"RTC 50-state summary - Housing - Evictions" State,Description,"Establishes right to counsel",Qualified California,"UPDATE March 2025 LA County launches RTC program My News LA reports that Los Angeles County has started offering services under the RTC law enacted in 2024 Rollout was delayed due to the extensive fires in Los Angeles but the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs which oversees the program noted that the program is timely as the region confronts widespread displacement and rent gouging in the aftermath of the fire emergencies that destroyed approximately 10 000 homes and displaced 40 000 residents The RTC is an expansion of the existing Stay Housed LA eviction defense program UPDATE July 2024 LA County enacts RTC ordinance As reported by the Los Angeles Times the County of Los Angeles has enacted an ordinance that creates a right to counsel for tenants at 80 or below of area median income who are facing eviction in the unincorporated areas of the county and it goes into effect on January 1 2025 making LA County the second county and the 24th jurisdiction overall to create such a right The story notes that currently only 3 of LA tenants have access to counsel compared to 88 of landlords ABC 7 My News LA and LAist also covered the vote Update LA County votes to start RTC codification process On July 11 2023 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to take a major step towards right to counsel From My News LA In a unanimous vote the board directed its attorneys to return within 10 months with a Right to Counsel ordinance with the goal of ensuring legal representation for eligible tenants in unincorporated areas by the 2024-25 fiscal year The board also directed the director of the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to report back in 180 days with a plan for a phased expansion of the program to extend the same legal representation guarantee to eligible tenants in all county areas outside the city of Los Angeles with the goal of universal access by 2030-31 The vote was also covered by LAist ABC 7 LA Times reprinted by Yahoo Santa Monica Mirror and The Real Deal Update County provides funding for move towards right to counsel The County of Los Angeles appropriated 8 7 million for tenant representation Update report finds right to counsel would save City County of Los Angeles millions of dollars A report for Los Angeles by Stout concludes that With an annual investment of approximately 47 3 million by the County and 34 6 million by the City separately the County and the City may avoid costs of approximately 226 9 million and 120 3 million respectively and that In 95 percent of cases where the tenant was represented the tenant had a high likelihood of avoiding disruptive displacement Update efforts continue to create and fund eviction right to counsel A report out of LA County by Public Counsel and others urges a number of reforms to the landlord tenant law including the right to counsel as an essential tenant protection",yes,Yes California,"In December 2019 the Santa Monica California City Council passed an ordinance stating the City s intention to enact a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction The Santa Monica Daily Press has more Then in April 2021 the City announced the creation of a right to counsel pilot program On March 12 2025 the City of Santa Monica adopted a new Renter s Protection Program acting in part on the recommendations of a report by Fetterman and Dunn that was commissioned by the City Over the course of 12-18 months as opposed to the 5 years recommended by the report the City will expand its Right to Counsel Program to provide either full representation or limited legal services to tenants at 80 or below of area median income NOTE the city does not actually have an enacted law guaranteeing a right to counsel and does not guarantee full representation for all eligible tenants The program will also expand rental assistance According to the City s press release The first year of the programs will be funded using 7 million in voter-approved Measure GS funds and 1 million from a one-time state Prohousing Incentive Program grant The report found that 20 of Santa Monica renters are severely cost burdened The report also recommended that limited legal services be reserved for when funding does not enable full-scope services and also suggested the City create a tenant advisory committee Notably the report found that while city law requires landlords to file a copy of the eviction notice with the City Attorney s Office landlords failed to comply 83 of the time",yes,Yes California,"Update April 2025 Tenant RTC is now law On April 1 2025 the Los Angeles City Council enacted the tenant right to counsel ordinance making the City the 26th jurisdiction to enact such a law The ordinance provides a right to counsel for tenants at or below 80 of area median income who are facing eviction or termination of their rental subsidy and who apply for help within 30 days of receiving the eviction notice Landlords must serve notice of this right to tenants at lease-up and again when serving eviction papers and failure to do so provides the tenant with an affirmative defense to the eviction According to SAJE Citywide access to representation will be phased in over the next five to seven years with tenants in high-vulnerability zip codes receiving priority access to legal services in the short-term Passage of the law was covered by LAist MyNewsLA and NBC 4 Los Angeles Update Dec 2023 City instructs City Attorney to draft ordinance organizing group releases report As reported by the LA Daily News the City of Los Angeles instructed its attorney to draft an ordinance that would guarantee a right to counsel to tenants facing eviction who earn 80 or less of the area median income The story notes that The city s housing department recommended that the right-to-counsel program be phased in over five years with priority given to residents in zip codes identified as having the most number of vulnerable residents and that it is expected to cost 67 8 million annually with funding coming from the Measure ULA ballot initiative Additionally SAJE one of the primary organizers behind the tenant RTC campaign issued a report in support of RTC that points to the success of the Stay Housed LA program as well as RTC programs across the country Update City of LA Housing Department report looks to advance RTC process An October 2023 report from the Los Angeles Housing Department to the City Council responds to a Feb 2023 order by the Council to provide recommendations on a RTC ordinance The report calls for the City Attorney to draft an ordinance creating a RTC covering all tenants at or below 80 of area median income for both evictions and housing subsidy terminations and phasing in the RTC over five years The report also notes that From the start of the program in 2021 through June 2023 the EDP has provided legal services to 7 883 households consisting of 1 967 full-scope legal representation and 5 916 cases supported with limited-scope representation The reported outcomes indicate that 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 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 Update Ballot initiative passes city motion introduced The UHA ballot initiative passed in November 2022 which is estimated to provide 80 million in funding for a right to counsel And in February 2023 Six Los Angeles City council members filed a motion seeking recommendations by the Los Angeles Housing Department on establishing a Right to Counsel ordinance and program The introduction was widely covered by the press including by KCRW Fox 11 LA LAist Los Angeles Daily News NBC Los Angeles Los Angeles Magazine KNX News and The Real Deal Update Ballot initiative would provide funding for right to counsel the United to House LA ballot initaitive UHA if enacted by voters in November 2022 would among other things provide upwards of 80 million in funding for a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction Update City provides funding for move towards right to counsel The City of Los Angeles has put 10 mlllion towards tenant defense Update report finds right to counsel would save City County of Los Angeles millions of dollars A report for Los Angeles by Stout concludes that With an annual investment of approximately 47 3 million by the County and 34 6 million by the City separately the County and the City may avoid costs of approximately 226 9 million and 120 3 million respectively and that In 95 percent of cases where the tenant was represented the tenant had a high likelihood of avoiding disruptive displacement Update City of Los Angeles adds more to eviction defense fund This past week in response to organizing efforts by the Los Angeles Renters Right to Coalition the Los Angeles City Council voted to add 9 million to its eviction defense fund bringing the total in the fund to 23 5 million ABC 7 had a story right before this past week s hearing The Los Angeles Renters Right to Coalition has issued an open letter applauding the additional investment but taking the City to task in not codifying an actual right to counsel for any tenants The Coalition also pointed to a recent study by Stout of LA finding that the City would save 3 50 for every 1 spent on eviction representation Update City of Los Angeles passes Phase I of right to counsel As reported by KTLA 5 the Los Angeles County Supervisors have passed a motion that will eviction representation pilots at 5 sites with 2 million in funding The motion also direct s the CEO to report back in the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Recommended Budget identifying 12 500 000 annually to operate the Program going forward and take all actions necessary to allocate ongoing funding to fully implement the Program Update More than 100 gather to support right to counsel for eviction cases ABC 7 reports that a town hall meeting on right to counsel in eviction cases drew more than a hundred people LA is looking to join the three other cities NY San Francisco and Newark in providing such a right Update efforts continue to create and fund eviction right to counsel Curbed LA reports that the City of Los Angeles is poised to allocate 3 million towards the eviction right to counsel effort Update advocates in City of LA push for 10 million towards right to counsel According to the LA Times advocates in Los Angeles are urging the City to invest 10 million towards the first step of an eviction right to counsel which would assist about 10 000 tenants The article explains that the Mayor supports the plan in principle Additionally The LA Times published an editorial supporting the right to counsel in civil cases generally saying that The essence of the Gideon ruling was that a criminal trial in which the defendant faced prosecutors without a lawyer was inherently unfair If that s true in criminal cases how could it not be equally true of landlord-tenant child support or other civil cases The LA Times followed that piece up with another editorial this time urging the City to adopt a right to counsel for eviction cases specificially A letter to the editor in the LA Times urges a right to counsel in civil cases such as evictions and immigration by arguing that counsel is an idea whose critical importance is well-accepted and now must be implemented A second letter to the editor written by Joe Donlin of SAJE the main tenant organizing entity applauded the LA Times editorial board in urging lawmakers to prioritize civil representation in eviction cases but says that only a right to counsel rather than just a funding increase will create enduring change NCCRC participant Clare Pastore penned a piece for the San Francisco Daily Journal making the case for Los Angeles to enact an eviction right to counsel by citing to LA s 31 000 eviction filings and 30 000 homeless persons as a compelling argument Background In June 2018 a motion was introduced to the City of Los Angeles Housing Committee asking it to examine the right to counsel in eviction cases The motion referenced the successful efforts in NYC and San Francisco In August 2018 the Housing Committee responded to the motion by recommending that the City explore a housing right to counsel ordinance The motion direct s the Housing and Community Investment Department to develop recommendations for such a program and report back to the City Council within 120 days Los Angeles has just under 55 000 eviction cases filed every year and about 53 000 homeless people and about 11 of the homeless cite eviction as the cause according to LAist You can read more in Medium which references the Shriver pilots data on the impact of housing representation Curbed MynewsLA and the LA Daily News and the National Low Income Housing Coalition has a page devoted to the motion Previously the right to counsel in evictions was approached from the fair housing angle A 2015 rule from the Obama Administration requires all cities to determine if they are affirmatively furthering fair housing which is a requirement of the federal Fair Housing Act In November 2017 the City of Los Angeles released its fair housing assessment and one of the stated goals is to Protect tenants legal rights through a Right to Counsel Ordinance The assessment notes that evictions in the city dropped significantly after the passage of the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act suggesting that increased representation has reduced the rate of evictions but the assessment notes the insufficiency of current state funding It then charges several city departments and the City Council with exploring such an ordinance",yes,Yes California,"Update May 2025 RTC program put under strain by increased filings cuts to other legal aid programs The San Francisco Public Press reports that at a time when the City of San Francisco has seen a huge spike in eviction filings 3 700 projected for 2025 versus 2 934 for all of 2024 the City of San Francisco is planning to eliminate all general civil legal aid funding 4 2 million While the tenant RTC program is slated to retain its funding at current levels those levels will not accommodate either the already-increased filing numbers or the increases expected when people lose legal services to obtain benefits reduce debts and obtain child support Update 2024 Latest RTC data shows program is thriving A 2024 report from the City and County of San Francisco found that 92 of tenants assisted by the RTC avoided homelessness and that 63 of those receiving full representation were able to stay in their homes compared to 45 of those receiving limited scope representation The study also found that only 72 of the cases involved nonpayment of rent meaning that more of a quarter of cases involved other issues nuisance breach of lease etc Additionally while the RTC program has no income limits 83 of those receiving assistance were extremely low income and another 12 were low income meaning only 5 were above the low-income level The report was covered by KQED San Francisco Examiner and Jacobin Update Right to counsel results continue to shine The latest data from San Francisco s right to counsel program which covers the period from March 2020 - December 2021 shows that the program continues to deliver impressive results 59 of fully represented tenants are able to remain in their homes Of the 30 who did not remain in their unit 70 received a favorable settlement such as a move-out with sufficient time and money i e a combination of rent waiver and cash payment to move out Update City increases investment in right to counsel After initially facing a budget cut due to COVID-19 the City of San Francisco increased its investment by nearly 7 million to 16 million total Update Supervisor Preston holds hearing on RTC law and powerful success of program is revealed On February 24 2020 there was a hearing on San Francisco s eviction right to counsel program It was convened by Dean Preston who was one of the principal architects of Prop F and