PURPOSES OF NEEDS ASSESSMENT
New Mexico Legal Aid, like other federally funded legal services programs, conducts periodic needs assessments so as to be able to focus its limited resources on the most pressing legal needs of those in poverty. It has just completed a statewide legal needs assessment begun in March 2008. The results of this assessment should prove of value as well to local judicial district pro bono committees as they plan their pro bono projects, maximizing the scarce pro bono resource by directing it toward the greatest needs. Below is a summary of the information compiled in that process.
ASSESSMENT PROCESS
The general assessment process drew from surveys of three segments of the statewide community: judges, lawyers, and court personnel; social services providers; and low-income persons. The surveys were made available in English and Spanish. (Some organizations assisted persons of limited literacy by reading the surveys to them.) Some 1700 surveys were distributed statewide, to bench and bar through pro bono committees and local bar associations; to non-profit organizations and social services agencies that work directly with the poor; and to individuals who sought or received services from those agencies and organizations (state agencies, churches, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, housing authorities, community action agencies, Head Start programs, disability services, Catholic Charities, etc.). Incorporated into the client-category survey was a separable survey of migrant farmworkers, which will be discussed at the end of this report.
All three survey segments were asked which legal problems they believed were the most critical to low-income populations in the district. The low-income respondents were asked not only what they perceived to be the most critical legal problems of the poor, but also which kinds of legal problems the respondents themselves had experienced during the past two years. This second aspect of the assessment is significant, first, in that it provides a snapshot of the incidence of legal problems in the lives of the poor. (The average statewide is 4.3, slightly higher than the national average according to American Bar Association estimates.) Second, it offers a "reality check" on general community perceptions of problems among this population. For example, it is widely believed that home foreclosures, bankruptcy, access to health care, and predatory lending are the most significant problems among the poor because these issues have been widely discussed in the media during the past two years. The assessment compares actual incidence with perceived frequency/ severity of the problem in issue.
It should be noted that most of the agencies and organizations whose clients responded to surveys are prohibited from serving persons whose immigration status is undocumented. Thus, it is likely that the final assessment significantly under-reports legal problems related directly to immigration.
DISPARATE PERSPECTIVES ON THE PROBLEMS
The collection of information from three separate segments of population is useful in two ways. Generally, it provides a fuller picture of legal needs. At the same time, it shows that the community of judges and lawyers, a group that sees issues that surface primarily in the courts, has a limited understanding of the scope and type of legal needs experienced by the poverty population. An example of the disconnect: Surveys for each segment contained 42 problems typical to low-income persons, along with an "other" category. In the Second Judicial District, judges and court personnel added six more categories, including probate and civil restraining orders, that low-income persons and agencies that serve them did not designate in any district. In the Second District surveys, in fact, there was a total of 17—11 on the survey itself--legal issues that bench and bar pegged as most important for low-income people, issues that low-income people and agencies did not "vote for" at all. The Second District's profile is similar to those of other, smaller districts.
WHO RESPONDED?
Survey responses came from all 13 judicial districts: 113 members of the bench, bar, and court services in both district and metro/magistrate courts and in tribal court systems; 77 agencies and organizations that serve low-income persons; and 410 low-income persons. (Approximately 58 more "client" responses had to be disregarded as invalid because respondents did not follow the directions in the surveys, and extrapolating from their responses with any assurance of consistency was not possible. In some cases, respondents in all three groups listed more than five issues as the "top five" issues; these responses are recorded.)
WHICH PROBLEMS ARE MOST IMPORTANT?
According to the combined responses from agencies, bench, bar, and low-income respondents, the top five needs in descending order were:
1. domestic violence
2. child support
3. lack of affordable housing
4. Social Security disability and SSI
5. Medicaid
Individual districts (with smaller population samples, and so inherently less representative) showed some variation in priority. Examples:
Second Judicial District: lack of affordable housing; food stamps; domestic violence; Medicaid; child support and SSD/SSI (tied)
Third Judicial District: lack of affordable housing; family violence; child support; Medicaid; divorce
Fifth Judicial District: lack of affordable housing; family violence; child support; SSd/SSI diability; Medicaid
Sixth Judicial District: child support; lack of affordable housing, Medicaid, food stamps (tie); abusive debt collection practices, access to health care (tie); SSD/SSI disability, utilities, subsidized housing, divorce (tie); children's health programs, paternity (tie)*
Eighth Judicial District: family violence; lack of affordable housing; child support and SSD/SSI (tied); access to health care; Medicaid
Native American Nations (no low-income survey responses; court and agency only): child custody; domestic violence, child support (tie); repossession/garnishment; civil rights of tribal members, SSD/SSI disability, adult guardianship, access to mental health services (tie); lack of affordable housing, predatory lending (tie)
*Note: The Sixth Judicial District conducted its own survey, listing a much narrower range of legal problems and limiting its questions to legal problems people had experienced at some time in their lives. That district's survey went only to persons who identified themselves as "low-income". Respondents to that survey indicated that they had needed legal help with family law matters (21%); consumer issues (20%); housing matters (14%); employment (11%); estate planning (12%); and "other". The NMLA survey reflects only a small number of responses from the Sixth District, and does not incorporate the responses from the survey conducted by the Sixth District.
