Eviction Onslaught Overwhelms Queens Tenant Attorneys, Groups Say

QUEENS, NY — Low-income Queens tenants facing eviction may find themselves without attorneys this month after two public defense groups announced Tuesday they can't handle any more cases.

New York Legal Assistance Group and the Legal Aid Society say their attorneys face an onslaught of thousands of cases and a 200,000-case backlog from the recently-lifted eviction moratorium, the organizations announced in a joint statement calling on the court's administrative branch to slow procedures.

“The current overwhelming demand for attorneys to represent clients facing eviction in housing court far exceeds our capacity to provide clients with the representation they need and deserve," said Beth Goldman of NYCLAG.

"Calendaring cases to meet the right to counsel providers’ capacity will help us navigate this problem together for the sake of our clients.”

Legal Services, the third public defense group named in the release, said it is capping its intake of cases in Queens to 60 this month.

The groups noted all tenants have a guaranteed right to an attorney under the city's 2017 Right to Counsel law.

"Simply put, this will gut New York’s historic Right To Counsel initiative," said Adriene Holder of the Legal Aid Society. "Our clients, low-income Black and Latinx New Yorkers, will continue to suffer should OCA fail to act."

The OCA — an administrative arm of the city's court system — maintained that it was the public defenders groups' responsibility to meet demands of the public under its contract with the Office of Civil Justice.

"They contract with the City. The City pays them," an OCA spokesperson said in an email to Patch. "We have nothing to do with their problems, issues, complaints etc. although they constantly try and work around that."

The spokesperson noted cases for which free attorneys were not available — as occurred last month in The Bronx — are typically sent to pre-trial courtrooms where landlords and tenants can settle cases.

The OCA representative also disputed the public defenders' claim that housing courts are in crisis in the wake of the pandemic and pointed to data showing a decrease in eviction cases.

City data show there were 7,939 eviction cases filed between March 25 and April 1 of this year, compared to 10,427 filed between March 25 and 29 in 2019.

During those comparison weeks, Queens evictions dropped 32 percent from 1,691 cases to 1,149 cases, the data shows.

Said the spokesperson, "We have repeatedly maintained that the inability of RTC providers, such as LSNYC and Legal Aid, to meet their contractual obligations and to be able to manage their operations will not adversely affect the functioning of Housing Court."

But Legal Aid and the New York Legal Assistance Group maintain the lower case number does not reflect a reported 200,000-case backlog and noted the presence of an attorney often results in a tenant not being evicted.

Between 2017 and 202, 84 percent of tenants who received representation won their eviction cases, according to a November report from the Mayor's office.

The report also found the Right To Council law saw tenant representation in housing courts increase from 1 percent in 2013 to 71 percent in 2020.

The public defender groups said Tuesday the choice to ask the OCA to reduce its number of calendared cases comes after discussions with the OCJ, which did not respond to Patch's request for comment.

"Tenants fought for Right to Counsel to ensure tenants, many of whom are below the poverty line, get effective counsel to remain in their homes" said Corinthia A. Carter, President of the Legal Services Staff Association. "Yet, rather than slowing cases down, OCA allows housing court cases to proceed without counsel, almost certainly leading to increased homelessness.

"It is clear that OCA has the tools to do what is right but refuses to do so."