The Santa Barbara City Council unanimously approved plans to extend funding for the Legal Aid Foundation’s “right to counsel” program for at least one additional year, giving the city time to explore a more permanent version of the program, which provides legal representation to low-income households facing eviction.
In December 2022, the city set aside a $250,000 for the one-year pilot program, giving the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County money to hire an additional attorney and support staff that would allow the nonprofit organization to take on at least 80 more cases.
Housing and Human Services Manager Laura Dubbels provided a brief report on the first eight months of the program, which served 50 households as of the end of March 2025. These 50 cases, according to data provided by the Legal Aid Foundation, included individuals on Section 8 vouchers, families with children, and Spanish-speaking households. All of the households were either very low- or extremely low-income, with a majority earning less than a third of the area median income. In total, the program helped more than 120 residents, 32 of whom were children.
The city set a target of at least 80 households in the first year, though Legal Aid had trouble recruiting an attorney when the program officially began in August 2024. The organization wasn’t able to hire a third full-time attorney and bilingual support staff until at least September 2024, when they began to take on additional cases.
So far, the program has used less than half of its original budget, spending just over $108,000 of the $250,000 the city set aside back in 2022. Legal Aid will be taking on a fourth full-time attorney for the program next week, giving the organization enough staffing to meet the expected goal of 80 cases by the end of September 2025.
Legal Aid Executive Director Jennifer Smith said the program helped close 20 cases in the first few months, returning over $133,000 worth of settlement payments, relocation assistance, returned security deposits, waived rent, or savings on what would have been illegal rent increases. “Access to counsel provides a really important return on investment,” Smith said.
Councilmember Meagan Harmon said she “wholeheartedly supported making the pilot program permanent,” though she said she wanted the city to use a data-driven approach to deciding how the permanent program would work.
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon agreed that the city could use “more rigorous data report” on the program, and she recommended that the city continue a “status quo” level of funding — which would be about $125,000 from the city’s general fund — to allow the pilot program to continue for one more year while the city began a public process for the permanent program. The “request for procurement” (RFP) process would open up competition to any providers to submit a bid, though Legal Aid would likely be the leading contender to become the permanent provider.
The City Council approved the plan in a 6-0 vote.
