Statewide Right to Counsel

Our statewide Right to Counsel legislation Right to Counsel for ALL is part of our Housing Courts Must Change! (HCMC) Campaign, a statewide campaign launched in 2020 to transform the courts from an “eviction machine” to a place that upholds tenants’ rights, holds landlords accountable, and enables tenants to remain in their homes. Our goals, during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, include slowing down eviction cases and expanding Right to Counsel across New York State, so ALL tenants have and know about their rights and are emboldened to organize and fight to stop evictions.

Right to Counsel for ALL (S2721) strengthens Right to Counsel in NYC and guarantees EVERY tenant across New York State the right to a lawyer when facing eviction! This crucial legislation would:

✅ Apply to ALL tenants facing eviction.

✅ Cover ANY case that could result in a tenant losing their housing.

✅ Require the courts, judges, and landlords to ensure that tenants know about and can use their Right to Counsel.


Factsheets 

Download our factsheets to learn more about Right to Counsel for ALL and how it would impact tenants statewide. 

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Support Letters


Take action!

  • Connected to your Community Board (NYC), City or Common Council, or County Board? RTC can support you in advocating that your local elected leadership pass a resolution of support for Statewide Right to Counsel or send a letter of support to state leadership. Email [email protected] for support and check out these resolutions of support from Manhattan Community Boards Eight and Ten, and Albany Common Council, and letter of support from Manhattan Community Board 5

Join us to build a movement for Right to Counsel across New York State!

ENDORSERS

1199SEIU

AARP New York

Anti-Eviction Mapping Project NYC

Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE)

Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD)

Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) - UAW Local 2325

Astoria Tenants Union

Brooklyn Community Services

Brooklyn Defender Services

Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A

Buffalo Democratic Socialists of America

CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities

CAMBA Legal Services

Capital District DSA

Catholic Migration Services

Center for Elder Law and Justice

Center for Safety & Change

Center for the Independence of the Disabled, New York

Churches United for Fair Housing

Citywide Tenant Union of Rochester

Claire Cousin for Assembly

Communities Resist

Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA) - New Settlement

Community Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck

Community Service Society of New York

Community Voices Heard

Crown Heights Tenant Union

Cypress Hills LDC

District Council 37 Municipal Employees Legal Services

District Council 37

DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving

Empire Justice Center

Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project

Fair Housing Justice Center

Fifth Avenue Committee

Flatbush Development Corporation

Flatbush Tenant Coalition

For the Many

Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society

Fund for the Modern Courts

Goddard Riverside Law Project

Homeless Alliance of Western NY

HOPE (Housing Organizers for People Empowerment)

Housing Conservation Coordinators

Housing Court Answers

Housing for All

Housing Help Incorporated

Housing Justice for All

Housing Opportunities Made Equal

Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition

Hudson Valley Justice Center

Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing

John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity

JustCause

JustFix

Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.

Legal Services of Central New York, Inc.

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley's Staff Attorney Association, National Organization of Legal Service Workers, Local 2320

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House 

Lifting Up Westchester, Inc.

LiveOn NY

Local 802 AFM

Long Island Activists

Long Island Housing Services, Inc.

Long Island Progressive Coalition

Los Sures

Lower Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America

Make the Road New York

Metropolitan Council on Housing

Midtown South Community Council

Mobilization for Justice

Mount Vernon United Tenants

National Action Network

National Organization of Legal Services Workers, Legal Services Staff Association (LSSA) - UAW Local 2320

Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

Neighborhood Preservation Coalition

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

New York Association on Independent Living

New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)

New York State Council of Churches

New York Legal Services Coalition

Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC)

Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC)

NYC-DSA Housing Working Group

Partners for Dignity and Rights

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Prevent Child Abuse NY

Program Design and Development, LLC

Rockland Housing Action Coalition, Inc.

Safety Net Project - Urban Justice Center

Save63Tiffany

Solidarity Committee (Capital District)

St Nicks Alliance

Syracuse Tenants Union

TakeRoot Justice

Tenants Political Action Committee

The Alternative to Economic and Housing Displacement Inc.

The Bronx Defenders

The Legal Aid Society (NYC)

The Legal Aid Society of Rochester

The Opera House Tenants Union

UAW Region 9A

United Neighbors Organization (UNO)

United Tenants of Albany

United Way of Westchester and Putnam

VOCAL-NY

Volunteer Lawyers Project of Central New York, Inc.

Warpaint Project, Inc.

We Are Revolutionary

Westchester Children's Association

Westchester County Board of Legislators

Westchester Jewish Coalition for Immigration

Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc.

Westside Neighborhood Alliance

Woodside on the Move

Workers United NY NJ Regional Joint Board

 

RESOURCES