Lawrence Tenants pushing Douglas County (KS) to enact tenant RTC
A March 2025 article in the Lawrence Times highlighted that Lawrence Tenants has “a work group crafting a potential ordinance to present to the Douglas County Commission regarding tenant right to counsel” and that when they presented the RTC idea to the City of Lawrence KS, the commissioners “generally agreed to explore the tenant bill of rights and tenant right to counsel further.” In August 2025, the Lawrence Times reported that Douglas County Commissioners heard a variety of eviction reform proposals at a work session, and that the Lawrence Tenants group pushed for tenant RTC. Lawrence Tenants also resisted the suggestion that mediation could be used instead:
Many guest speakers reported that tenants were overall more willing to participate in mediation than landlords. When both parties do come to the table, it’s typically a pro se tenant speaking with a landlord’s lawyer … “Self-represented tenants are typically unaware of their rights and unable to raise defenses or navigate the eviction system, putting them at a severe disadvantage,” said Matt Dickey, of Lawrence Tenants. “Mediators and other non-legal providers are not able to argue on behalf of tenants in court or even help them identify a valid counterclaim, leaving the core power imbalance unaddressed. There is no substitute for full legal representation for tenants in our rights.
At a Douglas County Commission meeting on September 3, representatives from Lawrence Tenants, Kansas Holistic Defenders, and the NCCRC spoke to county commissioners about the need and value of a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction. Lawrence Tenants has proposed an ordinance that would cover all tenants for evictions and subsidy terminations and urged the County to adopt it by October 1 so that the program could launch by the end of 2026, although the Lawrence Journal World reported the Commission already passed a 2026 budget and some commissioners suggested exploring a cost analysis first. Advocates pushed back on the delay, pointing out that a number of the commissioners had voted to include right to counsel in the housing and homelessness plan back in May 2024. Lawrence Tenants members also pushed back against the suggestion at an August 20 Commission meeting that mediation could solve the eviction problem, noting that many landlords refuse to mediate and that “Mediators and other non-legal providers are not able to argue on behalf of tenants in court or even help them identify a valid counterclaim, leaving the core power imbalance unaddressed. There is no substitute for full legal representation for tenants in our rights.”
