically for housing assistance, according to the legislation.
At that time, council unanimously passed a proposal to earmark $750,000 of that funding for a right-to-counsel program.
Community members and advocacy groups have called for a right-to-counsel program in Akron as homelessness continues to rise.
McFadden acknowledged that the initiative has been in development for years.
"This effort has definitely been a long time coming," McFadden said. "It takes a lot of coordination, right? A lot of prep, [and] some money."
Scalise added that the program could be beneficial to both tenants and landlords.
“We can also save some landlords the exorbitant cost of going through an eviction process to completion, and hopefully in the end, we can reduce the number of people having every item they own being set out on the curb," Scalise said.
Other Ohio cities have already implemented similar programs.
In July 2020, Cleveland became the fourth U.S. city to create a right-to-counsel program, according to the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Last year, Right-to-Counsel – Cleveland (RTC-C) assisted more than 3,000 people in 1,051 eviction cases, according to its 2024 executive summary.
Last year, Columbus enacted a right-to-counsel program.
The initiative was part of Mayor Shammas Malik’s 2023 mayoral campaign and a goal he’d initially hoped to accomplish in his first 100 days in office.
Earlier this month, Malik mentioned the forthcoming pilot program in his second State of the City address.
Akron plans to spend $250,000 each year for three-year pilot. City officials will vote on the legislation during the council meeting at 6:30 p.m.
