Right to Counsel
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Victory!!
On November 14th, 2019, Philadelphia City Council unanimously voted to pass a renter’s right to counsel, guaranteeing all low-income renters access to an attorney to fight their eviction. Given the scale, right to counsel will not start immediately. Instead, it will be phased in over five years or more.
This momentous change was made possible by a decade of advocacy by a local and national community of legal professionals, grassroots organizers, researchers, community members and renters.
Here are some of the testimonies shared in support of right to counsel:
- Rasheedah Phillips, Managing Attorney of Policy at CLS: Nov 2019, Mar 2017
- Barrett Marshall, former Supervising Attorney and Director of PEPP at CLS: Nov 2019
What is a “Right to Counsel” for Evictions?
A “right to counsel” means that low-income tenants would be guaranteed access to a lawyer for their eviction proceeding. Currently, tenants in Philadelphia do not have this right. About 90% of tenants in Philadelphia face an eviction without the assistance of a lawyer.
Legal representation is an effective tool to prevent eviction and homelessness. In 2017, New York City was the first city to pass right to counsel legislation. Since then, San Francisco, CA, Newark, NJ and Cleveland, OH have also passed right to counsel.
A right to counsel in Philadelphia would give even footing for tenants in court and access to greater resources to resolve conflict.
Eviction Prevention Works in Philadelphia and Can Be Scaled Up to a Right to Counsel
The Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP) is a collaboration of six service providers started in early 2018 that provides comprehensive services to tenants facing an eviction. PEPP is successful – tenants are more likely to come to their hearing and have better case outcomes when meeting with an advocate.
An advocate can help a tenant assert their rights or, where a tenant owes back rent, can help negotiate affordable payment agreements or reasonable time for a tenant to move into more affordable housing.
PEPP has shown that both limited assistance and full representation are important, and choosing one over the other depends on the tenant’s circumstances. Tenants who visited the Help Center and did not receive full representation were still more likely to show up to court and win their cases than tenants that did not meet with a PEPP advocate at all. For this reason, the right to counsel program should use a range of legal assistance, from advice to full representation.
We already have nationally recognized local legal aid organizations to carry out this program. These organizations have spent the last year developing a successful eviction defense program through (PEPP). PEPP legal staff are highly skilled at providing individualized service to tenants to get the best outcomes. Philadelphia can expand this pilot into a full right to counsel.
What are the Potential Impacts?
Right to Counsel for tenants could assist thousands low-income households in keeping their home or preventing homelessness, making it one of the major anti-displacement efforts in the City.
A recent study commissioned by the Philadelphia Bar Association has shown that right to counsel would save the City $45 million in costs of services.
Additional Resources
- Policy recommendations of the Mayor’s Task Force on Eviction Prevention and Response: report
- Overview of the eviction crisis in Philadelphia: report by Reinvestment Fund
- City Council’s Narrowing the Gap report to address poverty, which includes strategies to increase legal representation for tenants: report
- Regional Housing Legal Service’s overview of their cost study on a statewide Right to Counsel for Pennsylvania: report