who is now a City Supervisor At the hearing some powerful statistics on the success of the program were heard such as A 10 decrease in the filing rate from 2018 to 2019 Of the two-thirds of tenants receiving full-scope representation at this point 67 are able to stay in their homes including 80 for African-American tenants Despite the lack of an income limit 85 of those receiving counsel are extremely low or low income 9 are moderate income and 6 are just above moderate income The San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Business Times and Next City have more and you can read Supervisor Preston s press release Update Christian Science Monitor looks at rollout of program The Christian Science Monitor took an in-depth look at how rollout of Prop F is going in San Francisco and features some powerful stories from tenants Update City appropriates funding for Prop F The San Francisco Examiner and SF Weekly report that San Francisco Mayor London Breed has set aside 1 9 million this fiscal year and 3 9 million in the 2019-2020 fiscal year in order to implement Prop F Update Prop F is now law On June 5 2018 voters in San Francisco approved Prop F by a vote of 56 to 44 The San Francisco Chronicle SF Weekly Curbed San Francisco Next City San Francisco Attorney Magazine and the Stranger Seattle have more and you can also check out the press release from the SF Right to Counsel Committee San Francisco thus joins New York City in guaranteeing counsel for tenants in evictions with the difference being that the San Francisco law has no income limit Background A coalition of tenant groups and advocates called the SF Right to Counsel Committee filed a ballot initiative known as Prop F to guarantee a right to counsel for all tenants not just low-income tenants facing eviction The proposal referred to the recent establishment of an eviction right to counsel in New York City 48hills has more and proponents set up a website for the ballot initiative Also an ordinance co-sponsored by the President of the Board of Supervisors was introduced that would guarantee counsel in housing cases The introduction of the ballot initiative and ordinance were covered by the San Francisco Chronicle CBS SF Weekly Curbed San Francisco the Bay City Beacon KALW audio and the San Francisco Public Press Both of these initiatives come in the wake of the City s 2012 ordinance declaring its intention to become the nation s first right to civil counsel city as well as a pilot project that expanded representation in certain types of housing cases via increased pro bono participation read the report of the pilot project s final results",yes,Yes Colorado,"UPDATE 2023 report highlights gains of RTC program A report from the Denver Office of Housing Stability on the tenant RTC found that in 2023 Nearly three-quarters of all clients earned less than 30 of the area median income while half the households were female headed 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 Results were not known for the other 55 of clients UPDATE ballot initiative that would have expanded stabilized RTC defeated In November 2022 Denver voters declined to adopt a ballot initiative that would have expanded the city s enacted right to counsel to cover all tenants regardless of income as well as provide a stable long-term funding source UPDATE City ordinance passed by Council The City Council has passed an ordinance to guarantee counsel to low-income tenants facing eviction Advocates are still pursuing a ballot initiative that would extend the right to all tenants regardless of income and create a new funding stream Background Advocates in Denver are seeking to pass a ballot initiative establishing a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction You can learn more on their campaign website and Westword covered the launch of the campaign At the same time the City Council has introduced an ordinance to provide a similar right although it would have more limits than the ballot initiative Westword and Denverrite have more on the ordinance A 2018 Denver study found that In the few instances in which a renter had legal counsel they usually prevailed in the eviction proceeding Without representation the dispossession rate was 43 percent in DHA cases and 68 percent in the sample of private housing cases It also found that the Denver Housing Authority filed one eviction over an alleged 4 of unpaid rent and the median amount in dispute was only a bit higher than 200",yes,Yes Colorado,"UPDATE initial data released for Boulder RTC In late 2021 the City of Boulder released a report providing some results from the Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Services program EPRAS According to the report 63 of EPRAS cases avoided eviction which was a 26 increase In essence all tenants who appeared in court and were provided an attorney avoided eviction only the no-show tenants were given an eviction order You can also read more about the program Background On November 3 2020 Boulder voters approved a ballot initiative establishing a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction regardless of income KUNC and Next City have more and there s additional information on the No Eviction Without Representation NEWR webpage as well as on the ACLU website",yes,Yes Connecticut,"UPDATE Jan 2025 RTC program protected 85 of tenants receiving extensive legal services saved state 36 million Stout s 2024 report found that not only were 85 of tenants receiving extensive services through the state s tenant right to counsel were able to avoid disruptive displacement but 47 of such clients who sought to avoid even an eviction filing were able to do so Notably 68 of tenants received extensive services while other tenants received brief services counsel and advice limited representation or other services It also found that The total estimated fiscal impacts and economic benefits of CT-RTC from January 31 2022 through November 30 2024 is 36 6 million The sources of those savings were Housing social safety net responses - 9 million Out-of-home foster care placements - 8 million Economic value preserved by retaining residency in Connecticut - 6 2 million Additional Medicaid spending on health care - 4 7 million Fiscal impacts of responding to unsheltered homelessness - 2 7 million Economic benefits of employment stability - 1 5 million Fiscal impacts of responding to crimes - 1 3 million Economic benefits of increased educational attainment - 1 3 million Fiscal impacts of criminalizing homelessness - 1 1 million Retained federal funding for public schools in Connecticut - 800 00 The Connecticut Mirror and Hartford Courant covered the release of the report UPDATE 2023 report shows RTC still delivering results A 2023 report from Stout notes that Connecticut s tenant RTC has expanded to 10 additional zip codes It also found that RTC helped clients achieve 64 of all of their goals with the breakdowns being the following The report also commented that Clients owed fewer months of back rent 16 vs 30 of clients owed 6 months were more likely to want to stay in their home 72 vs 68 were more likely to indicate they would experience unsheltered homelessness if they had to move 25 vs 17 and had less time to move in 2023 compared to 2022 Interestingly the report notes that of the 72 of veterans who wanted to stay in their homes 73 were able to do so compared to the 69 of non-veteran clients who wanted to stay in their homes and 63 who were able to do so Separately a 2023 qualitative analysis was released from several Yale professors prepared for the Connecticut Bar Foundation based on community engagement qualitative research and interviews with tenants and stakeholders It found that A mbiguity regarding payment of housing subsidies could lead to or complicate eviction cases Tenants we spoke to expressed frustration that they were unfairly expected to keep paying their rent in the absence of essential repairs and maintenance the Stout report found that 59 of clients reported defects in their housing with 70 of them reporting more than one T he complexity of an eviction case often reveals itself over time as a person engages with legal services Those complications may not be identified through the screening processes often used to prioritize limited legal aid resources as tenants are often not aware of their rights CT-RTC was able to help negotiate exits that both minimized adverse impacts for tenants and ensured the timely return of property to its owner Stout found that 51 of CT-RTC clients have the goal of securing 30 days or more to move Our data shows how crucial it can be for tenants to have the time they need to make that move and the role of CT-RTC in obtaining this time While tenants also received important sources of support and stress relief from caseworkers social workers and others our interviews highlight unique aspects of legal support Lawyers are not simply someone on their side They also have legal knowledge that tenants perceive as protective and empowering Tenants said having a lawyer during the eviction process made them feel less intimidated by the power imbalance between them and their landlord UPDATE report shows effectiveness of first 10 months of RTC Stout has released a report that examines the impact of Connecticut s statewide right to counsel from 1 31 22 - 11 30 22 It found that Of the 82 of clients that wanted to prevent an involuntary move 71 achieved that goal Of the 80 that sought to avoid an eviction on their record 76 achieved that goal The estimated cost savings to the state were 5 8 - 6 3 million In terms of client demographics 75 of all the RTC clients identified as non-white Nearly 50 of RTC households had a member with a disability Nearly 50 of RTC households had a child 59 indicated they had defective conditions in their homes which may have contributed to the 32 of clients that indicated they did not want to stay in their homes The report s release was covered by the Connecticut Mirror which also looked at right to counsel client racial demographics The Connecticut Law Tribute Editorial Board noted the success outlined by the report and observed We supported the right to counsel bill when it was proposed and the first year of its implementation suggests continued promise Notably the eviction filing rate as of early 2023 is higher than pre-pandemic levels and having an especially detrimental impact on families with children indicating the urgency of full epxansion of the right to counsel statwewide Yet as Connecticut Public Radio reports there is not yet funding available for statewide implementation UPDATE right to counsel set to go live in January 2022 The Connecticut Insider reports that the state s eviction right to counsel law will launch in January 2022 and provide counsel to all tenants at 80 or below of area median income Law dot com has more There is also a website portal for Connecticut tenants looking for assistance UPDATE the RTC bill is law On May 27 2021 the right to counsel bill passed through the House and Senate it has now been signed by the Governor CT Post has the latest UPDATE Governor proposes 20 million of federal funding to support right to counsel The Governor of Connecticut has put 20 million of federal Fiscal Recovery Funds FRF for tenant representation in his proposed budget which will greatly bolster efforts to enact the statewide tenant right to counsel bill CT HB 6531 In the Milford Mirror the CT House Speaker said he liked to see this and that right to counsel is a big deal Additionally opinion pieces appeared in the Connecticut Mirror and New Haven Independent in support of the right to counsel The first was written by health experts and the second which was penned by advocates argued that right to counsel is a LGBTQ issue The Appeal covered the efforts to get right to counsel enacted in Connecticut UPDATE Additional statewide right to counsel bill filed has hearing A new bill HB 6531 has been filed that would provide a right to counsel for all indigent tenants facing eviction On March 4 2021 the bill had a hearing before the House Housing Committee at which many people testified in support The Connecticut Mirror covered the introduction of the bill and noted that in the last 3 months fewer than 5 of tenants had appeared with counsel for eviction proceedings UPDATE Statewide right to counsel bill filed Once again responding to the legislative task force recommendations a bill has been filed SB 531 that would provide a statewide right to counsel for tenants making 75 000 or less UPDATE Connecticut DSA launches right to counsel petition drive In January 2021 the Connecticut chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America DSA launched a campaign calling on the Connecticut Legislature to provide a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction UPDATE bill introduced to provide right to counsel in evictions In 2019 a bill emerged from the Task Force s recommendations SB 652 would guarantee a right to counsel statewide for tenants making less than 50 000 who are in an eviction proceeding An op-ed in the Harford Courant notes that Three cities in Connecticut are on the list of the top 50 eviction rates in the nation and four are in the top 100 Background In 2016 Connecticut Senate Bill 426 created a new legislative task force to explore the right to counsel in civil cases After meeting several times over the course of the year the Task Force issued its Final Report in December 2016 Among other recommendations the Report called for the state to Establish a statutory right to civil counsel in three crucial areas where the fiscal and social cost of likely injustice significantly outweighs the fiscal cost of civil counsel a Restraining orders under General Statutes 46b-15 b Child custody and detained removal deportation proceedings c Defense of residential evictions The Report suggested the first step in implementation is establishing a right to counsel pilot program for at least one or more of three areas of critical need restraining order family unity child custody and detained removal proceedings and residential eviction cases Connecticut News Junkie has more about the release of the Report The Task Force had the backing of many Connecticut leaders including the Connecticut Bar Association President the Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court the Senate President and the dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law You can read more about the Task Force at Fox 61 Hartford Courant and Caifornia Courts Monitor Also you can check out the website of the Task Force",yes,No Delaware,"Senate Bill 1 enacted in 2023 provides an entitlement to counsel for Delaware tenants in evictions terminations of housing subsidies and proceedings to remedy a violation of law related to landlord-tenant matters such as retaliatory actions habitability illegal eviction or violation of quiet use and enjoyment However the law contains several important exceptions where the tenant is not entitled to counsel most significantly if the legal services provider deems the tenant s defense or appeal to lack merit Because a merits-based determination of eligibility is inconsistent with the concept of tenants having a right to counsel the law falls short at present of being a full right to counsel although it is a significant advance in that direction The law also excludes tenants whose landlords own three or fewer units and are not represented by either an attorney or authorized agent or any case where other circumstances exist which make legal representation infeasible to render The bill s passage was covered by Delaware Online Delaware Public Media WDEL WMDT and WBOC The bill was backed up by a number of different studies A Stout report found that With an annual investment of approximately 3 4 million in a right to counsel Delaware may save at least an estimated 9 4 million in costs related to disruptive displacement of tenants annually It also reported that only 2 of Delaware tenants are represented compared to 