NYC's Right-to-Counsel Program Expands to Five More Neighborhoods

The de Blasio administration recently announced the expansion of free legal services to more New York residents facing eviction. This expansion represents the next phase in the right-to-counsel initiative, originally passed in 2017 by the City Council, which became the first-in-the-nation plan to provide guaranteed free legal representation to tenants facing eviction in housing court. Through this initiative, more than 350,000 New Yorkers have received free legal representation, advice, or assistance in eviction and other housing-related matters since 2014, with 30 percent fewer evictions in 2018 than 2013 as a result.

Right-to-counsel in New York City is being implemented via a phased-in “ZIP-by-ZIP” approach that has enabled the Human Resources Administration’s Office of Civil Justice (OCJ) to partner with the Housing Court administration and legal services providers to facilitate providing access to counsel based on need. The following ZIP codes will begin receiving right-to-counsel services next:

• 10453, Morris Heights, Bronx;
• 11207, East New York, Brooklyn;
• 10029, East Harlem, Manhattan;
• 10034, Inwood, Manhattan; and
• 11691, Far Rockaway, Queens.

Implementation through 2022 will follow the same “ZIP-by-ZIP” approach.