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Features of accessible legal assistance services

A major focus of this project was on the attributes of legal assistance services that increase accessibility for homeless people. These can be summarised as:

• an accessible location
• a less formal environment
• longer appointment times
• legal officers skilled in communicating with people with complex needs
• continuity of service
• timely legal assistance
• the capacity to develop and coordinate a response to a range of legal issues (in other words, case management)
• links to non-legal services (e.g. caseworker support, alcohol and drug treatment, housing and accommodation services)
• a focus on assisting and empowering clients to address their legal rights.⁹⁰

Below is a discussion of each of these features and how they may enhance the delivery of legal services for homeless people.

Accessible location of services/outreach services

The coordinator of the VPILCH HPLS argues:

… it is crucial that legal assistance for homeless people is accessible at locations that they already frequent for more basic subsistence needs. Such locations include soup kitchens, crisis accommodation facilities, housing services and domestic violence refuges.⁹¹

The specialist homeless person’s legal services and clinics in NSW are located in, or have very close links with, generalist welfare services. Administrative data provided by the existing homeless person’s legal services indicate that homeless clients will access these legal services in these locations.⁹² Issues related to the co-location of legal and other services are discussed in Chapter 7.

However, the needs of homeless people who do not or cannot access homeless person’s services must also be considered. Legal Aid NSW, CLCs, the Chamber Magistrates Service and LawAccess all have a role in reaching homeless and other disadvantaged people statewide. CLCs such as the WLS conduct outreach to health clinics in disadvantaged areas of Sydney as well as outreach in rural areas.⁹³ Legal Aid NSW also provides a statewide outreach program of legal advice and education to neighbourhood centres, court houses, and some Aboriginal legal services.⁹⁴ In 2004, the LCRC started providing a legal clinic through two Community Technology Centres in Western Sydney.⁹⁵ Given the numbers of homeless people living with family and friends, in boarding houses and caravan parks around the State, the value of providing legal assistance to homeless people in places that they can comfortably access cannot be underestimated.

Less formality

They’re almost frightened, very shy of talking to somebody that they think has a law degree or whatever so it’s very hard to get them engaged in the first place. And someone really down to earth that is prepared to be a little flexible is really important.⁹⁶

Some service providers interviewed for this project noted the need for legal services to be ‘less formal’, so that homeless people are not intimidated and deterred from using these services.⁹⁷ To this end, a number of legal services for different disadvantaged clients (e.g. homeless people, women, Aboriginal people) aim to provide a less formal atmosphere, in areas and/or services their client groups already visit. For example, the Violence Prevention Service (VPS) in Walgett is a legal and support service for local Aboriginal women, which is provided in a less formal atmosphere. The VPS is under the auspices of the WLS, and staffed by solicitors and court support workers. While the service does not specifically target the homeless, it serves a group of women who are vulnerable to homelessness—that is, women living with, and/or escaping from domestic violence.

One feature of the VPS is that clients can access the service for assistance other than legal advice. For example, the VPS is also an agent for Chrisco⁹⁸ and The Smith Family. Women can also simply come in for a chat and a cup of tea. This latter feature is considered particularly important by the service, for women who may be reticent to approach, or be seen to approach, a legal service. As the manager stated:

Women feel comfortable to come here. They can talk about any issues. Their kids are welcome. Women appreciate it.⁹⁹

Time to see clients

A number of legal service providers indicated in consultations for this study that homeless clients with complex needs require longer appointment times with their lawyer. They need time to tell their stories at their own pace and for the lawyer to talk them through their legal options. The LCRC observed:

… the lawyers at the LCRC have found that the clients do not have the ability to easily identify an issue. It takes time for the client to tell his or her story and it is only in listening to the entire story that the lawyer can understand the extent of the problem and in doing so put forward a viable solution to the client.

It would be the submission of the LCRC that for the clients coming to its centre, they require access to lawyers who will have the time to listen to their story. Poor levels of education of these clients combined with poor or no record keeping (their belongings are often carried in one bag) mean that sufficient time must be allocated to each client to be able to clearly ascertain the area of difficulty.¹⁰⁰

The need for more time to spend with clients was also raised as an issue for Legal Aid duty lawyers and for ALS solicitors, who represent a list of clients on a court day.¹⁰¹

Lawyers with good communication skills

Consultations for this study also suggested that lawyers working with homeless clients require both high-level communication skills and an appreciation of the complex needs of their clients. One SAAP worker suggested that lawyers need to be straight forward with clients and to avoid patronising tones.¹⁰² Lawyers also need to be able to provide advice in language the clients can understand.

We have our own solicitors. They are gentle and kind and they speak the lingo in a way the women understand. If the women don’t understand they come and ask [other staff].¹⁰³

Thus, the skill of a lawyer is not just in communicating with clients, but in appreciating the clients other needs and limitations.

