Comptroller Lander Uncovers Plummeting Tenant Representation in Housing Court as Adams Admin Fails to Meet Right-to-Counsel Mandate for Tenants Facing Eviction

 

Over three years, legal representation fell from 71% to 42% citywide; Bronx tenants faced disproportionate impact

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s new report, Evictions Up, Representation Down, finds that the Adams Administration has failed to meet the City’s Right to Counsel (RTC) mandate for low-income tenants facing eviction in Housing Court. Systemic underfunding, overwhelming caseloads, and state disinvestment caused representation rates to plummet from 71% in 2021 to 42% in 2024. For tenants in the Bronx, where evictions are overwhelmingly concentrated, representation dropped from 88% to 31%.

Legal representation in Housing Court is a tremendously successful strategy. In FY24, 89% of represented households avoided eviction. Despite New York City becoming the first jurisdiction to provide guaranteed legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction, failures by the Adams Administration have exposed thousands to housing insecurity and homelessness, as nearly 34,000 families have been evicted since 2022.

“The Right to Counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction was one of New York City’s great promises to keep families in their homes – but the Adams Administration has utterly failed to keep it,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Since the pandemic, evictions have surged, especially in the Bronx. In the last administration, nearly all Bronx tenants facing eviction had a lawyer. Now, fewer than one-third of them do. Thousands of families have been evicted as a result.”

The RTC law guarantees full legal representation to tenants earning below 200% of the federal poverty line, approximately $53,300 for a family of three in 2025. The report highlights systemic failures, including inadequate funding for legal service providers, delayed case processing, and lack of proactive outreach to at-risk tenants. New York City’s landmark RTC legislation became a model for tenant organizers and housing advocates across the country and sparked a national movement. Since 2017, 5 states and 17 localities have enacted their own RTC laws that ensure low-income tenants facing eviction receive free legal services.

When comparing the high-water mark for tenant representation in late 2021, citywide overall representation dropped from 71% to 42%. For tenants in the Bronx representation dropped from 88% to 31%, Manhattan from 88% to 46%, Queens from 81% to 46%, Brooklyn from 55% to 50%. Staten Island saw an increase from 68% to 73%, though its peak representation of 84% occurred in 2022.

However, the end of the pandemic-era eviction moratorium in January 2021 triggered a 440% surge in eviction cases citywide which overwhelmed legal service providers. Nonprofits faced doubled caseloads alongside arduous staffing shortages. Housing attorneys providing guaranteed legal representation, now handle 50-80 cases annually, exceeding the recommended maximum of 48, which has led to inadequate representation and worse outcomes for New York tenants. Together with the issues created with under-resourced nonprofits, the report finds that staffing cuts at the Office of Civil Justice and the Human Resources Administration created preventable delays in the resolution of eviction proceedings.

The report also finds that the State of New York hinders New York City’s ability to protect tenants. During the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo, the State cuts its funding of the City’s shelter system plummeted from 47% to just 6% as of Fiscal Year 2024, putting enormous strain on the City’s budget to meet the State’s right to shelter mandate in Article XVII of the New York Constitution. In addition, the State does not provide funding for the Right to Counsel mandate, despite years of advocacy by tenants for a statewide expansion.

Key findings from the report include:

• RTC representation rates citywide dropped dramatically from 71% in FY 21 to 42% in FY 24.
• The City’s failure to meet the Right to Counsel mandate has exacerbated inequities as, the rate of representation in the Bronx, where evictions are overwhelmingly concentrated, has declined more precipitously than other boroughs, down from 81% in Q4 of 2021 to just 31% in Q4 of 2024.
• The Office of Civil Justice reported that 89% of tenants who received full legal representation in an eviction proceeding in FY 2024 were able to remain stably housed.
• After the eviction moratorium expired in January 2021, active eviction cases surged 440% citywide, from 33,000 to 177,000.
• Nonprofit legal service providers saw their caseloads more than double—from 33,000 households in FY2019 to 70,000 in FY2022—while funding and staffing lagged. With climbing eviction filings, increased case complexity, and inadequate funding, RTC providers struggled to meet growing demand, causing low rates of legal representation for low-income New Yorkers facing eviction in Housing Courts and leaving thousands of New Yorkers who are eligible for RTC without legal counsel.
• In 2022, attrition rates at legal service organizations ranged from 20-55%, a major blow to the legal community as housing courts reopened and citywide RTC expansion began. High staff turnovers have a negative effect on the provision of legal services.

Inaction from City Hall enabled to this representation crisis to disproportionately impact Black and Latine communities. Eviction filings are highest in neighborhoods with majority Black/Latine residents, particularly in the Bronx and Central Brooklyn. For every additional 1 percent of residents within a ZIP code who are either Black or Latine, the rate of eviction filings per 1,000 rental units was 0.69% higher.

The top 10 ZIP codes with the highest rate of filed evictions are all in the south and central Bronx. These neighborhoods with the highest eviction filings are experiencing the lowest rates of representation.

To address the continued insecurity for low-income tenants facing eviction, the Comptroller’s report recommends that the City:

• Develop and implement a strategic plan to fulfill the City’s RTC mandate, providing 100% of eligible low-income New Yorkers facing eviction with legal counsel over the next 5 years.

To deliver on the City’s RTC mandate, the City should:

• Reform RTC contracts to ensure legal service providers have the capacity to deliver on contract requirements.
• Increase case rates and adjust the Universal Access budget in dialogue with legal service providers, the Department of Social Services’ Human Resources Administration and Office of Civil Justice.
• Pay service providers on-time – In the midst of a growing funding crisis for the non-profit sector, the City should publish standards for timely payment of invoices and make efforts to streamline the billing and payment process to ensure a predictable flow of funds to vendors.
• Invest in programs that provide upstream solutions to prevent evictions and relieve the pressure on RTC providers.

To address these ongoing issues, the Comptroller recommends that in tandem with the City, the State should:

• Pass the Statewide Right to Counsel law and fund 50% of the cost of RTC for jurisdictions across the State, including New York City.
• Increase funding for HAVP in the 2027 budget to at least $250M.
• Reverse Cuomo-era budgeting that shifted the cost of single adult shelter onto the City, making $500 million more available for increased mental health services, better wages, and improved shelter conditions including expanding the number of purpose-built, smaller scale mental health shelters.

Read the full report: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/evictions-up-representation-down.