Facing a criminal charge? Theft perhaps? In the U.S., the Constitution protects your right to counsel. Completely broke and can’t afford a lawyer? The court appoints one for free. That lawyer will help you minimize the impact on your life, even if you are found guilty1.
Contrast this with the plight of someone such as yourself who, through a series of misfortunes, has fallen behind on rent payment. The landlord, looking for a speedy resolution, asks a court for permission to evict you. Are you entitled to a free lawyer (assuming that if you temporarily can’t pay the rent, you can’t afford to pay a lawyer either)?
There is unfortunately no U.S. constitutional right to a lawyer for a person who has perpetrated the “crime” of rent arrears.
Does it really matter?
It sure does. The Philadelphia Bar Association did a study of the problem in 2018. It found that out of 100,000 cases, when tenants were supported by a lawyer they were only evicted 5% of the time. Put more simply and bluntly, tenants in arrears with legal representation were seldom evicted.
Right now, there’s a lull in eviction “business as usual,” thanks to a better-late-than-never intervention by the White House that has reinstated a COVID eviction moratorium2. The reinstatement may soon be struck down by the courts, citing Biden Administration overreach. But in any case, the moratorium will end, if not sooner, then later. And when that happens the eviction sausage mill will once again begin to grind up the lives of citizens who are evicted.
What can be done about it? An article from New Orleans discusses advocacy for a variety of different programs that have been successful one way or another in piecing together funding for tenant legal representation in courts handling evictions. Read more at NOLA.Com: With temporary eviction respite, advocates eye legal representation as permanent fix
Further, a Shelterforce article discusses advocates who are looking for a national solution. They are pinning their hopes on the Office for Access to Justice and the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable (LAIR) both of which were established by the Obama While House. Closed down by Trump, the Biden administration has reactivated both.
What might they be able to accomplish? Read more at Shelterforce: Anti-Eviction Advocates Want the DOJ to Support the Right to Counsel Movement
Footnotes
- This is not to say that the U.S. Criminal Justice system, or its court appointed lawyers, is perfect. For example, there are 41 TED Talks about the criminal justice system and how it could be reformed: Justice System
- An earlier moratorium expired at the end of July, 2021
