Tenant Right to Counsel
Total jurisdictions: 24!
(17 cities, 2 counties, 5 states )
Resources on this Page
Tenant RTC laws
NCCRC Tracking
Tenant RTC Enacted Laws Matrix: Our comprehensive analysis of all tenant RTC laws.
To track pending state legislation, please visit our interactive map!
Model legislation
After gathering input from stakeholders from around the country and reviewing the existing laws, we have developed model tenant right to counsel legislation that provides a north star for jurisdictions looking to enact a comprehensive policy.
Additional Trackers
State and Local Tenant Protections Database (NLIHC, contains all laws since 2021)
Local Eviction Prevention Policy and Program Tool (National League of Cities, contains only city-level data)
Eviction Laws Database (LSC, only tracks state-level tenant RTC laws in effect as of Jan 1, 2021 (at that point, no state had yet enacted tenant RTC)
Multifamily White Paper Surveys Statewide Tenant Protections (Freddie Mac)
Landlord/Tenant Representation Statistics
For many years, it was reported that only 10% of tenants, compared to 90% of landlords, were represented in eviction cases. We conducted an analysis of available tenant and landlord representation reports from several dozen jurisdictions. Our data on landlord/tenant representation statistics puts the tenant representation figure at a mere 4% and the landlord representation rate at 83%.
Representation Impact and Cost/Benefit Data
The data from tenant RTC programs shows that RTC helps tenants avoid eviction and involuntary moves while promoting long-term housing stability:
New York City
84% of represented tenants were able to remain in their homes. Read the 2023 evaluation for more!
San Francisco, CA
92% of tenants assisted by the RTC avoided homelessness, and 63% of those receiving full representation could stay in their homes. Read the 2024 update for more!
Cleveland
Of the 89% of RTC clients who had the goal of preventing an eviction or involuntary move, that goal was met 81% of the time, while 88% of those who sought 30 or more days to move were able to obtain that relief. Read the 2024 evaluation for more!
Philadelphia, PA
Represented tenants were less likely to be locked out (15% compared to 27%) and more likely to have a case withdrawn (22% compared to 29%). Read the 2023 evaluation for more!
Boulder
63% of represented cases avoided eviction, a 26% increase from pre-RTC implementation. Read the 2021 annual report for more!
Denver
For the cases where a result was known, only 3% of clients were formally evicted, 34% were able to remain in their home, and an additional 8% left their home with no eviction record. Read the 2023 report.
Toledo
In 2023 the Toledo Blade reported that one year into Toledo’s eviction right to counsel, “Of the 139 cases closed so far, nearly 88 percent, or 122, of those cases were successful in avoiding eviction. As a result, 177 adults and 190 children were able to stay in their homes.”
Washington State
In FY2024, 56% of cases resulted in the tenants staying in their unit Read the 2024 report for more!
Kansas City
86% of represented tenants stayed housed and had no eviction record. Read the 2023 report for more!
New Orleans
Of 6,322 eviction cases observed in 2023, the average number of represented cases with “positive outcomes” (either a dismissal or a consent judgment that avoided an eviction record) was 53.9%. And roughly 30% of those who had to move had at least 2 weeks to do so. Read JPNSI’s report.
Detroit
A 2023 report from the City of Detroit found that 45.7% of represented tenants remained in their homes, while 100% of subsidized tenants who were represented retained their housing subsidy. For tenants who relocated, all were able to obtain more than the statutory minimum time to move.
Maryland
Of the 3,795 cases where full representation was provided in FY2023, 76% of tenant households avoided disruptive displacement, and tenants received more than $415,000 in housing judgments and avoided more than $4.5 million in direct costs. Read the 2024 report.
Connecticut
Of the 80% of RTC clients who sought to prevent an involuntary move, that goal was met 64% of the time (between Jan. 2022 and Nov. 2023). Read the 2023 evaluation for more!
DID YOU KNOW? Stout, a financial analysis company, has produced many detailed tenant RTC reports that consistently estimate a tenant RTC would lead to more than 90% of tenants avoiding disruptive displacement.
Even prior to any jurisdiction enacting tenant RTC, studies repeatedly showed tenant representation improves case outcomes:
California
A 2011 study found that fully represented tenants stayed in their units three times as often as those receiving limited or no legal assistance. When tenants had to move, fully represented tenants were given twice as long to do so.
