The Legal Aid Society, Legal Services NYC and New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) are calling on the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) to slow the calendaring of housing court cases to ensure that low-income New Yorkers facing eviction have legal representation, as reported by Gothamist.

Due to overwhelming demand, Legal Aid and NYLAG announced today that attorneys will be unable to take new cases in Queens for the month of April starting on April 5, 2022, potentially leaving tenants to appear without representation, a problem created by OCA’s refusal to address this post-pandemic reality. Legal Services NYC announced they are limiting their intake to 60 cases in Queens for the month of April.

According to recent reporting, there are currently more than 200,000 eviction cases pending in New York City Housing court, with an additional 7,000 new cases filed each month.

New York’s Right To Counsel law, which guarantees the right to counsel in eviction cases, has been highly effective at keeping tenants in their homes. Over the last four years, 84 percent of tenants who received representation under Right To Counsel won their cases and stayed in their homes. However, the current volume is not possible for providers to sustain. 

“We are disappointed that OCA has not only refused to acknowledge this post-pandemic demand, but is seemingly okay with calendaring cases where tenants appear without legal representation, essentially gutting New York’s historic Right To Counsel initiative,” said Adriene Holder, Attorney-In-Charge of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

“We sincerely hope OCA does the right thing and calendars cases so each RTC eligible case is paired with an attorney, enabling legal services providers to keep up with demand. It would be irresponsible and unethical for us to continue to take new cases while our staff is overwhelmed,” she continued. “We need time to complete our current matters so we can give each client the quality of representation they need and deserve, as intended by Right To Counsel.”

This issue is not limited to Queens. In the coming days, Legal Aid fully expects to reach capacity and stop accepting new cases in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan unless action is taken by the courts.