[We] need lawyers who understand the issues and needs of homeless people, including issues relating to mental health and drug and alcohol misuse. For instance, lawyers need to be aware that someone who is heavily medicated is going to have trouble answering questions.¹⁰⁴

Continuity of service

Together with legal staff skilled in communication is the need for continuity of legal staff—where a client sees one solicitor on an ongoing basis. This issue was raised in the Burdekin Report and, as consultations indicated, remains a need today.¹⁰⁵ The impact of having a different solicitor each time the client went to court was noted in particular, in relation to the duty lawyer scheme for criminal matters. Recognising the need for continuity of staff, the pro bono homeless person’s legal services second solicitors to the clinics for six-month blocks of time.

Provision of timely advice

A number of participants in this study have indicated that, in many cases, homeless people may not seek assistance for a legal issue until their matters are at crisis point (if at all).¹⁰⁶ When legal advice is sought, action is often required promptly to avoid harsh consequences or compounding problems. Legal services for homeless people need the capacity to respond accordingly.¹⁰⁷ However, making legal services more accessible to begin with may also encourage clients to access the service before issues compound. Early intervention is discussed in Chapter 7.

A legal case management approach

In consultations for this study, an experienced solicitor working with homeless youth noted: “because of their chaotic lifestyle [homeless people] need an intense legal case management strategy which is client based rather than matter based” (emphasis added).¹⁰⁸ Legal case management involves considering all the legal issues facing one particular person and providing a coordinated legal response to those needs. However, based on consultations for this study, the reality is that legal service provision to disadvantaged people in NSW, particularly at the stage of legal assistance and representation, tends to be ‘siloed’ by matter type. For instance, a Legal Aid duty lawyer will assist with a person’s criminal matter; a grant of legal aid may be provided to a private solicitor for a family court matter; a tenancy advice service may support the client with a housing issue and their debt may remain unaddressed. Not only is a person’s legal assistance drawn from multiple agencies (or different sections of the same agency), it appears that often there is no communication between, or coordination of, the services provided.

Given that homeless people’s problems tends to involve multiple and often interrelated legal and other issues, their needs may not be best served by such a fragmented system. Furthermore, considering the barriers they face in seeking assistance for these problems, ideally contact with a legal assistance service for any one of these issues should lead to assistance for their other legal needs.

Another legal case management issue is that homeless clients may also require ongoing support. This is the type of support provided by Shopfront. As its Principal Solicitor remarked:

Because of their associated social problems, the clients are often quite ‘hard core’, with very few alternative legal services accessible to them. Legal Aid are often unable to provide them with the continuity or individual case support that they need. Shopfront Youth Legal Service works closely with other youth-oriented services to develop effective individual case plans for their clients.¹⁰⁹

The development of individual case plans for homeless clients may require increased communication and coordination between legal agencies about the needs of individual clients.

Holistic service delivery: coordinating legal and other needs

As discussed above, homeless people and their service providers may benefit from a coordinated approach to legal assistance. However, given their complex lives, homeless people may also benefit from having their legal and other needs addressed in an integrated and holistic manner. As the IDRS noted:

There needs to be a holistic service approach to delivery. Homeless people with intellectual disability and mental illnesses are challenged with a multitude of complex issues, and need that extra level of support much more than some short-term legal advocacy help. Even if the law can help a homeless person with a tenancy situation, that tenancy cannot be sustained without adequate community support.¹¹⁰

In its submission to the Foundation during its public consultations in the early stages of the Access to Justice and Legal Need research program, Legal Aid NSW noted:

Clients often present to the Commission seeking help for a range of problems, both legal and non-legal. Whilst the Commission endeavors, where possible, to deal with a client’s problems in a holistic way, some of the matters for which the person needs help may not be legally aidable. As a result, whilst some of the clients’ matters can be taken on by the Commission, clients may need to be referred elsewhere for help with their other non-legally aidable problems. Unless this process is managed well, clients can become confused and may feel that the legal system has failed to deal with them as a ‘whole person’.¹¹¹

While the individual needs of homeless people vary considerably, we found that, generally, this group of people has compounding legal and social issues. Some people will need intensive support for a short time (e.g. to clear debt, find stable accommodation, separate from a partner and/or gain employment), while others, particularly those with disabilities may require longer term support to manage their lives (e.g. to maintain a tenancy, receive alcohol and drug treatment). It would seem from the views expressed by participants in this study that the overall outcome both legally and socially may be enhanced by coordination between legal and other support services. Hence, ‘one-stop shop’ type models, where people can be assisted with different legal problems, as well as with access to crisis accommodation, Centrelink, health and other services, may best meet the needs of homeless people. The role of non-legal services in supporting homeless people through legal services is discussed further in Chapter 7.

Empowering the client

As described in Chapter 1, services such as the HPLS place their work within a ‘rights-based approach’. In terms of legal service delivery, Goldie described this approach as one that places “homeless people at the centre of the processes that develop solutions and in control of decision-making that affects them”.¹¹² With an emphasis on capacity building and skills transfer, the National Association of Community Legal Centres also suggests the participation of community members in the management of legal services and making the lawyer–client ‘exchange’ an empowering one for the client.¹¹³