Denver, CO
A 2017 study (pre-RTC) found that represented tenants remained in their homes 70-100% of the time, compared to 32% of unrepresented tenants.
Hennepin County, MN
A 2018 study found that represented tenants were twice as likely to stay in their homes, received twice as long to move if
necessary, and were four times less likely to use a homeless shelter than those without counsel. 78% of represented tenants left with a clean eviction record, compared to 6% of unrepresented tenants.
Los Angeles, CA
A 2023 report found “…of the 715 closed full-scope legal cases, 632 cases (88%) resulted in positive outcomes for the households through staying in their homes, receiving time and money to move out, or getting a waiver of back rent.”
Oklahoma
A research brief found tenant legal representation increased the odds of unit retention for tenants by 75%.
Massachusetts
In a COVID-19 eviction legal help project providing full representation to low-income tenants, 90% of cases resulted in positive outcomes, with 70% of tenants remaining in their homes and 20% of tenants having more time to find a place to live.
DID YOU KNOW? The Eviction Lab has a webpage with all of the state/local eviction trackers. The trackers have live or historical data on how many evictions have or are being filed in the jurisdiction along with other useful information.
Tenant representation helps cities and states save money in the long-term.
Stout Eviction RTC Evaluations and Cost-Benefit Studies.
Stout, a financial analysis company, has done several studies estimating the costs and benefits of providing a tenant RTC. Every report has found that cities and states will save far more than they spend to provide such a right due to avoided costs around shelters, health care, foster care, and other social safety net services.
Investing in Fairness, Justice, and Housing Stability: Assessing the Benefits of Full Legal Representation In Eviction Cases in MA.
This 2020 report concluded that “full legal representation in eviction cases would cost the Commonwealth $26.29 million, while the cost savings associated with such representation are estimated to be $63.02 million.”
Home4Good Social Return on Investment of Eviction Prevention. This 2020 study in Delaware found that “[d]uring 2019, over $2.5 million in income, health, or housing benefits resulted from preventing evictions in Delaware.”
Los Angeles Housing Department Report Back on the Establishment of a Right-to-Counsel Program for Low-income Tenants Facing Eviction. “The reported economic benefits of the closed full-scope cases indicate that the societal gains of this program over a one-year period range from $8,120,941 in short-term benefits (court fee waivers, waived back rent, and relocation assistance) to $4,614,565 in long-term economic benefits (the savings to the tenant over three years due to not moving, calculated as the difference between the tenant’s rent and the Fair Market Rent over 36 months, plus $2,000 in relocation expenses).” (Note: LA City and County have not yet enacted tenant RTC but are working on it).
Funding
As shown in our enacted tenant RTC law matrix, cities and states generally pay for tenant RTC programs through general revenue. Other funding examples include:
- Bridge funding. Cleveland used $3 million in United Way funding
- A rental excise tax. Boulder’s tenant RTC program is funded through a rental excise tax.
- Developer fees. Jersey City funds its tenant RTC in part through developer fees.
- Other unique sources. Baltimore’s tenant RTC is partially funded through $500k from the Sheriff’s budget, and Maryland’s statewide program is partially funded through appropriations from the abandoned property fund.
- Federal funding: Our federal funding tracker includes a table explaining how federal funding sources work, a webinar featuring jurisdictions discussing how they accessed federal funding for tenant RTC or representation expansion, lists of jurisdictions that have made such a federal funding commitment, and more!
Pursuing Tenant RTC via Ballot Initiative
Though most tenant RTC programs are enacted through legislation, a number of existing tenant RTC policies were established via ballot initiative. In 2022-2023, we and PolicyLink partnered on the Housing Justice on the Ballot: Initiative Guide. This guide is intended for tenant organizers, housing advocates, legal advocates, and anyone interested in bringing housing justice to life by advancing renter protections on the ballot.
PolicyLink developed a dynamic three-part “Housing Justice on the Ballot” webinar series connected to the guide:
Making the Case for Tenant RTC
Tenant RTC helps shift the representation disparity. Tenant RTC has a direct impact on the current representation disparity between tenants and landlords, by steadily increasing the rate of representation of tenants. We have analyzed eviction data from around the country and documented the legal representation disparity between tenants and landlords.
RESOURCE: Eviction representation statistics
On average, nationwide and without tenant RTC, only 4% of tenants are represented compared to 83% of landlords.
