Fewer Eligible Tenants Get ‘Right to Counsel’ After Pandemic, Program Expansion: Report

As evictions spike the Independent Budget Office highlights ongoing challenges in the city s venture to provide free legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction People entering Brooklyn Housing Court located at Livingston Street on the morning of March As evictions climb to pre-pandemic levels most of New Yorkers facing eviction may not be getting the legal representation they are entitled to according to a new overview from the New York City Independent Budget Office The analysis distributed Thursday highlights ongoing challenges with the city s Right to Counsel venture which promises free legal counsel to low-income tenants facing eviction But the review finds that only a fraction percent of eligible tenants got full legal representation under the effort last year function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' The document s authors argue that a rapid expansion in eligibility changes to eviction law and practices and plateauing funding for the campaign means fewer eligible tenants receive help It s subject to funding availability and staffing availability stated Independent Budget Office Senior Research and Strategy Officer Sarah Parker In certain means that Right to Counsel language is a goal but not a mandate Only half of tenants facing eviction appear in court To get Right to Counsel in the first place tenants must show up in court When they don t the housing court can issue a default judgement an automatic ruling in their landlord s favor There were over eviction cases filed in according to the summary But despite efforts to educate tenants about their rights court appearance rates are stubbornly low Just about half of tenants facing eviction show up according to IBO s analysis That figure has remained around percent since the project began in Lower representation rate When tenants do show up they don t unfailingly get lawyers The rate of representation for eligible tenants plunged percent after the pandemic according to IBO Outcomes are vastly improved in housing court if you as a tenant have legal representation stated Parker Coming out of the pandemic in when eviction moratoria were still in place state and federal initiatives like New York s Urgency Rental Assistance Initiative ERAP provided a social safety net At the time a smaller subset of the city was eligible for Right to Counsel and just over half of tenants had a lawyer In just one out of every three eligible tenants citywide facing eviction got legal representation IBO located Of cases where tenants appeared in court last year IBO estimated were eligible for the venture But under got full representation in court Various areas of the city were better served than others In the last quarter of percent of Queens households served by the scheme got full representation in court compared to percent in the Bronx according to a statement from the Office of Civil Justice Earlier this year Comptroller Brad Lander s office uncovered that the top zip codes for evictions were all in the South and Central Bronx In criminal court Parker points out cases cannot proceed if a client is not represented But housing court cases can go forward without representation despite the city s promise of counsel to those who qualify for it This is a effort that is called right to counsel but it did not legally establish a right on the part of the tenant to counsel declared Parker As the number of people who received a lawyer to represent them in court declined more clients used brief assistance a one-time consultation conducted at court or through a hotline That type of assistance did not include representation in housing court but its use grew percent from to Activists rallied outside Brooklyn Housing Court last month in endorsement of more funding for the Right to Counsel initiative on the morning of March Adi Talwar City Limits More clients same funding Spending on the Right to Counsel operation has increased every year since it started rolling out in to just under million last year But the amount has not kept pace with the demand for lawyers The number of people eligible for the plan tripled from to IBO estimates as legislators expanded eligibility to all tenants with income below percent of the federal poverty level about for a family of four and to all tenants years or older As the campaign expanded citywide between and the number of eligible tenants tripled increasing percent according to IBO s estimate Project funding went up only percent Lawyers working on the plan say those funding deficiencies stretch them thin People were leaving because of the development loads and this is really demanding work noted Munonyedi Clifford the attorney in charge of the Legal Aid Society s citywide housing practice With more money you can get more lawyers and you can get more qualified lawyers they added Longer cases After the pandemic eviction cases are taking longer to resolve IBO observed Longer cases may literally help improve outcomes for tenants but can further strain Right to Counsel providers IBO unveiled that before the pandemic percent of cases had a first decision within six months But in and only percent reached a decision within that time frame According to one of the overview s authors Claire Salant cases are taking longer because of changes to state law that gave tenants more time to respond to eviction proceedings But courts are also stretched thin with a packed calendar and sparse clerks to schedule hearings the account explained There s clearly a disconnect between the intent of the operation as it was passed in City Council and as providers and advocates talked about it all when it happened and where it at the moment fits in current times explained Parker As funding plateaus need may only grow Evictions in the past few days reached their highest monthly rate since according to a Gothamist account Advocates warn that federal cuts to Medicare and Medicaid could further stress the budgets of low-income households in New York City It s heartbreaking Tenants who are eligible for representation and should be getting representation aren t getting representation because there s not enough lawyers doing this work right now explained Clifford To reach the reporter behind this story contact Patrick citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint initiative here The post Fewer Eligible Tenants Get Right to Counsel After Pandemic Undertaking Expansion Assessment appeared first on City Limits