|
POVERTY LAW NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND GAP/OVERLAP ANALYSIS
(Click here to download)
As part of the Law Foundation’s Funding Strategies Review process, and in particular, in stage one of that process where community based poverty law advocacy groups were being assessed, the Law Foundation undertook to conduct a poverty law needs assessment and gap/overlap analysis.
The analysis included:
- Defining 14 regions of the province for analysis,
- Gathering information from a number of different sources to assess the types of legal problems that people in British Columbia needed assistance with,
- Gathering information on services available to address those needs, and
- Key informant interviews and focus groups were used to gather further information about needs and to validate existing information about areas of need for legal services and how these could best be addressed.
The needs assessment concludes that the top five areas of poverty law are:
- Welfare
- Housing
- Debt
- Workers’ Compensation
- CPP/OAP
The study further concludes that the four neediest regions of the province are:
- Northwest/Central Coast
- Mid-Island
- Fraser Valley
- Thompson/Nicola
The key results were:
a. Front line advocates are the key people in poverty law service delivery in the province. Poverty law clients need, wherever possible, to speak with someone in person about their problems and how to resolve them. Advocacy services are valuable and continue to be needed.
b. The most significant gap in the poverty law service delivery continuum is of lawyers doing poverty law work. While there are some lawyers doing poverty law still in the province, they are either providing summary advice (LawLINE) or doing test case work (Community Legal Assistance Society, Public Interest Advocacy Center). There is a significant need for more lawyers to be involved in contested hearings, doing Supreme Court work, including judicial reviews, and overseeing advocates work. A regional or centralized “hub” approach is worth investigating.
c. Geographic isolation is a significant issue. People living in rural parts of the province simply do not have the same access to justice as those in urban areas.
d. Lack of access to telephones and the Internet are issues for many poor people, as is literacy.
e. Family law matters are often intertwined with poverty law cases and, due to changes at LSS, family law is perhaps the most significant unmet legal need in the province at the current time. This area (where the Law Foundation funds three advocacy groups as well as miscellaneous projects) is part of stage two of the Funding Strategies Review process, and will be examined in more detail in the next year. In the meantime, LSS and the government are both reviewing Family Justice Services.
Copies of the Poverty Law Needs Assessment and Gap/Overlap Analysis prepared by the Law Foundation are available for download or by requesting a copy from our office.
(Click here to download)
|
