As Rent Rises, These Cities Are Helping Tenants Fight Evictions

For renters who are struggling financially, one common fear is that they are one late payment away from eviction. Now, for residents in half a dozen cities, they are not alone in their fight to avoid homelessness. Cities such as San Francisco have declared that tenants have the right to an attorney in eviction cases, a costly but calculated move. After watching costs rise and families struggle to keep up, the local governments decided that they could actually save money and raise the quality of life for their residents by having them represented in court. This gives them a lower chance of being evicted, and in return, the city has less people forced to rely on shelters.

Half-a-dozen cities from San Francisco to Cleveland are promising tenants the right to an attorney in eviction cases, a costly and logistically daunting initiative that advocates say is a necessary response to rising housing costs and homelessness.

If successful, proponents say these programs could provide a bulwark against gentrification and homelessness, and end up saving cities money by reducing the number of families who end up on the streets and in shelters.

Implementing such a sweeping new right poses challenges. It requires staffing legal aid offices with dozens of new attorneys, finding space in courtrooms for lawyers to meet with their clients, and slowing the rapid-fire pace of housing court to allow lawyers to file motions in defense of their clients.

The Supreme Court granted defendants a right to an attorney in criminal cases in state court in 1963, but efforts to guarantee defendants the right to counsel in civil cases have been much more patchwork.

Most of the cities involved, including Cleveland, Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and Santa Monica, Calif., passed legislation in the past year, so it is early to judge how they have fared.

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