NYC Needs $460M To Avert Thousands Of Evictions: Advocates

NEW YORK CITY ? Thousands of low-income renters will go into eviction proceeding without New York City's promised legal representation unless lawmakers pony up $461 million, advocates warned.

The stark warning by The Legal Aid Society and other advocate groups Monday over the city's "right to counsel" program came as officials haggle over the upcoming 2024 budget.

The right to counsel program ? which provides full legal representation in housing court for low-income New Yorkers ? is already dangerously underfunded and overextended with currently $110 million in contracts, advocates said. Lawyers will only be able to represent a third of the 120,000 eviction cases expected this year, they said.

?Right now, Right to Counsel is in crisis," said Randy Dillard with the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition in a statement. "Thousands of tenants are facing eviction alone who shouldn't be."

The advocates urged city lawmakers to add $351 million in additional funding on top of existing contracts in the upcoming budget to fully fund the program.

The request could be a tall order as Mayor Eric Adams recently ordered most city agencies to cut 4 percent from their budgets.

City Council leaders, in their response to the mayor's proposed $102.7 billion 2024 budget, argued that more funding is needed for the right to counsel program and other legal services.

"The Council is recommending that $195 million from its adjusted revenue projections be provided to legal services providers, with the understanding that this is a fraction of the need and will not produce
increased capacity to take on more housing cases," the response states.

"The Council is calling on the Administration to undertake a comprehensive review of the pay rates and funding levels of criminal defense and civil legal service providers and commit to ensuring adequate funding to support all eligible individuals obtaining RTC legal services."

Last year, right to counsel program attorneys had to decline more than 10,000 housing court cases, advocates said.

And New York City evictions skyrocketed in 2022 after a coronavirus pandemic-era moratorium ended. In The Bronx, for example, there were roughly 40,000 eviction filings, or 9.5 percent of all renter households, according to data compiled by Cornell University.

Advocates argued that without adequate funding, the program's promise of a free attorney for low-income tenants will be an empty one.

"The Right to Counsel program is a proven lifeline for New York City families facing eviction, but it is rendered meaningless without adequate funding and a dysfunctional contracting process," said Lisa Rivera, president and CEO of New York Legal Assistance Group, in a statement.

"Every week, hundreds of New Yorkers are at risk of losing their homes because of Right to Counsel?s unfulfilled promise."