Universal Right to Counsel for tenants effective next month
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Mayor Bill de Blasio signed two laws expanding Right to Counsel and rights education on Wednesday. Photo via Right to Counsel Coalition
By Rachel Vick
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed two tenant protection bills from the City Council into law on Wednesday after years of advocacy and a sense of urgency heightened by the pandemic.
The Right to Counsel laws — local Laws 53 and 54 — strengthen existing protections and expedite universal access to legal representation for tenants facing Housing Court proceedings.
“This is a tremendous victory for tenants across New York City and a true testament to the power of organizing,” said Malika Conner, Director of Organizing at the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition. “Due to the public health and economic crises wrought by COVID-19, tenants need the Right to Counsel now more than ever.”
“With the signing of these two bills, more tenants facing eviction will have and know about their right to counsel — a critical step towards stopping evictions and keeping New Yorkers in their homes,” Conner added.
When Right to Counsel was first passed, the city had until July 31, 2022 to fully implement the change but that was not soon enough for advocates and lawmakers like Councilmember Mark Levine, who introduced the bill expediting universal representation in Dec. 2020.
The law passed Wednesday moves that deadline up more than one year to June 1 of this year.
Up to 86 percent of tenants with legal representation are able to remain in their homes, according to the Right to Counsel Coalition, which called the adjusted deadline a “a major victory.”
The second law, LL 53, requires the office of the civil justice coordinator to work with tenant organizing groups to engage and educate tenants about their rights in housing court to ensure that everyone is able to use all the resources at their disposal.
A city-appointed coordinator will be required to organize know your rights workshops, distribute written information to tenants and facilitate tenant referrals to designated community groups. They will also have to submit a publicly available annual report by Dec. 1, 2022 with information including number of workshop attendees and referrals.
Lauren Springer, a tenant leader at Catholic Migration Services, said that help from CMS helped her and her neighbors organize to fight against their landlord’s “predatory practices which targeted the most vulnerable.”
“Later, we joined the fight to ensure the passage of landmark legislation guaranteeing legal representation to all eligible tenants facing an eviction in housing court. That right is even more critical given our current housing crisis made worse by the COVID pandemic,” Springer said. “It is truly momentous that the Mayor has signed into law two bills that would not only make the right to counsel immediately accessible citywide, but would also fund community-based organizations to get the word out.”