Tenant RTC works. Research into the impact of tenant representation in eviction cases shows that it works. Tenants remain in their homes more often, pay less in costs, and if they have to vacate, they get to do so with a bit more time and more money to find another place to live. Tenant RTC is new, but as it’s being implemented the same holds true – tenant representation works.
RESOURCE: Data from enacted RTC programs
In NYC, 84% of households represented in court by lawyers were able to “remain in their homes, preserving tenancies and promoting the preservation of affordable housing and neighborhood stability.”
Universal Access to Legal Services: A Report on Year Six of Implementation in NYC (2023)
Tenant RTC changes systems. In April 2024, we held a webinar about the impacts of a tenant’s right to counsel “beyond the courtroom”. We heard from leaders in San Francisco, Connecticut, and New York about how tenant RTC has empowered tenants in their jurisdictions to engage in organizing and rent strikes, as well as speak up to enforce their existing housing rights, by reducing the fear of retaliation, improves the behavior of systems actors like landlords and judges, leads to broader law reform by identifying systemic flaws, and improves the coordination and efficacy of legal services organizations.
RESOURCE: “Beyond the Courtroom” webinar recording
In a case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against a landlord for fraudulently claiming rental assistance, a DOJ attorney noted in the press release, “Importantly, this case came out of Washington’s right-to-counsel program for indigent renters facing eviction. Equal access to justice in eviction defense is helping shine a light on these fraudulent practices in ways that was not possible before this important program existed.”
Tenant RTC helps advance race equity. So long as evictions exist, tenant RTC must be advanced and put in place to ensure that anyone who wants an attorney and is facing a case as critical as eviction has an attorney. The eviction crisis is not experienced the same way by all tenants. Black women with children are facing the brunt of this crisis, and doing so without legal representation. Tenant RTC helps to redress that lack of representation.
RESOURCE: Building Support for a Civil Right to Counsel by Anchoring Your Case in Racial Justice: A Playbook for Justice Seekers Everywhere (TheCaseMade, NCCRC, and NYLS Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law, 2024)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Clearing the Record: How Eviction Sealing Laws Can Advance Housing Access for Women of Color (ACLU, 2020)
- The Disproportionate Burden of Eviction on Black Women (Center for American Progress, 2023)
- Racial and Gender Disparities among Evicted Americans (Eviction Lab, 2023)
- ChangeLab Solutions, Human Impact Partners, NCCRC, PolicyLink, Results for America, Advancing Racial and Health Justice through a Right to Counsel for Tenants: A Primer for the Public Health Field (2024) (also check out a webinar recording and slides related to this resource)
“Black Americans made up only 18.6% of all renters yet accounted for 51.1% of those threatened with eviction and 43.4% of those who were evicted.”
A Comprehensive Demographic Profile of the US Evicted Population (2023)
Tenant RTC helps advance health equity. Evictions, and even the threat of evictions, can have a profound effect on both mental and physical health. And if tenants experience homelessness, these effects are significantly magnified.
CityHealth grades 75 cities on progress on specific policies. In collaboration with the NCCRC, CityHealth’s 2.0 Policy Package includes metrics for cities to medal on their tenant RTC policy (Legal Support for Renters).
RESOURCES:
- Legal Support for Renters: Preventative Legal Medicine (J. Pollock, and Prof. K. Leifheit, PhD MSPH, 2022).
- Addressing America’s Housing Crisis: Three Local Policy Solutions to Promote Health and Equity in Housing (CityHealth, NCCRC, and Enterprise Community Partners) addresses three policies that can address the country’s housing crisis while furthering health and race equity, including tenant RTC. We also had a webinar on the report: check out the recording and slide deck!
Tenant RTC Organizing Resources
Historically, the legal community (i.e., legal services organizations, private bar associations, law firms, pro bono organizations, nonprofits, access to justice commissions, and legal academics) has driven the movement for a civil right to counsel. However, efforts to establish a tenant RTC have been achieved in places like New York City, San Francisco, and Newark largely through the efforts of community-based tenant organizing groups. When tenant RTC campaigns are centered upon such groups, the achievement of tenant RTC helps increase fairness in the judicial system and transform the power differential between tenants and landlords.