Grouping the legal problems by broad subject-matter category provides this breakdown in the NMLA assessment:
Family law generally (seven subtopics): including domestic violence, divorce, custody and visitation, paternity, grandparent rights, guardianship, and child support—
595 "votes"
Housing generally (five subtopics): including affordability, public and subsidized housing, tenant rights, land sale purchases, and housing discrimination—
420 "votes"
Health generally (five subtopics): including Medicaid, Medicare, children's health programs, access to health care, and mental health services—
443 "votes"
Public benefits and entitlements (four subtopics): including TANF, Social Security disability benefits and SSI, veterans' benefits, and food stamps (but excluding Medicaid and Medicare)—
255 "votes"
Employment generally(five subtopics): including unpaid wages,mínimum wage violations, farm working conditions, unemployment benefits, and employment discrimination—
244 "votes"
Consumer generally (six subtopics): including unfair debt collection, repossession and garnishment, unfair trade practices, foreclosure, student loans, and predatory lending—
259 "votes"
Civil rights generally (excluding housing and employment discrimination)(seven subtopics): rights of persons with disabilities; special education in schools; public school discrimination; pólice misconduct, immigration, adult guardianship, and rights of tribal members—
300 "votes" (Note: This number includes 27 "votes" for pólice misconduct in Bernalillo County, a number that, as a percentage, is more than 10 times higher than anywhere else in the state.)
Next ten most frequently cited categories, in order of importance, statewide:
6. custody/visitation
7. access to health care
8. Medicare
9. divorce
10. mental health services
11. food stamps
12. employment discrimination
13. unlawful debt collection practices
14. utility problems
15. tenant rights
WHICH PROBLEMS ARE MOST COMMON?
Who has had the kinds of legal problems described in the needs survey? By percentage of low-income respondents (boldface appears where issue affected more than 15% of respondents):
· Affordable housing—22%
· Family violence—16%
· Child support—16%
· Medicaid—24%
· Divorce—11%
· Special education—9%
· Food stamps—24%
· custody/visitation—10%
· unfair debt collection—18%
· Medicare—13%
· Bankruptcy—6%
· Utilities—19%
· Social Security disability/SSI—20%
· Disability rights—13%
· unpaid wages—10%
· tenant rights—9%
· paternity—4%
· mental health services—12%
· employment discrimination—16%
· mínimum wage vilatons—6%
· student loans—7%
· subsidized housing—11%
· land-sale contracts—6%
· rights of tribal members—3%
· government health insurance programs for children—4%
· repossession/garnishment—7%
· access to health care—17%
· veterans' benefits—6%
· home foreclosures—3%
· housing discrimination—8%
· immigration—1%
· public housing—13%
· earned income tax credit—7%
· other tax issues—8%
· farm work conditions—12%
· predatory lending—5%
· pólice misconduct—10% (skewed by Bernalillo County results at 24%)
· unfair sales practices—5%
· public education discrimination—lower than 1%
· adult guardianship—3%
· lack of municipal services—8%
· bankruptcy—6%
· unemployment benefits—9%
Spanish-speaking respondents reported that they experienced employment discrimination about twice as often as did English-speaking respondents. Persons who reported they had not been paid wages they were due were three times as likely to be Spanish-speaking.
SPECIAL PROBLEM CATEGORY: MIGRANT FARM WORK
This group of respondents (11 agency/organization respondents; 17 low-income persons) was almost entirely Spanish-speaking. The profile of legal problems they experience is markedly different from that that the general low-income population sees. For this group, the issues in order of importance are:
· employment discrimination; working conditions
· unemployment insurance benefits
· minimum wage
· immigration
· Social Security disability/SSI
· unpaid wages
· food stamps
· access to medical care
· Medicaid
· police misconduct
· (tie) government-sponsored programs for children's health, utilities, student loans, housing discrimination, lack of workers' compensation coverage, public housing, affordable housing, earned income tax credit, other tax issues
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