86 of landlords and that represented tenants are 4 times more likely to avoid disruptive displacement than unrepresented tenants A study by the University of Delaware School of Public Policy and Administration found that 21 of adults in homeless shelters had an eviction within a 2-year period prior to shelter use with higher numbers for those who had children were Black and or were female A 2020 study found that During 2019 over 2 5 million in income health or housing benefits resulted from preventing evictions in Delaware Notably Delaware via Supreme Court Rule 57 1 also allows Qualified Tenant Advocates who are not lawyers to represent tenants provided that the lawyers are supervised by a legal aid program",discretionary,No Kentucky,"UPDATE June 2025 Advocates push for City to increase tenant RTC funding As per Louisville Public Media advocates in Louisville are pushing for the City to increase funding for the enacted tenant right to counsel program from 300k to 600k but Mayor Greenberg s proposed budget would keep the funding flat UPDATE Nov 2024 Data reporting shows significant tenant outcomes cost savings A RTC Homelessness Prevention Report from the Legal Aid Society found that 1 515 children were prevented from becoming homeless as a result of the tenant RTC program while 2024 data from the program shows that 99 of the tenants who received extended representation either delayed or avoided an eviction in 2024 Q4 while 97 either avoided or delayed their eviction with enough time to find alternative housing UPDATE RTC program expanded Louisville s RTC ordinance has been amended to remove the requirement that a qualifying tenant have children According to Louisville Public Media this may double the number of eligible tenants The expansion is proof of the value of enacting even a limited right to counsel as the limits can be removed once the value of the program is further demonstrated UPDATE RTC program renewed with general fund revenue Louisville s eviction right to counsel program which was funded with Emergency Rental Assistance Program ERAP housing stability funds in its first year is now funded by general revenue thus stabilizing the program for the future UPDATE Louisville media checks in on RTC program The Courier-Journal reports that over 700 households have been assisted by Louisville s right to counsel program although due to eligibility requirements 125 of poverty level and having a child another 1 400 households didn t qualify and received legal services from the Legal Aid Society of Louisville through other funding sources And Wave reports that Louisville Metro rent prices have jumped more than 12 in the past two years compared to a 6 5 jump in the previous two years increasing the need for right to counsel Background In April 2021 Louisville KY became the first city in the South and the 9th city overall to enact a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction provided the tenants have at least one child and are income eligible Ord No O52 Series 2021 Louisville Metro Code of Ordinances 151 60 et seq The right to counsel is at the moment funded by 400 000 in federal Emergency Rental Assistance funds The Louisville Courier-Journal has more The ordinance states covered individuals may receive access to legal services from designated organizations under a contract grant or other services agreement with the lead partner organization The designated organizations shall provide legal services in a covered proceeding as soon as possible after the initiation of the proceeding and no later than at the time of the individual s first scheduled appearance in a covered proceeding 151 61 A The right is limited to people who occupy a dwelling under a claim of legal right other than the owner with at least one child and whose annual gross income does not exceed 125 of the federal poverty guidelines 151 60 The ordinance covers any proceeding in Jefferson County District Court Eviction Court Eviction Court to evict eject or terminate the tenancy of a covered individual 151 60",yes,Yes Louisiana,"UPDATE Dec 2023 1st year report shows success of program Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative s 2023 RTC report found that for the 6 322 cases observed Tenant representation rates rose from 6 pre-RTC to 39 The average number of represented cases with positive outcomes was 53 9 A positive outcome was defined as a dismissal or b a consent judgment that results in no eviction record and may result in the tenant remaining in the unit If cases that were continued 22 of all cases are removed from the case totals the rate of positive outcomes rises to 69 With respect to consent judgments court monitor data indicated that roughly 30 of the consent judgments involved a tenant remaining in the unit Roughly 30 of those who had to move had at least 2 weeks to do so And only 1 66 of represented tenants faced a rule absolute eviction i e a 24-hour vacate deadline Background In May 2022 the New Orleans City Council unanimously approved an ordinance which was slightly amended that provides counsel as a matter of right to all tenants regardless of income facing eviction or termination of a housing subsidy as well as for any proceedings seeking injunctive relief related to an illegal eviction and some appeals The Council had previously allocated 2 million in initial funding According to a 2022 press release from the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center New Orleans at the time was already seeing a rate of evictions that exceeded pre-pandemic levels NOLA dot com covered the passage Also check out a CityHealth video about the impact of NOLA s RTC program",yes,Yes Maryland,"UPDATE JAN 2025 Newest report shows RTC program continuing to deliver results In January 2025 the Maryland Office of the Attorney General OAG Maryland Legal Services Corporation MLSC Maryland Access to Justice Commission and Access to Counsel in Evictions ACE Task Force announced the release of the latest report on the statewide tenant RTC program called Access to Counsel in Evictions in Maryland The report which covered July 2023 through June 2024 found that of the 87 of tenants who wanted to stay in their homes 88 were able to do so and notably 36 of clients indicated they would be homeless if displaced and the program saved the state an estimated 46 million due to avoided costs related to homelessness services additional Medicaid spending crime increases and other factors UPDATE JAN 2024 Report shows progress of RTC program A report of the Maryland Access to Counsel in Evictions Task Force notes that 4 800 tenants were served in FY23 and that Of the 3 795 cases where full representation was provided through ACE in FY2023 76 of tenant households avoided disruptive displacement ACE grantees helped Maryland residents receive more than 415 000 in housing judgments and avoided more than 4 5 million in direct costs The report also notes that due to capacity constraints in part caused by hiring difficulties 375 cases were triaged to advice-only service despite being eligible for full representation But it adds that MLSC has worked on implementing other components of the law by funding efforts to build a pipeline of attorneys who would take up this work The Task Force also urged the Governor to provide an additional 6 million in funding for FY25 We testified at a hearing related to the report UPDATE Outreach to tenants in full swing An article in Maryland Reporter discusses efforts by legal services providers to let know about their right to counsel prior to the first day in court so that attorneys have more time to prepare for effective representation UPDATE Maryland right to counsel funded Maryland s General Assembly has enacted SB 662 and HB 571 SB 279 which provide 14 million funding for the right to counsel through 2024 as well as set up an Eviction Defense Fund The Daily Record has more UPDATE Report issued from statewide task force The Access to Counsel in Evictions Task Force which was established by the Maryland General Assembly has released a report regarding funding and implementation of the statewide right to counsel enacted in 2021 UPDATE Bill has become law On the last day of the legslative session in 2021 HB 18 made it through the Maryland House and Senate and on May 28 the bill became law The Appeal has more See also Maryland House Bill 018 Senate Bill 154 2021 creating a new subtitle 9 in the Real Property Article entitled Access to Legal Representation in Eviction Cases Under the law a covered individual shall have access to legal representation as provided under this subtitle 8-902 A covered individual is one who occupies residential property under a claim of legal right other than the owner and includes tenants in housing owned operated or managed by a public housing authority 8-901 C 1 Unlike the Baltimore City local law there is an income eligibility requirement The statewide right only applies to a member of a household with an income that is not greater than 50 of the median income adjusted for household size in the state 8-901 C 2 Legal representation is broadly defined to include all representation by an attorney beyond brief legal advice and is not limited to the formal entry of appearance in court 8-901 F Section 8-904 A specifies that the right to counsel applies to judicial or administrative eviction proceedings proceedings terminating tenancy or subsidy of a covered individual and the first appeal where the designated service provider deems there are sufficient legal grounds Background Following up on Baltimore s passage of an eviction right to counsel a group of MD lawmakers introduced a legislative package that includes a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction HB 18 SB 154 The House bill has made it out of committee Media coverage can be found in the Maryland Daily Record WYPR Delmarva Now WBAL TV and DCist Maryland joins Connecticut Indiana Minnesota Nebraska South Carolina and Washington State with such legislation in 2021 Relatedly the Maryand Attorney General s Access to Justice Task Force released a report recommending a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction",yes,No Maryland,"UPDATE Dec 2024 City releases data showing success of RTC program According to a report submitted by the Maryland Legal Services Corporation which is overseeing Baltimore RTC program during FY24 82 of the tenants who received full representation avoided disruptive displacement Tenants served receive d more than 110 000 in housing judgments and avoid ed more than 745 000 in direct costs UPDATE City begins funding right to counsel The City of Baltimore has committed 2 4 million of CDBG-CV money from the CARES Act to help pay for the city s enacted right to counsel Background In 2020 the City of Baltimore has enacted a bill to provide all tenants right a right to counsel and it is without regard to income level See City of Baltimore Ordinance 20 465 Council Bill 20-0625 An Ordinance concerning Landlord-Tenant - Right to Counsel in Eviction Cases 2020 WYPR and Maryland Matters have more You can read the bill text and a fact sheet about the bill and check out Baltimore Renters United s page on right to counsel Notably a Baltimore Sun op-ed made the case for Maryland to provide all three necessary pieces to avoid an eviction crisis a state moratorium due to the flaws in the CDC one rent relief and a right to counsel For this last point it cites to a Stout study that found a 5 7 million investment in right to counsel in Baltimore would yield 35 6 million in benefits to the city and state And in December 2020 the editorial board of the Maryland Daily Record endorsed the right to counsel for Baltimore and urged the city to fund it The right is codified in Baltimore City Code Article 13 6A-1 through 6A-6 6A-3 A 1 specifies that subject to provisions of this subtitle including any rules and regulations and with the advice and consultation of the Commission the Commission shall ensure that all covered individuals are offered legal representation from a designation organization in a covered proceeding as soon as practicable after the initiation of that proceeding but no late than at the time of the covered individual s first scheduled appearance in a covered proceeding if possible A covered individual is any individual who occupies a dwelling within the City of Baltimore under a claim of legal right other than the owner and includes tenants in building owned operated or managed by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City 6A-1 D Again there is no income requirement written into the ordinance A covered proceeding includes judicial and administrative eviction proceedings termination of tenancy and subsidy cases any proceeding that is the functional equivalent of such a proceeding and any first appeal of these proceedings 6A-1 E 1 Covered proceedings include judicial and administrative proceedings to remedy a violation of local laws dealing with a landlord s non-compliance with the lease retaliatory actions and the taking or threat of taking possession of a dwelling unit 6A-1 E 2",yes,Yes Massachusetts,"In a case before Judge Fein in the Western Division of the Massachusetts Housing Court Department an indigent and disabled tenant faced eviction because of his drug-related arrest near his subsidized apartment building The eviction trial started while his parallel criminal case was pending The tenant expressed concern that his conduct in Housing Court would affect his privilege against self-incrimination and liberty interests in criminal court The court first stayed the eviction trial to explore these concerns Then recognizing that significant rights and interests were implicated in this complex case -- including the court s own interest in ensuring the sound administration of justice -- as well as the tenant s disabilities Judge Fein concluded that the tenant had a right to effective assistance and appointed an attorney to serve as guardian ad litem The landlord filed an objection to the court s appointment of counsel to the tenant but Judge Fein affirmed her appointment basing her decision on due process grounds and holding that nothing short of appointing counsel suffices to protect the tenant s rights under the federal and state constitutions The court also cited sound administration of justice as other grounds to uphold the appointment",discretionary,Yes Michigan,"UPDATE April 2025 City s latest data shows represented tenants staying in homes or getting the time they need to relocate A report on 2024 data from the City of Detroit found that 46 3 of tenants who received full representation For tenants who relocated 94 received at least 30-days to vacate Only 0 6 of cases resulted in a bailiff-executed eviction UPDATE City releases video report promoting RTC A new video released by the City of Detroit highlights some of the tenants and attorneys involved in Detroit s eviction RTC program Additionally a 2023 report 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 UPDATE Article takes City to task for failure to invest more federal funds in RTC An article in the American Bar Association s Journal of Affordable Housing by Tonya Phillips Project Leader for the Detroit RTC Coalition argues that the City has an opportunity to invest more American Rescue Plan funds in the City s enacted tenant right to counsel but has failed to do so UPDATE RTC program funding increased The new Detroit budget increases funding for the tenant right to counsel program from 12 million to 18 million using ARPA funds to do so UPDATE RTC program launched Michigan Public Radio reports that the right to counsel program launched at the start of March 2023 UPDATE City misses implementation deadline but finally establishes legal services provider and program manager As was widely reported the City of Detroit missed the 10 1 22 deadline to launch the right to counsel but finally announced that United Community Housing Coalition has been selected to be the principal legal services provider and April Faith-Slaker formerly