Implementation of the Philadelphia Bar Association-backed program helps to create a national model for decreasing evictions.
The Philadelphia Bar Association today congratulated the City of Philadelphia and its partners within the public interest legal community for the implementation of the first phase of the City’s Right to Counsel program. The legislation for the program was passed in 2019 with strong support of the Philadelphia Bar Association and its Civil Gideon and Access to Justice Task Force. Starting today, low-income tenants who live in two zip codes encompassing parts of North and West Philadelphia can get free legal representation through the program, which will eventually be expanded to cover all low-income Philadelphians.
“Right to counsel provides critical aid to tenants facing the loss of their homes, and is also a significant step toward reducing Philadelphia’s poverty rate and stabilizing our neighborhoods – it’s a win for both renters and landlords,” Chancellor Wesley R. Payne, IV said. “Right to Counsel also makes financial sense. Our Association’s groundbreaking study, the Stout report, found that this program has the potential to save the City millions of dollars each year.”
Released in 2018, the Association’s study, conducted by Stout Risius Ross LLC, found that if the City of Philadelphia invested $3.5 million per year to fund counsel for eligible low-income tenants facing eviction, the city would save $45.2 million per year in quantifiable eviction-related shelter, medical and social service costs and expenses, a return of over $12 for every $1 spent. A 2019 update by Stout found that if the city invested $5 million in counsel for low-income tenants with household incomes under 200 percent of the federal poverty line, the City’s total estimated savings would be approximately $63 million.
Right to Counsel will initially provide free legal counsel to tenants living in the 19121 and 19139 zip codes with annual gross incomes under $27,180 for a single person and under $55,500 for a family of four. Renters in those zip codes can call the Philly Tenant Hotline at 267-443-2500 to see if they qualify, and from there will be connected with the legal services agency that is the best fit to help with their case.
“We are thankful for all the work that the City and our partners, Community Legal Services, SeniorLAWCenter, Philadelphia VIP, and the other members of the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP) – Clarifi, Legal Clinic for the Disabled and the Tenant Union Representative Network – have done to make Right to Counsel a reality,” Payne said. “Combined with other efforts such as PEPP and the Eviction Diversion Program, Philadelphia is creating a national model for addressing its eviction crisis.”
