Arizona county starts $2.6 million in legal aid for renters

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s largest county announces $2.6 million in free legal help to tenants who were unable to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic. Maricopa County said this week it will draw on its fiscal recovery fund to pay nonprofit Community Legal Services for 12 attorneys and six paralegals to help renters in the Phoenix metro area. The state doesn’t have a similar legal fund for tenants trying to pay their back rent now that a federal moratorium protecting them from eviction has ended. Pima County and Tucson last year set aside $2 million of their own rental aid for legal programs.