Kansas City is preparing next steps for right to counsel. Here’s how it worked elsewhere

Her pounding heart was the loudest thing in the courtroom.

After several months of work by KC Tenants, Tiana Caldwell shared her story of eviction at a rally outside City Hall days before the Kansas City City Council passed an ordinance giving tenants the right to counsel when facing evictions.

Caldwell said she’s never had a lawyer by her side during an eviction. She has always felt, walking through the courtroom doors, like the system was stacked against her — like she had already lost.

The new law, however, gives her hope, she said — mainly for her 15-year-old son.

“This is the difference between his life being the same as mine and his having the chance to be so much more,” Caldwell said after the ordinance was passed out of committee.

Kansas City’s tenants’ right to counsel ordinance, which was introduced by Councilwoman Andrea Bough earlier this month and passed Dec. 9, is part of a larger movement that’s swept the country to guarantee legal representation for tenants facing eviction. Similar pushes have happened across the country from New York to Cleveland.

Kansas City is the 13th city to pass a right to counsel program. The mission: giving renters more power during evictions.

“At its basic, this ordinance provides legal representation to those families and individuals deprived of a basic human right to housing,” Bough said. “It will provide housing and economic stability to tenants, landlords and Kansas City.”

Bough said that as a city that continues to invest in things like parking garages, they shouldn’t think twice about investing in the people.

In 2016, the Eviction Lab at Princeton, which at the time compiled data on evictions as far back as 2000, found that Kansas City was the 65th most evicting city in the country, out of 3,776. That is a little over 10 households every day and 4 out of 100 rental properties every year.

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said last week that housing is part of healthcare, and she commended the council for working proactively on housing.

“This ordinance allows us to go upstream,” Robinson said. “Oftentimes we really do things after the fact.”

She said the council needs to make sure they give people the tools and opportunities to prevent an eviction.

Councilwoman Katheryn Shields said: “I just think it’s great that we are codifying this right to an attorney in the situation of evictions.”

Councilmembers Shields, Robinson, Eric Bunch and Ryana Parks-Shaw co-sponsored the ordinance.

In a tweet Monday, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver wrote that, “The right to counsel is the right to a fighting chance for so many. Federal emergency funds, which were used to support tenant representation during COVID, have been critical to keeping Americans housed.”

How it’s worked elsewhere

In total, 12 cities, including New York City, Philadelphia and Cleveland, along with three states — Washington, Maryland and Connecticut — have implemented tenants’ right to counsel.

New York City Council passed its right to counsel law in 2017. It was the first such initiative in the country, said Marika Dias, a steering group member of the Right to Counsel New York City Coalition.

In the first two years of New York City’s right to counsel program, the total number of evictions fell 20% in the neighborhoods included in the program, and 85% percent of tenants who got free attorneys were able to ward off evictions.

The 2017 legislation had an implementation period of five years, Dias said, however, because of the devastating impact of the pandemic on tenants, they moved to full implementation immediately, she said.

“The style of the initiative that we had to implement was of a magnitude that made all aspects of it to some degree challenging,” Dias said.

The high volume of cases moving through the court system (in New York, housing courts are run through the state, but the right to counsel is a city initiative) meant that they had to make adjustments in the physical space to create intake spaces and accommodate the many more people now entering court.

“The way cases go through the court system has gone from in many cases a rubber stamping of eviction to litigation practices,” Dias said, “with attorneys rigorously litigating cases.”

She said the right to counsel has changed every aspect of how cases work, from how judges handle cases to an increase in the legal divisions exploring law that’s favorable to tenants. It’s also created a new set of relations for tenants and landlords outside of the courthouse, she said, adding that now landlords are less likely to bring a frivolous case against a tenant.

“Tenants who have a lawyer are much more likely to stand up for their rights,” Dias said. “It will enable tenants to come together so that both individually they have their right to counsel but also so they’re coming together to hold their landlords accountable.”

While right to counsel had an impact on the volume of evictions cases, there were other factors: the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act closing loopholes in housing court, the pandemic and the eviction moratorium.

Having a lawyer means tenants can better understand their case, their rights and it gives them leverage and bargaining power, Dias said.

“Certainly what we hear is that tenants kind of feel much more powerful in that space and reclaim that space as a result of having, of knowing that they’re going to have a lawyer,” Dias said.

Pablo Estupiñan, director of Community Action for Safe Apartments in the Bronx, said the right to counsel was a victory when it comes to organizing.

“It’s a game changer in terms of shifting who has power in court and how evictions play out,” Estupiñan said.

New York City’s legislation is also dependent on income requirements, meaning only those with an income under 200% of the federal poverty line and in high-need zip codes qualified. Kansas City’s ordinance is not restricted by income

Opponents in Kansas City

Stacey Johnson-Cosby, president of the landlord group KC Regional Housing Alliance, said that because of the legislation, she’s preparing to move out of the Kansas City housing market. She called it a “hostile market,” growing more hostile because of the legislation.

Until she can liquidate her properties, she said she’s going to increase the rent at each one.

“We’re seeing more and more radical policies coming out of city hall,” Johnson-Cosby said. “They are policies that are not productive or positive for the housing industry as seen by those of us who create and provide housing.”

She’s also opposed the city’s Healthy Homes Rental program and the Tenants Bill of Rights. Johnson-Cosby said the legislation puts tenants in a position of power.

“The thing that keeps them from getting the eviction is simply getting connected with rental assistance and getting the rent paid,” Johnson-Cosby said.

She said homeowners at risk of foreclosure should have the same access as tenants. Tenants make up 46% of Kansas City residents.

Johnson-Cosby said she believes the legislation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and that the government can’t choose tenants over homeowners. She called it unfair.

In a response to an email added to the public testimony from Robert Long, president of Landlords, Inc., Bough said that’s not the case.

“Under Equal Protection, a rational basis is required,” Bough wrote. “One of the benefits is preventing the loss of a home and preventing homelessness. Much as we provide funding for homelessness, there is justification in providing funding for right to counsel.”

Kansas City’s next steps

The program does not start immediately. The legislation passed last week directs City Manager Brian Platt to do the following:

• Find initial funding within 90 days

• Designate source of annual funding

• Ensure the Tenants’ Right to Counsel Committee is in place within 60 days, working with the mayor

• Within 120 days, fill the position of Tenant Legal Services and assistant director of the Tenants’ Right to Counsel Program

• Contract with a nonprofit to develop and provide training for attorneys within 120 days

• Contract with nonprofit legal service providers by June 1

Ernesta “Nessi” Coulbourne, 51, said after the committee hearing that she feels like she’s been a part of history. She moved to Kansas City in May from Delaware after being homeless for a year.

“I don’t know why something like this hasn’t been passed sooner,” Coulbourne said. “It is sad because a lot of people have suffered before now. Hopefully we can get everything on track and do a better job supporting our tenants.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 5:54 PM.