of the Harvard Access to Justice Lab has been hired to be the Executive Director of the newly-created Office of Eviction Defense Amidst the delays a piece in Metro TImes highlighted some grim statistics from the City that indicated how renters have felt the brunt of the City s delay 1 3 of the City residents live in poverty 34 of renters are severely cost burdened i e spending more than 50 of their income on rent 21 of renters face eviction annually Pre-RTC only 4 8 of tenants had access to counsel compared to 83 2 of landlords UPDATE RTC gains additional funding related report released The Detroit News reports that the Gilbert Family Foundation will be putting 13 million into Detroit s eviction right to counsel 12 million for services and 1 million for evaluation Additionally Stout has released a report on the costs benefits for an eviction right to counsel in Detroit The report found that only 4 of Detroit tenants have access to representation compared to 83 of landlords It estimates that at least 12 percent of Detroit renter households that experienced an eviction filing likely migrated out of the city for reasons related to an eviction filing and that With an annual investment of approximately 16 7 million in a right to counsel Detroit may recognize economic benefits of at least an estimated 58 8 million UPDATE City of Detroit passes right to counsel ordinance In May 2022 the Detroit City Council enacted an ordinance guaranteeing counsel for tenants facing eviction who are at 200 or below of the federal poverty level and it will also cover mortgage and property tax foreclosures The law will be initially funded by 6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act as well as private funding of 12 million over 3 years Prior to enactment only 5 of Detroit tenants facing eviction had access to legal representation compared to 83 of landlords The enactment was covered by the Detroit Free Press WDET Fox 2 Michigan Public Radio and Michigan Advance UPDATE Ordinance has hearing gains support Detroit s proposed ordinance providing tenants with a right to counsel went through its first round of hearings The Detroit Free Press and Metro Times have more A Detroit Free Press Op-Ed penned by a member of the paper s editorial board supported the ordinance UPDATE Advocates hold community meeting on right to counsel The Detroit Right to Counsel Coalition held a community meeting to discuss the need for a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction data on the costs benefits for Detroit and more UPDATE New policy brief urges tenant right to counsel as way of avoiding blight in Detroit Poverty Solutions an initiative of the University of Michigan has released a policy brief called Stopping the Eviction Machine in Detroit It documents a process of foreclosure speculation eviction and eventual demolition exacerbated blight and instability in many of Detroit s neighborhoods Among the policy solutions it recommends is a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction UPDATE Ford Motor Co others talk support for right to counsel A couple of articles have touched on efforts in Detroit to establish a right to counsel Law360 profiled corporate leaders working on access to justice issues and discusses Ford Motor Corporation s commitment to getting a right to counsel passed And the Detroit Free Press discusses a pending ordinance that would service 20 of individuals facing evictions each year for the next five years at a cost of 4 million Background Detroit holds summit on a right to counsel for tenants A summit was convened in Detroit to explore the right to counsel in eviction cases The summit featured panels of City officials funders clients and experts from around the country NCCRC Coordinator John Pollock served on one of the panels as did Andy Scherer RTCNYC Jordan Dressler NYC Office of Civil Justice Hazel Remesch Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Abby Staudt Legal Aid Society of Cleveland Stout which was one of the conveners of the event has created a summit resources webpage featuring resources from other jurisdictions that were shared with the Detroit attendees The summit was covered by The Detroit News Deadline Detroit and Bridge Magazine",yes,Yes Minnesota,"Minneapolis has become the twelfth city and the fifteenth jurisdiction overall to enact a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction Check out the ordinance the City s press release and coverage from Minnesota Reformer KNSP Fox 9 and the Star Tribune",yes,Yes Minnesota,"In 2023 as part of a general budget bill Minnesota created a right to appointed counsel for public housing tenants who are not able to afford counsel and who are threatened with eviction for an alleged breach of lease It is now codified as MN Stat 504B 268",yes,Yes Missouri,"St Louis has enacted an ordinance that provides a right to counsel for all tenants facing eviction The ordinance covers both court evictions and termination of subsidies extra-judicial evictions unlawful utility disconnections or the functional equivalent of any of these The right attaches as soon as the notice to quit is received The program must be implemented by July 1 2024 and the Coordinator is required to work with community groups on outreach and education Passage of the bill was covered by St Louis Public Radio KMOV Fox 2 and the St Louis Business Journal Notably a 2012 study found that St Louis tenants only won 04 of the cases that went to trial and 46 wound up with a sheriff s execution of eviction",yes,Yes Missouri,"UPDATE DEC 2023 over 80 of tenants w RTC are prevailing According to KCUR the latest data from Kansas City shows that 2 042 cases have received legal representation since the start of the program In 1 672 of those cases about 82 the judge either dismissed the case or ruled in favor of the tenant However the story also notes that eviction filings have continued to rise making it difficult for the RTC program to reach all eligible tenants UPDATE Newest statistics continue to demonstrate high levels of RTC effectiveness In the latest data to be released on the City s program 1 941 tenants exercised their right to counsel 1 326 avoided eviction 350 cases remain pending This means that in total 86 have remained housed with no eviction record UPDATE City legal aid highlight program s amazing results A press release from the City of Kansas City notes that From September 1 2022 to August 31 2023 the Right to Counsel program provided crucial attorney representation to 1 196 Kansas Citians facing eviction Remarkably Right to Counsel attorneys resolved 1 002 through dismissal judgments in favor of the tenant or settlements Mayor Quinton Lucas stated he was proud of the incredible impact the Kansas City Tenants Right to Counsel program made in its first year keeping more than 1 000 Kansas Citians housed Congratulations to all the organizers in KC who made this incredible victory happen and to Legal Aid of Western Missouri Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom and the University of Missouri-Kansas City UMKC for providing amazing legal services Additionally a new report from the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom The State of Eviction 2023 includes a summary of the outcomes of the first 15 months of RTC in Kansas City where 86 of tenants represented pursuant to RTC avoided eviction UPDATE Newest data continues to show program s success According to data from the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom a right to counsel legal services provider in Kansas City and KCUR right to counsel attorneys have taken 1 200 eviction cases and 771 of them have been resolved Of those resolved cases 91 5 of tenants have avoided eviction almost a complete reversal from the 99 of tenants who were evicted before the program UPDATE Early results of right to counsel show dramatic drop in eviction rate According to a press release from the City of Kansas City Prior to the pandemic 99 of cases filed in Jackson County resulted in evictions In the first three months of the Right to Counsel Program the City is seeing a drastic change Initial data indicates having a lawyer paired with rental assistance shows an eviction rate less than 20 KCUR and the Kansas City Star have more on the first 3 months of the program Background In 2021 a campaign was officially launched in Kansas City by KC Tenants Stand Up KC Missouri Workers Center Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom and many other groups to push for an eviction right to counsel The campaign called for 2 5 million in funding for the ordinance It was covered with terrific video footage in the Kansas City Star KMBC NBC The Pitch On December 9 Kansas City passed the ordinance which will be implemented by June 2022 The ordinance guarantees full-scope representation and covers all tenants facing eviction regardless of income Tenants facing eviction filed outside Kansas City where the property lies within Kansas City are also covered The passage was covered by the Kansas City Star KSHB KCUR NPR and Fox 4",yes,Yes Nebraska,"Nebraska becomes 23rd jurisdiction with eviction RTC law In 2024 Nebraska enacted LB 840 which provides a right to counsel to unrepresented public housing residents for administrative terminations and related evictions The right applies in cities of the metropolitan class Neb Rev Stat 71-15 139 5 a These are defined as cities that have attained a population of four hundred thousand inhabitants or more as determined by the most recent federal decennial census or the most recent revised certified count by the United States Bureau of the Census Neb Rev Stat 14-101 As of 2024 the city in Nebraska to fit this definition is Omaha The law provides that b If the resident requests a hearing by the housing agency to contest the termination counsel shall be appointed for the resident prior to such hearing unless the resident is already represented by counsel The housing agency shall file an application with the county court or district court of the county in which the premises is located The court shall appoint counsel to represent the resident in the hearing and in any related action for recovery of possession of the premises c If the resident does not request a hearing by the housing agency to contest the termination and the housing agency files an action for recovery of possession of the premises the court shall appoint counsel for the resident unless the resident is already represented by counsel d The resident may waive court-appointed counsel or retain the resident s own counsel The cost of any court-appointed counsel shall be paid by the housing agency e Counsel appointed pursuant to this section shall apply to the court before which the proceedings were had for fees for services performed f In the case of a hearing to contest a termination for which there are no related court proceedings counsel shall apply to the county court or district court of the county in which the premises is located g The court upon hearing the application shall fix reasonable fees The housing agency shall allow the account bill or claim presented by any attorney for such services in the amount determined by the court No such account bill or claim shall be allowed by the housing agency until the amount has been determined by the court h A housing agency shall not assess a fee against any resident for legal services provided under this subsection or otherwise attempt to recoup such costs from such resident Neb Rev Stat 71-15 139 5 Background on the new law A 2022 study by the University of Nebraska College of Law of evictions in Lancaster County found a high level of lawlessness where tenants lacked counsel and that that a tenant representation project had stunning results a summary of the study is also available The study examined 3 000 court hearings occurring in eviction actions filed between December 2019 and October 2021 Key findings Only 6 8 of the cases filed during the study period were compliant with all statutorily mandated requirements for bringing an eviction action in Nebraska Yet at the same time Non-compliant eviction actions were allowed to proceed in nearly every instance and most often 60 8 resulted in the tenant being displaced from their home This included over 400 defaults with defective notice Prior to the Tenant Assistance Project only 2 2 of tenants had counsel but after TAP over 95 of tenants who appeared in court were represented Only 2 3 of represented tenants were ordered immediately evicted compared to 55 3 of unrepresented tenants Where tenants were ordered evicted representation dropped sheriff involvement from 41 9 to 32 1 and increased time to move from 5 days to 7 days During TAP s operation the rate of tenant appearances rose from 18 3 to 43 1 The data release was covered in part by KTMV CBS 3 and The Reader That same year the Omaha City Council approved an affordable housing action plan with right to counsel language Current programs like the Tenant Assistance Project TAP should be expanded TAP provides legal assistance to tenants in Douglas County Eviction Court Since 2020 this program has been partially funded by COVID relief dollars These efforts could be expanded to include a tenant right to counsel This would require a change in city ordinance Additionally legal counsel should be more broadly available and free for tenants If solutions to avoid eviction can be identified it is a win for both the landlord and the tenant Approval of this plan and its right to counsel components was covered by WOWT and the Omaha World-Herald Then in 2023 a series of stories by Flatwater Press found that evictions by the Omaha Housing Authority hit a six-year high in 2023 causing OHA to pause its evictions entirely LB 840 was in part a response to this development",yes,Yes "New Jersey","In June 2023 the Jersey City Council approved an ordinance establishing a right to counsel for tenants The law covers evictions proceedings to terminate housing subsidies proceedings related to violations of the maintenance code and proceedings related to violations of rent control laws The right to counsel is expected to cost roughly 4 million and will be funded via passage of a separate ordinance that collects fees on new development The bill s introduction and passage have been covered by The Real Deal Insider NJ NJ dot com Shelterforce Next City Hudson County View People s World Gothamist and NJ Spotlight News The ordinance was the result of a year-long campaign by the Coalition for Right to Counsel Jersey City and the campaign was recently endorsed by Jersey City Together In New Jersey dot com an opinion piece from a New Jersey City resident urged the passage of right to counsel calling it a moral imperative and saying Housing should not be a commodity to be traded and speculated on but a basic human right A right to counsel places us in the right direction",yes,Yes "New Jersey","New Jersey relying on a mix of different federal funds has launched an eviction right to counsel pilot project in Mercer County Essex County and Atlantic County that will provide counsel to all tenants facing eviction in those counties",yes,Yes "New Jersey","UPDATE 2020 early data shows results from RTC In 2020 Newark s Office of Tenant Legal Services reported that 33 of its represented cases had been dismissed while another 23 had been settled either with no moveout or extra time to move And a story in Law360 quoted the RTC Cirector as saying that the RTC program has helped 950 tenants stay housed since opening in June 2019 UPDATE city begins work on implementing right to counsel New Jersey Dot Com and Patch have reported that the City of Newark has provided 400 000 in initial funding to start implementing the right to counsel for evictions The money will go towards expanding a pro bono program and to Essex Legal Services UPDATE right to counsel bill enacted In late December 2018 the Newark City Council enacted an ordinance sponsored by Mayor Ras Baraka that guarantees counsel to tenants under 200 of the federal