Poster #114 - The Expansion of New York City’s Right to Counsel

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

New York City’s Right to Counsel Law (RTC), providing low-income tenants with free representation in housing court, was the first of its kind in the country and a model for other jurisdictions. Since 2017, over a dozen major cities and at least three states have adopted similar programs. Research on the program's early period showed that it successfully increased representation rates and reduced eviction rates for targeted areas (Ellen, I.G., et al, 2020; Cassidy & Currie, 2023). Since then, however, the program has faced numerous challenges, including an accelerated expansion due to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to contract structure and funding, and transformed conditions in housing court. Due to the dramatic decline in eviction proceedings during the New York State eviction moratorium, as well as COVID-19 pandemic-related changes to federal, state, and local safety net programs for low-income tenants, the effects of these compounding challenges took years to be fully realized. Providers and City agencies have started to raise the alarm that the program is failing, but existing literature has not addressed these more recent issues and the impact in the post-pandemic period.

This paper describes the history of this program in New York City as well as the changes in contract structure and program expansion with both qualitative and quantitative methods. Using IBO’s unique access to City administrative data, we review City program data and City budgets to track program outcomes over the course of seven years with descriptive statistics. We then use case-level New York State housing court data to provide a quantitative analysis of changes to representation rates and case lengths, supplemented by a historical summary of the program rollout from interviews with legal service providers and agency administrators.  We also review contracts pre- and post-expansion to look at how contract changes compare to court trends, an analysis which is absent from previous research. To conclude, we estimate the growth of the eligible population against budgeted spending over time to demonstrate how funding has not kept pace with program scope, resulting in a reduced capacity for full legal representation. We also discuss challenges around court data that can result in different measurements of program outcomes among researchers and program administrators.

Together, these sources demonstrate how the program’s reality has diverged from its intentions. We find representation rates decreased after the accelerated expansion; for example, representation in the first zip code cohort fell from 45% in 2019 to 32% in 2024 (City fiscal years). We also find shorter contract coverage and longer case timelines in court. Notably, less than half of tenants served by the program, and less than 30% of all eligible tenants received the full legal representation they are entitled to in 2024. Lessons from New York City’s Right to Counsel program can be applied as other jurisdictions also seek to address reducing evictions and improving tenant outcomes in housing court.

Authors: Claire Salant, Sarah Internicola, Richard DiSalvo, Jacob Berman, Sarah Parker, Sarita Subramanian. (Richard DiSalvo is a former IBO employee.)

Author

• Claire Salant, New York City Independent Budget Office
  Presenting Author