While Social Security Administration (SSA) offices begin closing across Alabama, many are left wondering how they’ll manage to make ends meet. LSA remains committed to helping ensure low-income residents receive the benefits to which they are entitled.
Legal Services Alabama (LSA), the state’s only statewide provider of free civil legal aid, will maintain consistent federal funding through September 2025 while proposed cuts to Social Security funding could have devastating effects on thousands of Alabama residents – particularly seniors, people with disabilities, and families who rely on survivor benefits.
As the premiere organization offering legal services to low-income Alabamians, LSA warns that these cuts will place additional strain on already vulnerable populations, increasing financial instability and demand for critical legal assistance.
Alabama has one of the highest percentages of Social Security beneficiaries in the country, but four SSA offices in Alabama have already closed. Cuts to these benefits could push many retirees and disabled individuals deeper into poverty. As the only nonprofit organization in Alabama specifically dedicated to legal services for low-income people, LSA is prepared to continue helping residents avoid negative outcomes that jeopardize their already unstable financial futures.
Social Security is often the primary or sole source of income for many of LSA’s clients, and reductions in benefits could lead to an increase in evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut offs – all of which are core, civil case areas handled by LSA.
A reduction in Social Security benefits is expected to increase the number of people experiencing legal issues such as:
- Appealing wrongful reductions or denials of Social Security benefits.
- Fighting unlawful evictions and foreclosures due to lost income.
- Assisting seniors and people with disabilities in accessing Medicaid and other essential services.
LSA anticipates that these funding cuts will not only increase the number of people seeking help but also strain an already overburdened legal aid system.
Without continued financing for LSA from the federally funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC), residents reliant on these public benefits would have little to no recourse. The loss of these benefits would harm over 140,000 elderly and disabled Alabamians who are reliant on the funds for survival.
For more information or to seek legal assistance, visit www.legalservicesalabama.org or call (866) 456-4995.
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Legal Services Alabama has eight offices and a centralized Call Center, working together to fulfill its mission statement: to provide free, client-centered, civil legal advocacy to low-income Alabamians and collaborate with others across the state and nation to find solutions to systemic issues caused by poverty and social justice inequities.
LSA is one of the preeminent legal aid organizations in the country in bridging the civil justice gap through its recognized commitment to racial, social, and economic justice and support of a talented, diverse, and innovative staff.