poverty level who are facing eviction By enacting this law Newark joined NYC and San Francisco which passed such laws within the last year UPDATE initiative takes step forward NJ dot com reports that Newark passed an ordinance to create a nonprofit to connect eligible tenants with representation the first step taken since the Mayor announced his intention However The ordinance does not cite funding sources or detail the responsibilities of the nonprofit although the article suggests the City will fund the nonprofit at least in part Background In May 2018 Newark Mayor Ras Baraka standing with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he intends to introduce legislation on Friday that would provide a right to counsel for Newark tenants in housing court The plan is for the first stage of implementation to occur on Sept 1 which would apply to roughly 10 000 seniors and people with disabilities among otheres with the whole effort to be in place within 3-5 years News stories say the city intends to rely at least initially on pro bono attorneys to carry out the project The news has been picked up by NJ com the NY Times WBGO and Moguldom while the Newark Star-Ledger s Editorial Board came out in support of the legislation",yes,Yes "New York","In May 2023 Westchester County NY became the first county and 19th jurisdiction to provide a right to counsel for tenants in a variety of scenarios The legislation adopted unanimously by the County s Board of Legislators covers court evictions rent increases that fail to comply with state law public housing or rent subsidy hearings and restoration and or maintenance of essential services the deprivation of which has caused or may cause the client to vacate the residential rental premises The legislation creates an Office of Housing Counsel and requires that all tenants at 300 or below of the federal poverty level receive full representation as soon as practicable those over income are entitled to brief legal assistance Check out the County s press release as well as coverage in Lohud",yes,Yes "New York","Rochester NY is implementing a 1 million universal representation program for income-eligible tenants WXXI News has more",yes,Yes "New York","UPDATE May 2025 reports find RTC delivers high unit retention rates but problems remain with rates of representation The 2024 Annual Report from NYC s Office of Civil Justice found that There were 126 236 petitions filed for eviction the vast majority of which concerned nonpayment of rent Between 33-67 of tenants depending on the borough received full representation For those tenants receiving full representation between 72-93 of represented households depending on the borough were able to remain in their homes A report from the NYC Comptroller found that while evictions have steadily increased since the pandemic the monthly rate of representation for tenants facing evictions has hovered below 50 for the past three years reaching a low point of just 30 in March 2025 The Comptroller s report also stated that Legal counsel in housing court is the most effective tool for preventing eviction and reducing the City s shelter population The Office of Civil Justice reported that 89 of tenants who received full legal representation in an eviction proceeding in FY 2024 were able to remain stably housed Between 2013 and 2024 eviction filings decreased by nearly 50 from 247 000 cases to 118 000 as landlords likely stopped filing frivolous and serial eviction cases due to increased tenant protections The Comptroller s report was covered by The City UPDATE 3 25 Report finds RTC has lowered eviction filing rates A 2025 report by the Community Service Society found that between 2017 and 2024 filings declined by 49 percent and court- ordered evictions declined by 26 percent Right to Counsel local anti-harassment laws and the 2019 rent laws are working in tandem to lower eviction rates in New York City UPDATE Year 6 report demonstrates RTC s strength In its latest report covering FY23 the NYC Office of Civil Justice outlined that while eviction filings increased 83 from the prior year and that continued capacity concerns meant that providers frequently offered legal advice to tenants who were otherwise eligible for full representation they also found that In those Housing Court eviction and NYCHA termination cases with reported resolutions in FY2023 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 UPDATE Year 5 FY22 report shows program s continued impact The Office of Civil Justice has released Universal Access to Legal Services A Report on Year Five of Implementation in New York City which looks at NYC s eviction right to counsel program Key points from the report include While evictions have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels they rose by 20 from the prior year Assistance was provided to 92 400 New Yorkers in approximately 41 800 households across New York City Tenants in rent-regulated housing comprised more than half of the clients Although filings and calendars were not at pre-pandemic levels UA citywide expansion vestiges of COVID-19 and the Great Resignation meant that for the first time in the program s history providers did not always appear at housing court Despite these challenges more than 63 of tenants who appeared in Housing Court for eviction cases in the fourth quarter of FY2022 were represented by attorneys in court OCJ continued to work closely with the New York City Housing Court and the nonprofit legal providers who comprise OCJ s Anti-Harassment and Tenant Protection AHTP program to ensure that tenants in emergency cases illegal lockouts and HP actions for critical repairs are afforded access to free legal services 78 of represented households in eviction proceedings and 87 facing administrative termination of their tenancy by NYCHA remained in their homes Executions carried out by marshals have declined 41 since 2013 the City began its investment in tenant representation in 2014 UPDATE NYC expands RTC to all seniors regardless of income As a result of the passage of INT-673 all senior citizens in New York City are entitled to counsel when facing eviction regardless of their income level Update RTCNYC issues FAQ on tenants not getting attorneys The Right to Counsel NYC Coalition has written a Frequently Asked Questions doc that explains the recent problem of courts proceeding with eviction cases even where tenants do not have a lawyer to which they are entitled Update another study breaks down success of RTC program A working paper authored by the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University and published in the National Bureau of Economic Research examined NYC s eviction right to counsel from 2016-2019 and made the following key findings UA zip codes see fewer cases with a judgment due to a settlement and fewer cases that are forfeited by a tenant failure to appear The number of days between a case filing and a judgment is also longer R epresentation has very large effects on the affected cases reducing the probability of a possessory judgment by 38 5 percentage points the log judgment amount by 2 226 and the probability of a warrant being issued by 38 1 percentage points R epresentation reduces the probability that the judgment reflects a settlement the most common basis for a judgment which may reflect a diminution in self-represented tenants being strong-armed by landlords attorneys before appearing before a judge Tenant representation also reduces the probability that a judgment is reached because the tenant failed to answer the petition or failed to appear in court T enant representation via the UA program reduced the probability of a possessory judgment by 62 percent reduced the award amount by 85 percent reduced the probability of a warrant being issued by 72 percent and reduced the probability of a warrant being executed by 62 percent though this last estimate is not statistically significant W hile representation has an effect in both relatively poor and less poor places the biggest impacts of UA representation are in the places with above-median poverty rates Update latest report shows continued success of RTC program The latest report from the NYC Office of Civil Justice finds that 84 of represented tenants were able to remain in their homes It also reported that 100 percent of tenants with calendared eviction cases had access to legal services and 71 percent of tenants who appeared in Housing Court had full representation by attorneys nearly double the pre-pandemic rate of 38 percent and an exponential increase over the 1 percent of tenants who had lawyers in 2013 The program is funded through 166 million of NYC general revenue Check out the City s press release Update City expands right to counsel law The New York City Council passed two bills expanding the right to counsel one of which makes the right applicable to the entire City immediately rather than being rolled out over a longer period and the other requires the City to work with tenant organizing groups on an outreach campaign Update documentary shows how the right to counsel was achieved A new documentary Our Rights Our Power The Right To Counsel RTC Campaign To Fight Evictions in NYC shows how tenant organizers in New York City built a powerful and winning campaign to make the City the first in the nation to provide a right to counsel for tenants Update Latest annual report on right to counsel continues to show massive success The Year Three report by the NYC Office of Civil Justice highlightx the significant impact of the city s rollout of the right to counsel Notably in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a partial moratorium on evictions in the City the right to counsel model shifted to handle all lockouts requests for emergency repairs and pre-pandemic cases and was able to represent all tenants without counsel The project also reached out to 14 000 households that had un-executed eviction warrants in 2020 in order to offer representation Some of the key points from the report 38 of tenants are now represented in housing court up from 32 last year and 69 of NYCHA tenants were represented in administrative termination of tenancy proceedings There are 25 zip codes that have been reached so far as part of the phased-in rollout Evictions by marshals declined another 15 since last year and have declined 41 since 2013 when funding for tenant representation first began 86 of represented tenants in housing courts were able to remain in their homes and 98 of tenants represented in administrative termination of tenancy proceedings were allowed to remain The City invested 117 million in FY20 and has 131 million allocated for FY21 Update Annual report on right to counsel shows huge drop in evictions eviction filings The latest report by the NYC Office of Civil Justice contains some dramatic findings on the impact of the city s rollout of the right to counsel Representation rose from 1 in 2013 to 38 in 2019 the right is being rolled out over 5 years which in 2019 included 32 000 households who were facing eviction in Housing Court or NYC Housing Authority administrative proceedings Evictions have dropped 41 overall since 2013 including a 15 drop in 2019 alone Eviction filings have dropped by 30 since 2013 including a 20 drop in 2019 alone Default judgments have dropped 34 since 2013 Requests by tenants to bring their cases back to the Housing Court calendar on an emergency basis in order to dispute a judgment request additional time or raise legal issues previously not addressed have dropped by 38 because tenant representation is ensuring these issues are addressed right at the start of the case Overall 84 of tenants who were represented by counsel remained in their homes Update City Council holds hearing on expanding RTC law On February 24 2020 the NYC Council had a hearing on two bills to expand the right to counsel for tenants facing eviction Intro 1529 would require the city to work with tenant organizers that could help to ensure the right is effectively implemented by making sure tenants know and understand their rights while Intro 1104 would expand the income threshold for eligibility to 400 of the federal poverty level while also covering termination of housing subsidies Testimony at the hearing revealed that the default rate for evictions i e the rate at which tenants fail to show up for housing court has dropped by roughly 35 from 2016 to 2019 The NCCRC submitted testimony in favor of the bills Media coverage of the hearing was provided by amny and Curbed New York Update Report shows success of new RTC law The Community Service Society of NY released a report about the impact of the existing RTC law in NYC 32 of the City now has RTC and there s been an overall 30 drop in the eviction rate as well as where evictions are happening in the city as correlated by race and poverty The Real Deal has more on the report The report also links to the 2019 report by Community Action for Safe Apartments that found more than half of those in RTC zip codes didn t know they had a right to counsel until they arrived in housing court demonstrating the need for additional outreach Additionally Next City covered how evictions are down in NYC thanks to the right to counsel law while City Limits examined how NYC s success has benefited and driven the right to counsel movement across the country Update new rent regulations plus right to counsel cause 20 eviction decline amny and the NY Daily News report on how the eviction rate in NYC is down nearly 20 in the six months since the state passed laws strengthening rent regulation and advocates attribute the decline to a combination of those new laws plus the expanding right to counsel for tenants in the city Update Report on 2 years of right to counsel shows dramatic success NYC s Office of Civil Justice has released their report analyzing the impact of the right to counsel in the first several years Overall it finds that 84 percent of represented tenants are remaining in their homes and the eviction rate has declined by over 30 percent since implementation began Moreover eviction filings dropped 6 percent from 2018 to 2019 and have dropped 15 percent since the City started funding expanded representation in 2013 Update Advocates look to expand RTC law Not content with achieving the first housing right to counsel in the county NYC advocates have worked with Council member Mark Levine on introduction of RTC 2 0 which would expand eligibility for appointed counsel from 200 of the federal poverty level to 400 and would also include hearings at some non-housing court venues The New York Law Journal and AM New York have more Advocates have also introduced a bill that would provide funding for tenant organizing groups to better educate tenants on their rights under the new law Update NYC court vacates tenant stipulation because tenant improperly denied counsel In 2247 Webster Ave HDFC v Galarce 2019 N Y Misc LEXIS 29 N Y Civ Ct 2019 a trial court found that a tenant was improperly deprived of her right to appointed counsel in an eviction due to a clerical error The court recounted the history of Intro 214 as well as its early success and some of the statistics about the effectiveness of attorneys then vacated the stipulation the tenant had entered into because it said it could not find that representation would not have made a difference The court stated Indeed to hold Respondent to this stipulation in the context of the Universal Access to Counsel law would take the case out of the due and ordinary course of today s Housing Court where Respondent was entitled to litigate her case with the benefit of full representation by an attorney Vacatur of the stipulation supports the integrity and balance that the Office of Court Justice is charged by law with bringing to litigation in Housing Court In her unrefuted affidavit Respondent states that after speaking with an attorney for the Petitioner she was left with the impression that she had to leave the apartment and that she signed the agreement