The Right to Counsel NYC Coalition (RTCNYC Coalition) is a tenant organizing powerhouse that led the efforts to establish the nation’s first tenant RTC. They have produced a variety of organizing materials, including:
Tenant RTC Toolkit
An essential resource for tenant organizers interested in tenant RTC.
Organizing is Different Now!
A report on how the eviction right to counsel has strengthened the tenant movement in NYC
Tenant RTC Campaign Map
A map with information about active tenant RTC campaigns around the country.
Tenant RTC Organizing Convening
A convening of organizers led to a list of shared principles for legislation.
Our Rights! Our Power! A documentary on how RTCNYC achieved the right to counsel in NYC.
Winning RTC in Eviction Cases: Tenant Organizing and the Role of Lawyers
Webinar co-developed by the NCCRC and RTCNYC. (Slides: RTCNYC / NCCRC).
Tenant RTC Implementation Resources
Lessons from RTC Jurisdictions
- Implementing New York City’s Universal Access to Counsel Program: Lessons for Other Jurisdictions
- Implementing a Statewide Right to Counsel for Tenants: Learning from Washington, Maryland, and Connecticut
- Building the Plane While We Fly It – Implementing Year One of Washington State’s Right to Counsel in Evictions
- Lessons from Four Cities Fighting to Stop Evictions with Right to Counsel
RTC FAQ Documents / Fact Sheets
Tenant Outreach
- Cleveland’s Tenant RTC Outreach Toolkit
- Detroit’s Tenant RTC Promo (video)
- MA’s Building Partnerships & Community Connections (non-RTC)
- MD’s Access to Counsel in Evictions (ACE) Promo (video)
- Philadelphia’s Tenant RTC Promo (video)
- WA State’s Eviction Prevention Campaign
Phase-in / Rollout
Tenant RTC Websites (state and local)
- Baltimore
- Cleveland
- CT’s portal and petition sites
- Detroit (Facebook page)
- Fresno
- Jersey City
- Kansas City
- Los Angeles
- Massachusetts
- Milwaukee (universal rep program)
- New York City
- Oklahoma (RTC pilot)
- Philadelphia’s City page | PhillyTenant.org
- San Francisco
- South Carolina
- Washington State
Tenant RTC Supporters
Courts
CA Supreme Court Work Group on Homelessness’ report (2021). “Recommendation 1.1. Encourage and support legislative efforts to create and fund a statewide program that provides full-scope legal representation in residential unlawful detainer proceedings for all litigants who are unable to afford counsel.”
NY Chief Judge’s Hearing on Civil Legal Services hearing transcript (2018). Judge Schneider, City-wide Supervising Judge, New York City Housing Court. “In every one of our courts, there are scores and scores of new lawyers representing tenants in every borough, and those lawyers are taking fairness into the hallways. They are in the hallways working on their own cases, but they pay attention to what’s going on around them and they have brought forcefully to the Court’s attention instance after instance of inappropriate behavior that they have witnessed or have been a part of inappropriate patterns of behavior in the hallway.” There is a Law.com article about the hearing (a subscription may be required).
Federal Government
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks to the Maryland State Bar Association Access to Justice Commission (March 2022). “I hope states and localities across the country will follow your lead in securing a right to counsel for tenants.”
Joint press release from U.S. Treasury, HUD, and Attorney General (Aug. 2021). “Tenants are more likely to avoid eviction and remain stably housed when they have access to legal representation. Legal counsel can also aid in the successful completion of ERA applications. We encourage state and local governments to use ERA and Fiscal Recovery Funds to launch right to counsel programs and invest in court navigators and diversion programs.”
The White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights (Jan. 2023, p. 16). “Renters should be able to access resources that help them avoid eviction, ensure the legal process during an eviction proceeding is fair, and avoid future housing instability…If an eviction is filed, tenants should be given 30 days’ notice of an eviction action and the right to counsel during an eviction proceeding.”
White House Fact Sheet on Building Lasting Eviction Prevention Reform (Aug. 2022)(Discusses the impact of tenant RTC).
The Federal Reserve has also shown interest and support for tenant RTC. FedCommunities and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City highlighted tenant RTC as an effective policy.
