The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) recently awarded $700,000 of Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE), funds to the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) to support the work of five civil legal aid programs within its network. The funding will be used to provide legal advice, representation in court, and legal education to eligible households who are at risk of becoming homeless.

Each of these programs will work closely with community partners like the United Way, their local Area Agency on Aging, community advocacy and neighborhood groups, and other community-based organizations. Their work will undertake advocacy related to mobile home parks, eviction, utilities, and homeownership.

The legal aid programs receiving the funding are the Community Justice Project (CJP) in partnership with Southwest Pennsylvania Legal Services (SPLS) and North Penn Legal Services (NPLS), Community Legal Services (CLS) in partnership with Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA), Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (LASP), Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS), and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP).

CJP will provide direct legal services to residents of mobile home park communities. CLS will provide direct legal services to homeowners in Philadelphia. LASP will provide direct legal services to residents of mobile home and rental communities in Chester and Delaware Counties. NLS will provide direct legal services to residents in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence Counties. PULP will provide direct legal services to households across the state through their Utility Hotline. They will also identify systemic barriers to safe and affordable utility services that impact the ability of low-income households to remain stably housed.

PLAN is a coordinated system of nonprofit organizations that provide free civil legal services to Pennsylvanians. The mission of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network is to ensure equal access to justice so that Pennsylvanians can have representation when facing important civil legal concerns, affecting their safety, health, shelter and survival.