offered by the Petitioner s attorney because she felt she didn t have a choice and might find herself in more trouble if she did not sign the stipulation Aff of Respondent at 8-9 This is precisely the type of scenario described by Hon Jean Schneider in her interview for the New York Law Journal article As the 144 Woodruff Corp v Lacrete court opined this court cannot permit itself the illusion comforting though it might be but which our own Chief Administrators have rejected that settlements in Housing Court are generally the result of arms length transactions between parties of equal bargaining power Update Studies and reports look at first year of implementation A new policy brief by the Furman Center takes a look at how implementation of NYC s eviction right to counsel is going in order to provide useful information to other jurisdictions considering a similar right to counsel To do this evaluation they say We visited Housing Court facilities across the city watched how UAC is working and observed how it is changing practices in those courts We spoke with members of the judiciary representatives from legal services providers participating in the UAC program members of the landlords bar tenant organizers and other tenant advocates about the challenges and opportunities that implementing the program has posed To better understand the challenges tenants face and their views about the need for counsel we interviewed more than 100 tenants most of whom appeared in Housing Court without counsel and did not live in the zip codes currently covered by the UAC program City Limits has more on the release of the report Additionally the Community Service Society of NY examined the first year data and found that evictions occurred five times less frequently in the zip codes implementing a right to counsel Crain s New York Business and The Real Deal covered this analysis Councilmembers Levine and Gibson issued a memo to the Chief Judge urging the courts to address some of the implementation issues that have come up in the first year of the right to counsel The recommendations in the memo came from the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition Finally NPR in both an audio segment and written piece talked to tenants affected by the new right to counsel as well as the drop in eviction rates in zip codes that have the new right to counsel Update NYC s 1st year of right to counsel kept 84 of tenants in homes The NYC Office of Civil Justice has released its 2018 report detailing the first full year of implementation of the right to counsel in eviction cases And it has some incredibly impressive numbers 84 percent of all tenants who were provided an attorney in Housing Court remained in their homes 21 955 New Yorkers representing 7 847 households It is especially notable that the 84 percent figure exceeds the 77 percent figure estimated by the NYC Independent Budget Office Moreover 97 percent of those receiving legal services for NYCHA administrative termination of tenancy were able to remain in their homes These results demonstrate the incredible effectiveness of a right to counsel in preserving housing stability In considering the reasons for that effectiveness it is meaningful that nearly three-quarters of those receiving legal assistance for Housing Court obtained full representation Evictions conducted by City Marshalls have dropped by 27 percent overall since 2013 and have declined steadily in all but one year since then 30 percent of all tenants are now represented by an attorney The right to counsel is reaching those most in need the largest represented group was those making less than 50 percent of the federal poverty level and half of the legal services recipients were receiving public benefits The 2018 report release was covered by WNYC Next City Gothamist Nonprofit Quarterly and The Real Deal Update Judges testify that efficiency improving with new law A number of NYC judges testified that the new right to counsel law has had a positive impact on court efficiency and fairness Judge Jean Schneider the citywide supervising judge of the New York City Housing Court testified that our court is improving by leaps and bounds The hearings were covered by the NY Law Journal Update Intro 214-b is now law On July 20 2017 Intro 214-b was approved by the City Council and the Mayor signed the bill on August 11 2017 Read a piece in City and State New York from bill sponsor Mark Levine or quotes from the NYC Council Progressive Caucus and City officials You can also see video clips of the City Council s vote and the celebratory event at the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness s Facebook page The bill s passage has been covered nationally by Marketplace Slate Mother Jones Baltimore Sun CityLab HousingWire Vice and Fast Company and locally by the NY Daily News Village Voice NY 1 Gotham GazetteHarlem World New York Amsterdam News NY Law Journal subscription required 6sqft Town Village DNA Info New York GlobeSt Curbed NY and The Uptowner Update Intro 214 will become law Read the NCCRC s press release the release from the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition and Mayor de Blasio s State of the City Address On February 12 2017 Mayor de Blasio announced that the City will be providing universal access to counsel for low-income people in housing court in effect enacting Intro 214-a A day later In his State of the City address in February 2017 Mayor de Blasio explained If you re a hard working New Yorker if you re someone struggling to make ends meet if you re someone who needs legal help you can t afford it and you make anywhere up to 50 000 a year for family of four you will now be guaranteed a lawyer to go with you into housing court If you re facing illegal eviction you get a lawyer If you re facing illegal over charge of rent you get a lawyer If you re facing illegal harassment you get a lawyer This will happen by increasing the City s eviction legal aid spending by 93 million which will occur over 5 years In doing so NYC will become the first jurisdiction in the country to provide a right to counsel in housing cases making this an enormous step forward for the civil right to counsel movement The news has been covered by the NY Times Politico Next City Feb 16 Next City Feb 21 the NY Daily News the Gothamist NY Newsday Metro City Limits the NY Observer Fox 5 NY New York YIMBY News 12 The Bronx video The Norwood News The New York Amsterdam News AM New York The Real Deal Greenline the Law Professors Network Human Rights at Home Blog and the Caribbean Life News You can also read press releases by NCCRC The City of New York Intro 214-a sponsor Mark Levine the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition the Bronx Borough President and AARP New York UPDATE Press Conference Displays Thousands of Postcards in Support of Intro 214-a embed http www youtube com embed hkwUSHAsH4M embed On December 13 2016 the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition held a press conference at which over 7 000 postcards and a letter from almost 100 faith leaders calling for the passage of Intro 214-a were delivered to the Mayor and the NYC Council Speaker The press conference was covered by Metro New York and NY1 Noticias UPDATE New York City Council Has First Hearing on Intro 214-a The City Council hearing featured over 80 people testifying in support of the bill including former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman various borough presidents and the NYC Bar Association It was preceded by a press conference pictured below The press conference and hearing were covered by the NY Times Wall Street Journal New York Law Journal WYNC Metro New York Gothamist Huffington Post and Above the Law A video of the hearing is now available UPDATE NY Times Editorial Board supports Intro 214-a The NY Times Editorial Board has come out in support of a right to counsel in housing cases and called on the City to enact Intro 214-a UPDATE City s Office of Civil Justice Releases Report Supporting 214-A The Office of Civil Justice created by the City Council and Mayor de Blasio released its first-ever annual report in August 2016 It found that only about one percent of tenants in housing court facing eviction had lawyers in 2013 compared to 27 percent now In the same period that housing representation increased so dramatically evictions handled by city marshals dropped 24 percent The NY Observer has more about the report and Mayor de Blasio s response and a New York State real estate blog features responses to the report from various NYC government officials UPDATE Public Hearing on Intro 214-a Draws Hundreds On December 5 2014 a coalition of NYC groups held an event called Housing Justice A Public Forum on New Yorkers Right to Counsel in Eviction Proceedings in support of Intro 214 there is a video of the event A large crowd listens after Chief Judge Lippman opened the event Attended by hundreds of attorneys advocates New York City officials judges and community members the event featured panels of city county state bar leaders housing experts right to counsel specialists and affected community members The event was covered by media outlets Newsweek Truthout Capital New York and The New York Observer A view from the back and the press conference Introduction The Beginning In 2014 New York City Council member Mark Levine filed a bill Intro 214 that would guarantee a right to counsel for low-income individuals in eviction and foreclosure proceedings The bill was re-filed in 2015 Intro 214-A in order to raise the eligibility level to 200 of the poverty level The bill has a veto-proof majority of the City Council signed on to the bill and is awaiting the scheduling of a hearing in 2016 The Bill Gains Support and Public Awareness Noting the incredible disparity in representation between landlords and tenants the New York City Bar Association endorsed Intro 214 and urged the legislature to increase the eligiblity income cap from 125 of the federal poverty level to 200 which happened when Intro 214-A was introduced You can read the full NYC Bar report in support of the legislation While New York City Mayor de Blasio has increased funding substantially for eviction defense a New York Times article described his intention to become more aggressive on homelessness by taking such actions as clearing homelessness encampments In response NCCRC Coordinator John Pollock wrote a letter to the NY TImes urging Mayor de Blasio to rethink this approach and instead support Intro 214-A The letter pointed out that such a bill would be a more permanent humane and cost effective solution to the homelessness problem Cost Estimates The NYC Independent Budget Office released a report estimating the cost of providing a right to counsel as 100-200 million Although the report factored in millions of dollars in shelter savings it failed to consider potentially substantial savings from other areas such as jails prisons hospitals and affordable housing construction The report was immediately critiqued by advocates and the disagreement over costs was covered by both Newsweek and the New York Times while two committees of the New York City Bar have supported the legislation and pointed to the likely cost savings In April 2016 an independent report by commissioned by the New York City Bar Association and done by Stout concluded that rather than costing the City money the bill would actually save 320 million annually through reducing shelter costs avoiding the loss of affordable units and preventing certain expenses such as law enforcement and emergency medical care associated with homelessness Bloomberg covered the release of the report Other Information You can read more about the bill in our comprehensive bibliography and check out a video of tenants discussing the issue You can also see a flyer with a description of the Dec 5 event s speakers and panels And you can check out the website of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition",yes,Yes "New York","In 444 W 54th Street Tenants Ass n v Costello 523 N Y S 2d 374 Civ Ct 1987 the court considered whether it should appoint counsel pursuant to the discretionary appointment provision of N Y Mil Law 303 in an eviction case and in making this determination launched into a constitutional analysis discussing the court s inherent powers the New York high court s due process decisions in various cases the cutbacks to legal services that made the court reluctant to burden such agencies with new appointments as part of a discussion of whether it could order payment for any attorney it appointed and the Lassiter v Dep t of Social Services 101 S Ct 2153 1981 balancing test The court suggested that while the New York Court of Appeals in In re Smiley 330 N E 2d 53 N Y 1975 had said that counsel is Constitutionally required only when the state is proceeding against a litigant who has at risk liberty or other grievous forfeiture such a stance had been made uncertain by the 1981 United States Supreme Court determination in Lassiter Under the Lassiter test even if liberty is not at stake there is only a rebuttable presumption that counsel is not mandatory The Costello court s reliance on Lassiter suggests that it was relying on an interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment The Costello court also pointed out Certainly even in the Smiley decision then Chief Judge Breitel recognized that one s right to a home involves a vital private interest Perhaps in keen foresight of the many homeless indigents who dwell on the streets of our nation he said that there are various kinds of private litigation which may drastically affect indigent litigants Eviction from homes revocation of licenses affecting one s livelihood mortgage foreclosures repossession of important assets purchased on credit and any litigation which may result in the garnishment of income may be significant and ruinous for an otherwise indigent litigant The Costello court concluded by finding appointment both an appropriate exercise of discretion as well as a constitutional right in the instant case and possibly all cases involving evictions of military personnel I t is clear that this Court chooses to exercise whatever discretion it has in directing appointment of an attorney for the litigant in military service Indeed it is held that such appointment is mandated by public policy considerations and is also Constitutionally required due to the potential grievous forfeiture of a vital private interest of one in the military service of our country the rebuttable Lassiter presumption has been rebutted under the facts of this case thereby mandating appointment of counsel It also concluded Although the Smiley majority indicated that courts lacked authority to direct expenditure for assigned civil counsel from public funds see also In Re Goresen v Gallagher supra earlier Court of Appeals decisions held that the power to incur legal expenses necessarily implies the power to direct payment for those expenses especially in fulfilling a Constitutional mandate",yes,Yes Ohio,"UPDATE additional data shows continued success of right to counsel The Toledo Blade reports 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 Also check out the City of Toledo s February 2023 press release about the first year UPDATE early data shows success of right to counsel program An article in The Toledo Blade reports on some of the early data from Toledo s program to provide a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction Prior to the implementation of a right to counsel a study by the Blade had found that 79 of landlords in Toledo have counsel compared to 2 of tenants While the data set from the right to counsel is small at this stage 38 of represented were able to remain in their homes 44 were able to negotiate a reasonable move-out date and more than half of the cases have been dismissed Background The Toledo City Council has enacted a tenant right to counsel ordinance that guarantees counsel for all tenants facing eviction