Page 28 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

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2:30 p .m .: The landlord’s attorney finally comes back . The judge calls Tenant #1’s case . Tenant #1 and the landlord’s attorney go before the judge . An adjournment is issued for Tenant #1’s case . A new court date is set .
n 41% of tenants never spoke to a judge about their case .
3:00 p .m .: After spending the entire day in Housing Court, Tenant #1 finally leaves .
This day in court is based on an average day for two single, English-speaking people who can easily get around . There are many other factors that would make this day look different .
n If a tenant has a child:
– If the child is in a stroller, the tenant waits an additional 10 minutes once inside Housing Court to use the elevator . If the child makes any noise in the courtroom, the court clerk asks the tenant to leave, so the tenant misses the first time the landlord’s attorney calls out their name to negotiate .
n If the tenant is in a wheelchair or is unable to walk up the many stairs:
– The tenant must wait an additional 10 minutes once inside Housing Court to use the elevator .
n If the tenant is a non-English speaker:
– Since all the signs are in English it takes the tenant an extra 20 minutes to figure out where to go in court . If the tenant is Spanish-speaking, an additional 30 to 60 minute wait is necessary for an interpreter to be available at the same time as the landlord’s attorney . If the tenant speaks a language other than English or Spanish, they must get an adjournment for another court date so that the court can arrange for an interpreter . The tenant will lose another day of work and much- needed income .
If someone is nice to you and explains your rights and options and encourages you to fight in the court, you are one of the lucky ones . If you have a lawyer, you are one of the lucky ones . If you speak to a judge, you are one of the lucky ones . And if you resolve your case in one day and you win, you are the luckiest .
It really would feel like that—like luck, like an exception, a miracle, like all of the pieces came together in the right way—it wouldn’t feel like justice . How could it when close to 2,000 people next to you, who look like you, don’t have the same outcome?
In 2012, members of Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), a tenants’ rights organizing project in the Southwest Bronx, voted to start a campaign to reform the Bronx housing court out of concern about the lack of justice in housing court and the high rate of evictions .12 While there have been many reports about housing court reform and access to justice, there had never before been a report from the perspective of the people who go through housing court every day . CASA members decided to take on this task .
In partnership with the Community Development Project (CDP) at the Urban Justice Center, we spent a year doing participatory action research . Members created a survey of tenants’ experiences and were trained on how to collect surveys . In a few months, we collected 1,055
12 See Campaign For Justice in Housing Court, communiTy acTion for safe aParTmenTs, http://casapower.org/campaign- to-reform-housing-court-2/ (last visited April 8, 2016).
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice