Right to Counsel Policy Analysis

The pandemic highlighted and exacerbated an ongoing affordable rental housing and eviction crisis in the US, leading some local and state governments to enact relatively unprecedented eviction prevention strategies. Tenant Right to Counsel Programs are one of these strategies. The programs provide tenants facing an eviction with access to legal counsel. In March of 2020, only 5 cities had Right to Counsel Programs in place. By July 2023, 17 cities, 4 states, and one county had adopted RTC, and dozens more were in the works. As RTC is expanded and scaled up, it is critical to examine not only the overall impact of RTC, but also the ways that variation across RTC policies and contexts shape impacts for tenants and other stakeholders. Understanding variation in the way RTC policies develop, are designed, and are implemented can help inform more effective and equitable policies that work to mitigate evictions and their harmful consequences.

In response to this research gap, our study will draw on policy documentation and qualitative interviews with tenants, policy makers, program administrators, housing activists, and other RTC stakeholders to: 1) describe current characteristics of RTC programs; 2) examine the adoption and roll-out (origin stories) of RTC programs, identifying factors that inhibit or enable successful and equitable implementation; 3) identify the potential and pitfalls of these programs, including their impact on tenant well-being and housing outcomes, and their impacts on power building among tenants and within marginalized communities; and 4) develop a framework and research priorities for assessing RTC programs across jurisdictions.

Our study team includes researchers at: George Washington Law School (Emily Benfer), Eviction Lab (Peter Hepburn), Cornell University School of Policy (Jamila Michener) and Yale School of Public Health (Danya Keene).

This research is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.