who are at 200 or below of the federal poverty level The law is to be phased in over 5 years and staffed by Legal Aid of Western Ohio and will be funded by 250k year in American Rescue Plan Act funding The news was reported in the Toledo Blade",yes,Yes Ohio,"UPDATE March 2025 Urban Institute study finds RTC delivers but eviction filings hit Black tenants disproportionately A report by the Urban Institute looks at Cleveland eviction filings and case outcomes between January 2016 and June 2023 It found significant racial disparities in filings In 90 percent of the City of Cleveland s block groups with 5 or more eviction filings from 2016 to 2023 the share of tenants facing eviction who were Black was greater than the share of renter households that were Black The study found that race did not play a role in case outcomes but RTC did make a big impact only 14 percent of defendants with representation received a writ compared with 50 percent of unrepresented defendants In 2019 judgments were rendered against 18 9 percent of unrepresented defendants versus 1 49 percent of represented defendants while in 2021 these rates shifted to 11 1 and 2 41 percent respectively Update 2023 report shows continuing success of RTC program Stout s 2023 report on Cleveland s RTC program shows both a landscape and positive results similar to prior years The report first found that RTC-C clients are disproportionately female and Black or African American compared to Cleveland s overall population and that the percentage of tenants flagging defective conditions in their homes has increased from 43 in 2020 to 56 in 2023 But the program showed terrific results when looking at client goals met Update 2022 report continues to demonstrate power of RTC Stout has released a new report on the Cleveland RTC program The report looks at results between July 2020 when the program began through December 2022 Among the highlights noted in the Executive Summary Important context for these stats is that 43 of clients did not want to remain in their homes perhaps because 82 of clients reported defects in their homes The report also estimated that the City has seen between 11 8-14 million in financial benefits due to avoided expenditures related to the housing social safety net foster care education health care and tax base erosion caused by out-migration Update Cleveland increases RTC budget Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb proposed and the City Council has approved putting 1 million of ARPA funds towards the City s right to counsel for tenants program This is a substantial increase over the City s current investment Update Cleveland program makes outreach toolkit available The Cleveland RTC program has put its outreach toolkit online which includes resources such as flyers posters and social media graphics People interested in learning more about Cleveland s outreach plan can contact Julie Wisneski of the United Way of Greater Cleveland Update Editorial urges expansion of City s successful program to Cuyahoga County An editorial in Cleveland dot com The Plain Dealer urges Cuyahoga County to go beyond its 2 million investment in expanded tenant representation and actually enact a right to counsel similar to what exists in Cleveland Noting the potential cost savings to both the City and County as well as the dramatic success of the City s program the editorial comments that The right-to-counsel law is a fundamental justice law -- giving very poor families in Cleveland access to assured legal representation when something as consequential as loss of shelter is on the line Update 2021 report reveals RTC continues to deliver impressive results The latest report analyzing the 2021 data from Cleveland s right to counsel found that the program is delivering on its promise while saving the city money Key data from the Stout report 93 of clients avoided an eviction judgment or an involuntary move Of the 21 of clients who were unaware of rental assistance at the time they contacted Legal Aid approximately 98 wanted rental assistance and Legal Aid helped 81 of those clients obtain it In other words Legal Aid played a key role in both awareness and securing of rental assistance 92 of clients who wanted additional time to move and 97 who sought monetary relief were able to get it Important context for this stat is that 42 of clients did not want to remain in their home perhaps because 79 of clients reported defects in their homes Clients were disproportionately female and Black 79 of clients reported conditions issues with their units and 92 had reported those conditions to their landlords 86 had circumstances either personal circumstances or case characteristics that would make their cases complex The report also found that the net savings to Cleveland Cuyahoga County were about 1 8-1-9 million Ideastream covered the release of the report Update first report shows incredible success of Cleveland RTC A report is now out about the first 6 months of Cleveland s right to counsel The bottom line is that 93 of those represented avoided eviction or involuntary move 83 who were seeking additional time to move were able to get it and 89 of those seeking to mitigate damages were able to do so The report s release was covered by WOSU Cleveland dot com Fox 8 WKYC and Ideastream Update Cleveland right to counsel has launched Cleveland s right to counsel enacted in October 2019 launched on July 1 2020 Coverage of the launch was in Ideastream and News 5 Cleveland Update United Way of Greater Cleveland commits resources to right to counsel A press release from the United Way of Greater Cleveland details the organization s commitment of 3 million of bridge funding to help launch the right to counsel for Cleveland tenants facing eviction The right to counsel in ordinance in Cleveland also charges UWGC with implementation of the program Elsewhere FreshWater explored the planned implementation of the right to counsel for tenants with children Update Case Western study looks at impact of evictions on child health school in Cleveland A Case Western study commissioned by the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland found among other things that evicted children are at higher risk of lead exposure and negative educational outcomes and that low-income black women are evicted at a disproportionate rate Update Cleveland bar journal looks at recent passage of eviction right to counsel Two articles in the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal look at the recent passage of the ordinance establishing a right to counsel in Cleveland eviction cases The first is by Cleveland Council President Kevin Kelley who introduced the ordinance while the other is by Bar President Ian Friedman and highlights the incredible work of Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and in particular NCCRC participant Hazel Remesch to build this right to counsel effort up from nothing Update City Council passes bill making Cleveland first Midwest city with an eviction right to counsel In October 2019 the Cleveland City Council passed the right to counsel bill establishing a right to counsel to tenants facing eviction who are at or below 100 of the federal poverty level and have children Coverage is in News 5 Cleveland cleveland com Crain s Cleveland Business and WZAK There are also press releases from the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland the service provider and the United Way the implementer Background On August 21 2019 a bill was introduced to the Cleveland City Council that would provide a right to counsel for families with children facing eviction who are at or below 100 of the federal poverty line Eviction has roughly 9 000 evictions filed per year and only 1-2 of tenants currently have counsel The bill asserts that lack of legal counsel for tenants during eviction cases is a violation of a basic human right this housing emergency destabilizes families and neighborhoods especially the most vulnerable among us resulting in homelessness decreased property values and harm to social tranquility and the general welfare of the City these conditions pose a serious threat to the public health safety and welfare of the residents of the City as well as to the City s economic stability viability and growth The bill s introduction was covered by the Cleveland Plains-Dealer and Law360 You can also check out the press release from Legal Aid Society of Cleveland",yes,Yes Ohio,"A 2018 report from Legal Aid Society of Columbus found that tenants receiving representation through their Tenant Advocacy Project TAP received an adverse judgement only 1 1 of the time compared to over 50 of the time when unrepresented Then in 2024 Stout Risius Ross released a report analyzing TAP and finding that With an annual investment of approximately 6 1 million in an eviction right to counsel Columbus and Franklin County may recognize economic benefits of at least an estimated 24 4 million The report adds that Stout s estimate of the annual economic benefits is likely significantly understated Stout also estimates that of the 6 1 million in costs for the RTC 5 1 million would provide representation for Columbus tenants while 1 million would cover tenants in Franklin County These cost estimates do not take into account the amount that the City of Columbus has already invested in its Tenant Assistance Program TAP The report s release was covered by WOSU In late 2024 spurred in part by the prior reports the City Council enacted an ordinance providing a right to full representation by counsel for tenants at 100 below of the federal poverty level who have children The Columbus Dispatch covered the enactment of the law Then on May 14 2025 The Columbus Dispatch reported that the City allocated 1 5 million for the new RTC made up of 1 million in line-item general revenue and 500k in one-time emergency rental assistance program ERAP dollars",yes,Yes Pennsylvania,"UPDATE Jan 2025 RTC continues to expand adds 3 additional zip codes According to a City of Philadelphia press release the City has expanded RTC to zip codes 19124 19141 and 19154 and the release notes that The zip codes were selected based on those identified by a Reinvestment Fund report as having the highest need The release also describes some of the demonstrated benefits of the tenant RTC program such as that RTC preserved stabilized or improved housing in more than 80 of cases and obtained critical financial relief for 70 of the remaining tenants UPDATE May 2024 RTC sponsor releases report on RTC other eviction protections A report by Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym Reduce Evictions Transform the System Lessons from Philadelphia looks at the impact of a number of changes to the eviction laws in Philly including RTC The report finds that eviction filings and court delays have been reduced and discusses the lessons learned from rolling out the different protections UPDATE another zip code added to RTC In Dec 2023 the City anounced it is adding a fifth zip code to the eviction RTC implementation and explained how it chose the zip code in question This expansion builds on the success of the initial rollout The zip codes were selected by the City based on the results of the Reinvestment Fund s analysis of need eviction volume and likely uptake eviction filing rate and family poverty The same methodology was used to select the latest zip code The percentage of tenants receiving legal representation in RTC zip codes is expected to grow as tenants become more aware of this vital resource UPDATE RTC expanding to additional zip codes The City of Philadelphia has announced that renters in two additional zip codes will now be entitled to counsel when facing eviction The expansion was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer WHYY Next City and Philly Voice The City also released its first annual RTC report which found that RTC-represented tenants avoided all default judgments and were more likely to enter into a judgment by Agreement JBA where attorneys could help them negotiate reduced judgments more time to move and payment plans The study also found that RTC clients were Black women about 80 of the time A 2022 report added that represented tenants were less likely to be locked out 15 compared to 27 more likely to have a case withdrawn 22 compared to 29 and much less likely to default 4 compared to 22 UPDATE study video provide support for right to counsel Community Legal Services of Philadelphia has created a new video that explains the impact of a right to counsel and provides tenants with the information they need to apply Additionally a new report from Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and the Housing Initiative at Penn explores the trends and challenges in the City s rental market Of note 6 8 percent of survey respondents reported experiencing at least one form of illegal eviction being locked out paid to move threatened with eviction or otherwise illegally forced to move by their landlord between February 2019 and February 2020 This rate is on par with Philadelphia court-based eviction filing rate of 7 2 percent for the same time period It suggests that nearly 20 000 renters in the city may face illegal eviction in any given year In general nonpayment of rent was the most common reason for eviction which in turn resulted from many different factors Tenants chose not to pay rent because their landlord would not make repairs 19 percent almost as often as they could not pay rent because of changes in their finances 20 percent Many also reported not paying rent because a landlord threatened or harassed them 18 percent Combined these findings suggest that although slightly over half of evictions are related to nonpayment over one-third of such nonpayment-related evictions are tied to owner behavior UPDATE right to counsel launches The City of Philadelphia officially launched its tenant right to counsel program in 2 zip codes Check out the City s press release as well as media coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer Axios Philadelphia and Philly Voice UPDATE City invests 3 million in right to counsel WHYY has reported that the City of Philadelphia has invested 3 million in the Eviction Prevention Project which will be carrying out the right to counsel for tenants facing eviction UPDATE WHYY article cites stats supporting right to counsel An article in WHYY provided some context for why Philadelphia chose to enact a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction 8 of tenants but 81 of landlords have attorneys 78 of pro se tenants are disruptively displaced 12 of all evictions are unjust 20 of shelter use is due to evictions Also The Regulatory Review explores how municipal housing regulations rely on tenant enforcement to function effectively and how the right to counsel fits into that as well as how advocates are fighting for stronger landlord tenant laws for the new attorneys to enforce UPDATE Bill is enacted by City Council On Nov 14 the full City Council voted to enact the tenant right to counsel bill The Philadelphia Inquirer WHYY Philadelphia Tribune and National Law Review have more UPDATE Bill passes out of committee The eviction right to counsel bill was unanimously voted out of committee and will go for a full vote before the City Council on November 14 WHYY the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Citizen have more UPDATE Bill filed to establish right to counsel in eviction cases Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym has introduced an ordinance to provide a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction KYW and Next City have more and check out the fact sheet about Philly evictions and the right to counsel as well as an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer explaining why the City needs to take this step According to WHYY Every candidate who responded to a survey by Reclaim Philadelphia a progressive political group indicated they would support the right to counsel A handful