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In 2007, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez sponsored a bill which would provide all low- income tenants 62 and older the right to free counsel in housing court .22 This effort, however, was a casualty of the Great Recession, with the City Council reluctant to pass the legislation given its cost . This effort to secure a right to counsel in housing court was revived after the change in administration from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014 . Emblematic of this change was the appointment of Steven Banks, who had been the Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society of New York and was a tireless advocate for the right to shelter for homeless families and individuals, to Commissioner of the City’s Human Resources Administration .23 Then, later in 2014, four bills were introduced to the City Council: one provides for the right to counsel for all tenants at or below 125 percent (later amended to 200 percent) of the poverty level, while the other three provide for a right to counsel in housing court for specific populations .24 Cost continues to be a factor, with the City of New York Independent Budget Office estimating that the cost of providing counsel under the bill that would provide counsel to all tenants at or below 125 percent of poverty is between $173 million and $276 million annually .25 While none of these bills has been enacted, the advocacy surrounding the right to counsel in housing court has informed the dramatic increase in funding for eviction prevention legal services discussed below .
funding for Civil Legal services: meeting the Need for Civil Legal services Through Increased funding
The federal government is the primary source of funding for civil legal services through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) . However, adjusted for inflation, this funding peaked more than 30 years ago, in 1981 .26 At its current funding level of $385 million annually, LSC funding represents less than ten dollars for each person in the United States living in poverty .
22 See Int. 648 (City of New York 2007), available at http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail. aspx?ID=447249&GuID=FF74541F-777E-4917-AE3B-E4614707BEB4&Options=ID%7cText%7c&Search=648; Manny Fernandez, Free Legal Aid Sought for Elderly Tenants, Nov. 16, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/ nyregion/16housing.html?_r=0; Press Release, Brennan Center Strategic Fund, “Right to Counsel” Bill for Low- Income Seniors: First of Its Kind Law Could Serve as Model for Other Cities (Nov. 15, 2007), https://www. brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Justice/Right%20to%20Counsel%20Release%2011-15-07.pdf. The bill set the income eligibility for counsel as the income eligibility for the New York Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program.
23 More recently, Mayor de Blasio appointed Commission Banks to oversee the City’s Department of homeless Services. See Gilbert Taylor, New York City Homelessness Chief, Quits Post, n.y. Times, Dec. 15, 2015, http://www. nytimes.com/2015/12/16/nyregion/gilbert-taylor-new-york-city-homelessness-chief-to-leave.html.
24 See new york ciTy bar ass’n, rePorT on legislaTion by The Pro bono and legal serVices commiTTee and housing courT commiTTee (2015), available at http://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/ RighttoCounselinhousingNYCProBonohousingCourtReportFINAL2.27.15.pdf (describing Int. 214-2014 (all low- income tenants); Int. 221-2014 (parents with minor children); Int. 96-2014 (those 62 and older); and Int. 501-2014 (disabled tenants)). Int. 214-A amended Int. 214 in 2016 to cover all tenants at or below 200 percent of poverty. Int. 214-A, http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1687978&GuID=29A4594B-9E8A-4C5E-A797- 96BDC4F64F80.
25 Memorandum, New York City Independent Budget Office, Estimate of the Cost of Legal Counsel in housing Court and Potential Shelter Savings Due to Averted Evictions, at 5 (Dec. 10, 2014), available at http://www.ibo.nyc. ny.us/iboreports/2014housingcourtletter.pdf. Providing the right to counsel would also generate financial savings to the City. A report prepared in 2016 for the New York City Bar Association by Stout Risius Ross, Inc. found that providing a right to counsel to tenants at or below 200 percent of poverty under Int. 214-A would result in savings from eviction prevention that would exceed the cost of providing counsel by $320 million annually. sTouT risius ross, inc., The financial cosT and benefiTs of esTablishing a righT To counsel in eVicTion Proceedings under inTro 214-a (2016), http://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/SRR_Report_Financial_Cost_and_Benefits_of_Establishing_a_ Right_to_Counsel_in_Eviction_Proceedings.pdf.
26 See Brescia, supra note 19, at 220.
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice