Are you behind on your water bill? DHS’ new Water Assistance Program can help! The Low Income Home Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) is now available to provide low-income Pennsylvanians with help on water bills. What help is available? LIHWAP will pay your water provider the amount needed to prevent a shut off or restore…
In a landmark ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that Fourth Amendment protections extend to home inspections conducted by child welfare agencies investigating anonymous hotline calls, and that child welfare agencies may not search family homes without first demonstrating probable cause under the law. This case has broad-ranging racial justice implications for Black and…
Legal services providers are frequently presented with the challenge of communicating complicated and evolving legal advice to large numbers of constituents. The Clean Slate Screening Project (CSSP), developed by Philadelphia-based Community Legal Services (CLS) in partnership with the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), was conceived as a solution to that predicament when in 2018, the state…
Parents Describe TANF’s Strengths and Needed Changes in New Report on 25th Anniversary of “Welfare Reform” A new report on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), featuring the voices of parents receiving cash assistance, finds that TANF is crucial for supporting the lowest income families in Pennsylvania, but needs a grant increase and other…
Updated 02/01/2021 Para información en Español The Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PAHAF) provides up to $30,000 to help homeowners who have experienced a financial hardship related to COVID. Last year, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan. The Rescue Plan included $350 million to help Pennsylvania homeowners who have experienced a financial hardship related…
CLS is thrilled to welcome Cheryl-Lyn Bentley as its new Deputy Director of Operations and Human Resources. Cheryl-Lyn is an outstanding and experienced employment and civil rights attorney who brings a depth of experience in non-profit, government and private practice, and a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion work. Cheryl-Lyn comes to CLS from…
Have you gotten a notice from PUA about uploading proof that you lost work during the pandemic? If you applied for PUA in 2020 and are still collecting in 2021, you just need a single document that shows you were working at some point between January 2019 and your application for PUA. It could…
Descarga un folleto con esta información aquí. Si está atrasado en el pago de sus facturas o ya ha recibido un aviso de desconexión, siga estos pasos de inmediato. Solicite asistencia en forma de subsidies de LIHEAP, UESF, y el programa de ayuda para el pago del arriendo de Filadelfia Estos subsidios se pueden utilizar…
Today, Community Legal Services and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project released a report that reveals that Black and Latinx households in Pennsylvania are more likely to experience unaffordable utility costs and fall behind on their utility bills at a much higher rate than white households. Many of these same communities were hardest hit by COVID-19…
Read the full report Racial and economic disparities in affordable housing existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and yet, new data from the US Census Bureau suggest that the pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout are only widening these divides. When paired with a global pandemic, we anticipate a national wave of homelessness that will…