who did not respond to Reclaim s questions including Domb and 2nd District candidate Lauren Vidas also expressed support for the idea Second District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson co-sponsored the legislation UPDATE Philly City Council takes small step towards right to counsel Law360 reported that Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym introduced a bill to create a tenant representation fund as the first step towards a right to counsel for eviction cases UPDATE Report finds Philly would save 45 million by investing 3 5 million in tenant rep A new report by financial analysis company Stout concludes that if the City were to invest just 3 5 million annually to provide counsel for all low-income tenants facing eviction it would receive a return of 45 2 million annually The report also found that only 7 percent of Philadelphia tenants are represented compared to 80 percent of landlords and that represented tenants are only displaced 5 percent of the time compared to 78 percent of pro se tenants The report s release was covered by the Philadelphia Tribune WHYY CityLab Philadelphia Weekly KYW 1060 News Radio PlanPhilly Next City Law360 and Governing UPDATE City Council allocates 500 000 doubling current investment In response to the hearings the Philadelphia City Council has allocated 500 000 to increase representation for tenants facing eviction Councilmember Helen Gym who sponsored the legislation establishing the hearings stated that By taking this step to expand right to counsel for people facing eviction our city is joining the forefront of a national movement to protect and support low-income people fighting for their rights Read the City Council s announcement UPDATE first hearing held on March 20 2017 The City Council had its first hearing video link related to the resolution on March 20 2017 The hearing has been covered by PlanPhilly both before and after the hearing the Philadelphia Tribune Huffington Post GeneroCity philly com in a commentary by NCCRC participants Cathy Carr and Joe Sullivan that was co-authored by Deborah Gross the Philadelphia Bar Chancellor NBC 10 CBS 3 Telemundo 62 Al Dia and NewsWorks op-ed Read the testimony of Philadelphia Bar Chancellor Deborah Gross Background The Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution authorizing the Committee on Licenses and Inspections and the Committee on Public Health and Human Services to conduct hearings concerning the impact of eviction and substandard housing on the health and wellbeing of low-income renters and examin e solutions that would improve the safety and stability of rental housing including the right to counsel The resolution notes the crisis of affordable housing for low-income renters the lack of landlord compliance with certain safety requirements and the dire consequences of eviction including loss of employment missed schooling and damage to physical and mental health as well as stigma damage to credit and blacklisting It then makes strong statements in support of a right to counsel A substantial number of people dealing with substandard housing or facing eviction proceedings live in poverty cannot afford or obtain counsel to represent them and must appear in court unrepresented despite the fact that eviction proceedings are technical legal proceedings in which rules of evidence and procedural and substantive law apply Unrepresented parties operate on an uneven playing field with 80-85 of landlords having legal representation in Philadelphia landlord-tenant court while only 5-8 of tenants have such representation Representation in eviction proceedings keeps people in their homes and communities and out of the homeless shelters and provides fundamental fairness and due process for those who face imminent loss of housing by negotiating time and payment agreements helping navigate court processes addressing substandard housing conditions and defending against retaliation Reviews of Philadelphia Municipal Court data has shown that tenants with attorneys are far less likely to be evicted and more likely to assert their right to safe and habitable housing that meets code requirements Investing in a right to counsel for tenants is cost-effective is one of the best measures to prevent evictions housing instability and homelessness and is an essential tool in combating poverty and improving the health and wellbeing of the city s residents and communities Read the press release on the City Council website",yes,Yes Texas,"On written application of a party a county court may appoint any qualified attorney who is willing to provide pro bono services to represent someone who was in possession of their residence at the time of eviction and qualifies for in forma pauperis status Tex Gov t Code Ann 25 0020 The statute requires the court to notify parties of the right to make this request Tex Gov t Code Ann 26 010 e The statute also specifies that the attorney may not receive fees unless such fees are provided for by contract statute common law court rules or other regulations the county is explicitly exempt from having to pay such fees Tex Gov t Code Ann 26 010 d",discretionary,Yes Washington,"CB 120007 a bill filed in the Seattle City Council by Councilwoman Sawant and amended by the Council was passed by the Council in March 2021 It provides a right to counsel for all low-income tenants facing eviction The Seattle Times Crosscut The Urbanist and The Appeal have more The RTC follows in the wake of a long-running eviction defense effort the Seattle Housing Justice Project which a report by the Seattle Women s Commission showed was providing significant benefits to tenants 2019 HJP data showed that 52 of represented tenants were able to stay in their homes compared to only 8 of unrepresented tenants",yes,Yes Washington,"UPDATE June 2025 evictions in WA State skyrocket presenting challenges for RTC program As reported by The Chronicle In King County alone eviction filings in January 2025 were 66 higher than pre-pandemic levels and evictions have been steadily rising for the past few years The increase in evictions has made it so that the RTC program isn t able to represent everyone who s eligible and officials in WA State are eyeing potential cuts to federal rental assistance and Medicaid as factors that will worsen the crisis But a new state law controls the amount that rents can increase each year which advocates are hoping will help with the eviction numbers And Since the program began in 2021 56 of people facing an eviction were allowed to remain in their housing with the case either being dismissed or resolved through an agreement between the tenant and landlord The problem of tenants not always getting attorneys in King County was also reported by KUOW which also noted that The Eviction Defense Program received funding from the state Legislature for five additional attorneys to serve King County beginning in July UPDATE October 2024 latest data shows half of RTC tenants staying in homes A one-pager released by the Washington Office of Civil Legal Aid about the tenant RTC program s 2024 achievements found that 81 of closed cases resulted in permanent housing being secured for the tenant 56 of cases resulted in tenants remaining in their homes subject to UDA The program saved tenants 13 721 039 in total UPDATE JUNE 2024 DOJ cites WA State RTC in case against landlord As an example of how RTC can lead to systemic reform 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 sic not possible before this important program existed UPDATE MARCH 2024 Appellate court reverses another eviction where right to counsel denied In MOSM v Deegan a Washington State appellate court reversed and remanded an eviction order because the trial judge a failed to send a tenant who had requested counsel to a RTC screening and b failed to continue the matter until she had counsel In the case the tenant asked for a lawyer but The trial court did not determine whether she was indigent or appoint her a lawyer Instead it proceeded with the hearing failed to provide Deegan with an opportunity to present evidence or argument at the hearing and entered a writ of restitution and judgment of unlawful detainer against her The appellate court noted that Grays Harbor County Superior Court adopted a standing order providing that at any show cause hearing or trial where a tenant defendant appears unrepresented the Court will advise the tenant of their right to appointed counsel if indigent and inquire whether they wish to assert that right GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY SUPERIOR CT Ord 2021-5 at 2 Aug 24 2021 emphasis added If the tenant defendant requests appointment of counsel the Court shall refer them to services to screen the tenant for indigency Id emphasis added And the Court will continue the initial hearing for not less than one week to permit the tenant defendant time to be screened for eligibility and if eligible secure appointment of and consult with their counsel The appellate court also rejected the landlord s argument that the capacity issues experienced by legal aid meant the RTC law was not funded and therefore not active noting that there had been over 100 other appointments in the county in two years The appellate court then concluded Nothing in the statue or in the standing order authorized discretion on the part of the trial court if a tenant appeared without an attorney and asked for one the trial court had to continue the hearing and refer the tenant for screening The trial court did not need any proof of indigence at that stage The predicate for referral for screening was whether the tenant appeared without a lawyer and asked for one And even if the tenant had not asked about obtaining counsel the trial court had a duty under the standing order to inform Deegan of the statutory right to counsel for indigent eviction defendants and inquire whether she wanted to be screened for indigency UPDATE Legislature provides 3 million in additional RTC funding The Seattle Times reports that in March 2024 the Washington State Legislature approved 3 million in additional funding for the statewide tenant RTC program According to the article The funding will allow the office to hire 10 more attorneys reaching a total of 80 attorneys statewide to handle cases across Washington particularly in the corners of the state with the highest eviction numbers the Seattle area Clark County and Spokane County UPDATE 2023 report looks at RTC results A 2023 report on Washington State s eviction right to counsel found that Among all case outcomes 26 3 of cases were dismissed 27 3 ended with a negotiated agreement for the tenant to move and 15 2 ended with a negotiated agreement for the client to stay Approximately one-fifth of clients received rental assistance and one-fifth received extra days to move Of the 398 cases with recorded savings amounts clients saved an average of 9 500 Only 15 of cases ended with a writ of restitution which is an eviction judgment against the tenant requiring the tenant to leave a residence UPDATE state adopts court rule requiring continuances of eviction cases In October 2023 the Supreme Court of Washington adopted a court rule that creates uniform procedures for first appearances in eviction cases Critically the rule not only requires the court to advise an eligible tenant of the right to counsel and refer the tenant for appointment of counsel but also to continue the case for a reasonable time for the tenant to obtain counsel This is a critical piece in ensuring that representation for tenants is effective by providing attorneys sufficient time to meet with tenants and prepare for representation UPDATE court reverses eviction where tenant denied right to counsel In Payton v Nelson the Washington Court of Appeals considered a scenario where an eligible tenant was denied an appointed attorney in their eviction case The trial court had held the right to counsel law specifies the right is subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this purpose and that the court believed the funds were not yet available so it denied that the right to counsel had been violated and then ordered the eviction of the pro se tenant The Court of Appeals noted that the right to counsel law which specifies that the court appoint counsel for eligible tenants had been made effective immediately upon enactment and that funding had been appropriated the delay in attorneys being available was actually due to necessary contracts not yet being signed between the state and the legal services provider The Court of Appeals also noted that the State Office of Civil Legal Aid took the position that evictions are not permitted to proceed until the tenant is provided an attorney The Court of Appeals conceded It was unusual to be sure to mandate court-appointed counsel in cases that landlords could bring before procedures were in place to make the appointment But the legislature characterized the problem being addressed as a public health emergency It then concluded Given the context and all the legislature had to say in related provisions it is unsurprising that unlawful detainer proceedings that had already been delayed would be delayed somewhat longer if OCLA did not have contracts in place in a given county Critically given plain language that the right to counsel and duty to appoint counsel existed immediately the only reasonable reading of RCW 59 18 640 1 is that if indigent tenants did not have appointed counsel an eviction proceeding would have to be delayed UPDATE first annual RTC report released The Office of Civil Legal Aid released the first annual report to the Washington State Legislature documenting implementation of the State s right to counsel for indigent tenants in eviction cases Here are some highlighted findings Since commencing operations in October 2021 RTC attorneys have been appointed for all tenants screened and found eligible for appointed counsel in every case in every judicial district in the state An important caveat made in the report is that not every tenant is yet aware of the right to counsel Court-appointed attorneys represented close to 3000 tenants between January 1 and May 30 2022 Tenants remained in their homes in more than 50 of closed cases where the result is known In the other cases where a different outcome is known tenant attorneys have helped expand tenant time to move obtained orders of dismissal and limited dissemination provided relief from future back-due rent claims and helped achieve other outcomes that significantly benefit the tenant and reduce the long-term negative impact on their ability to find rental housing Court processes are changing as courts are routinely informing tenants of their rights to appointed counsel providing them time to be screened for eligibility appointing attorneys for indigent tenants and respecting the new and enhanced role of tenant defendants court-appointed attorneys UPDATE statewide right to counsel goes live The Seattle Times and KGW News recently reported on the rollout of the Washington State eviction right to counsel program UPDATE statewide implementation plans released Washington State s Office of Civil Legal Aid has publicly released the implementation plan for the newly-enacted statewide right to counsel for tenants facing eviction Other reports related to implementation can be found on the OCLA website Background In April 2021 Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed SB 5160 which makes the state the first to guarantee counsel for indigent tenants in eviction cases It specifies that Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose the court must appoint an attorney for an indigent tenant in an unlawful detainer proceeding under this chapter and chapters 59 12 and 59 20 RCW The bill has a flexible definition of indigent and routes the funds through the Office of Civil Legal Aid The passage of the bill was covered by the Seattle Times Oregon Public Broadcasting The Olympian Business Insider and ABA Journal",yes,No