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Making Policy Public

Get Support in Housing Court

When a landlord wants to evict a tenant, they take the tenant to Housing Court. In court, landlords almost always have a lawyer advocating for them, while tenants rarely do. When tenants do have lawyers, they are much less likely to be evicted.

To make sure people facing eviction have a better chance of staying in their homes, advocates successfully got New York City to pass the Right To Counsel bill in 2017. This new law guarantees a free lawyer to low-income tenants in Housing Court. But many tenants don’t know they have this right, don’t know how to get a lawyer, or don’t understand that a lawyer can make a big difference in the outcome of their case.

To get the word out, CUP teamed up with Housing Court Answers, the Right to Counsel Coalition, and designers Hanah Ho, Chelsea Atwell, and Ida Woldemichael to create Get Support in Housing Court. This fold-out poster explains who has the right to a lawyer, how to find your lawyer, and all the ways that a lawyer can help a tenant.