Real Estate Industry
Joint MLRI and WinnCompanies opinion piece (2023). “Attorney General Andrea Campbell and more than 240 organizations, including WinnCompanies and Beacon Communities who, combined, manage 27,000 apartments, are all advocating for a statewide access to counsel program in Massachusetts that can make a huge difference in people’s lives. Attorneys for tenants can help families reach workable, fair results that can keep them housed. As the Commonwealth faces one of the most challenging housing crises in our history, Access to Counsel is a critical part of a comprehensive response.”
Real Estate Board of NY’s testimony in support of NY State Tenant RTC bill (2020). “REBNY supports expanding the right to counsel program. Regardless of why a tenant is in Housing Court, having equal access to legal representation is important…It is wholly appropriate and laudable for the City Council to level the playing field against these bad actors and ensure equal representation in court.”
2021 letter from MA real estate companies and property owners supporting tenant RTC. “We urge you to seize this opportunity to invest in long-term housing stability reform through a statewide right to counsel.”
Interview with Multifamily NW in Portland Mercury (2022) (Multifamily NW is a business association representing rental housing providers in Oregon). “If a renter needs assistance to help understand their rights, they should have access to qualified representation.”
2023 letter from MA real estate companies and property owners supporting tenant RTC. “Legal help and access to the right resources at the right time can prevent families from homelessness, prevent illegal or unnecessary evictions, prevent displacement, and create a path to housing stability that will strengthen all of our communities for the future…We urge you to seize this opportunity to invest in long-term housing stability reform by starting to fund and phase in a statewide access to counsel program in your FY24 budget.”
Legal Services Corporation
Leveling the Playing Field: The Importance of the Right to Counsel in Eviction Proceedings (2021). “Research consistently demonstrates that providing tenants with legal representation in eviction cases is beneficial across several metrics, including increased access to justice, improved court processing, and a positive return on investment.” LSC President Ronald Flagg also wrote an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle in 2021, supporting tenant RTC (subscription may be required).
National League of Cities
Our Coordinator, John Pollock, published Using Right to Counsel as an Eviction Diversion Strategy for the National League of Cities blog. (2021). “A right to counsel for tenants facing eviction is effective, ensures the use and enforcement of other interventions such as rent assistance and eviction moratoria, and addresses starkly uneven power dynamics and longstanding racial disparities.“
United Way
United Way offices in Cleveland and Milwaukee are supportive of tenant RTC and helping to stand up the tenant RTC or tenant representation expansion programs.
Tenant RTC Supportive Statements
American Bar Association
Ten Guidelines for Residential Eviction Laws
American Civil Liberties Union
No Eviction Without Representation
The Center for American Progress
A Right to Counsel is a Right to a Fighting Chance
Center for Popular Democracy
CityHealth
Data for Progress
The Case for a Right to Counsel in Housing Court
Democracy Policy Network
Enterprise Community Partners
Home for Good: Strategies to Prevent Eviction and Promote Housing Stability
Housing Not Handcuffs
Local Housing Solutions
Legal Assistance for At-Risk Renters
The National Low Income Housing Coalition
ERASE Tenant Protections State and Local Maps
The State of Statewide Tenant Protections
Tenant Protections and Emergency Rental Assistance During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic
Tenant Leader Cohort letter to White House and federal agencies
Advancing Housing Justice in the 118th Congress
Advancing Tenant Protections: The Right to Counsel for Tenants Facing Eviction
Advocates’ Guide 2023 (contains section on RTC)
New America
Displaced in America: Policy Recommendations
People’s Action
PolicyLink
All-in Toolkit: assistance to prevent evictions
Our Homes Our Health (co-produced by Right to the City)
Policy Documents Supporting Tenant RTC
Prior to and during COVID-19, many national housing policy organizations have included a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction as part of their recommended housing platforms. These include:
- Center for American Progress – A Right to Counsel is a Right to a Fighting Chance
- Data for Progress – Homes for All and The Case for a Right to Counsel in Housing Court
- Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, Policy Brief: Legal Representation for Tenants
- Local Housing Solutions – Legal Assistance for At-Risk Renters
- National Homelessness Law Center – Housing Not Handcuffs
- National Housing Justice Grassroots Table (which includes Center for Popular Democracy, Partnership for Working Families, People’s Action, and the Right to the City Alliance) – Our Homes, Our Health
- Peoples Action – National Homes Guarantee
- PolicyLink – All-In Cities and Strategies to Advance Racial Equity in Housing Response and Recovery
- Urban Displacement Project – Housing Precarity Risk Model
