National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC)

Based in Baltimore, and affiliated with the Public Justice Center, the NCCRC is a national movement to attain a right to counsel in civil cases.
Organization website

Primary geographic focus: NATIONAL
Organization type(s): Research/Policy/Organizing
Acronym or short name: NCCRC
Tags: Civil Right to Counsel

CONTENT MENTIONING/INVOLVING THIS SOURCE

News Story

Civil Discourse: Lawmakers and Legal Experts Want to Expand Your Right to a Lawyer

Jill Jorgensen
New York Observer
August 20, 2015
A growing coalition of lawyers, legislators and judges hope to expand the right to a lawyer in civil cases.

Letter to Editor

For the Homeless, Help and a Steady Job

John Pollock, Judith Goldiner
New York Times (NYT)
January 1, 2016
Two letters to the editor about solutions to homelessness in New York City.

News Story

States look to provide lawyers for the poor in civil cases

Dave Collins
Associated Press (AP)
March 30, 2016
More than two dozen bills being considered in 18 states this year would provide public defenders or private lawyers at state expense for low-income people in certain civil cases.

News Story

Low-Income Tenants in D.C. May Get Free Legal Help

Oscar Perry Abello
NextCity.org
October 18, 2016
In Washington, D.C., the District Council is now considering legislation to provide free legal counsel to low-income tenants in certain housing cases.

Op-Ed

Can Other U.S. Cities Follow in NYC’s Footsteps to Help Renters?

Alexis Stephens
NextCity.org
February 21, 2017
Other cities, including Philadelphia and Boston, are taking cues from New York’s playbook.

News Story

Is Housing Step One Toward Establishing Civil ‘Gideon’?

Andrew Denney
New York Law Journal
August 10, 2017
As Mayor Bill de Blasio prepares to sign a bill to ensure that all tenants in housing court have legal counsel, several other cities are moving forward with their own programs to provide poor litigants in civil cases with legal assistance.

News Story

It’s official: NYC mayor signs law promising lawyers to low-income tenants facing eviction

Kelsey Ramirez
HousingWire
August 11, 2017
Mayor expresses hope the change will spread.

News Story

New York City Guarantees a Lawyer to Every Resident Facing Eviction

Kriston Capps
CityLab
August 14, 2017
The new law protecting low-income tenants is the first in the nation.

News Story

Hate Your Shady Landlord? Here’s Something to Celebrate

David Dayen
VICE News
August 23, 2017
Cities across America are taking steps to help low-income people get lawyers to fight eviction in court.

News Story

Cities Are Guaranteeing Tenants Access To A Lawyer To Help Them Fight Eviction

Eillie Anzilotti
Fast Company
August 24, 2017
In eviction cases, 90% of landlords have a lawyer, and 90% of tenants do not. To fight gentrification and displacement, cities are trying to correct that imbalance.

Op-Ed

Every year, millions try to navigate US courts without a lawyer

Lauren Sudeall Lucas, Darcy Meals
Associated Press (AP)
September 21, 2017
Without legal assistance, their issues will likely be unresolved or, worse, wrongly resolved against them.

News Story

How Free Legal Help Can Prevent Evictions

Teresa Wiltz
Stateline
October 27, 2017
In much of the country, more and more renters are devoting larger and larger portions of their income to rent. For low-income families, this can push them further into poverty and put them at risk for being evicted — and becoming homeless.

News Story

People will sign anything: how legal odds are stacked against the evicted

Matt Krupnick
Guardian
January 24, 2018
Evicted tenants in the US often struggle to get an attorney, leaving them at a disadvantage against lawyered-up landlords.

News Story

Advocates promote a right to counsel in civil cases, too

Erin Gordon
ABA Journal
February 7, 2018
A growing movement is promoting a right to counsel in critical cases that involve housing, child custody and domestic violence.

News Story

Proposition F: Free Legal Aid for Tenants Facing Eviction

Andrew Stelzer
San Francisco Public Press
May 1, 2018
In a city where two-thirds of adults are renters, more than 1,600 tenants have received eviction notices over the past year. On June 5, voters could make history by guaranteeing legal help to anyone facing eviction, regardless of income.

Audio , News Story

S.F. tenants facing eviction could soon have the right to a free attorney

Andrew Stelzer
KALW (San Francisco) (local NPR)
May 23, 2018
If the ballot initiative passes, it would be a watershed moment for a growing national movement. Cities across the country — especially those with housing shortages — are making legal counsel a basic right, not just a privilege for those who can afford it.

News Story

Evictions have doubled in the United States since 2000

Ashley Archibald
Street Roots
June 8, 2018
Given the current economic climate, it is unlikely that these rates will fall anytime soon.

News Story

Can’t Afford a Lawyer?

Christie Thompson
Marshall Project
July 18, 2018
Civil representation is too expensive for many, but Washington state has one solution.

News Story

Voters OK’d Legal Aid for Tenants Facing Eviction — Now Comes the Hard Part

Andrew Stelzer
San Francisco Public Press
August 27, 2018
San Francisco has until July 2019 to set up multimillion-dollar program under Proposition F.

Op-Ed

Liberals Abandoned Civil Legal Aid. Now They Need to Bring It Back.

Douglas Grant
Slate
October 12, 2018
A “civil Gideon” is needed to provide publicly funded attorneys for low-income people in cases like eviction proceedings, domestic violence, and public benefits disputes.

Op-Ed

We have a right to counsel in criminal cases. Why not in evictions?

Amanda Scott
Washington Post
November 6, 2018
Congress and state lawmakers should act to pass legislation to ensure all families have their day in court.

News Story

Tenants’ Right to Counsel on the Move, Next Stop Newark

Jared Brey
NextCity.org
January 10, 2019
As part of that effort, the New Jersey city is emulating a policy that’s been pioneered in New York.

News Story

Eviction on Trial

Soni Sangha
U.S. News & World Report
January 22, 2019
Cities from New York to Minneapolis are providing free attorneys to low-income tenants facing eviction.

Feature

Trump Administration Rule Change Could Unleash Hundreds of Millions in Federal Funds to Defend Rights of Parents, Children in Child Protection Cases

John Kelly
Chronicle of Social Change (CA)
February 5, 2019
Most state and local courts have some guarantees of legal support available for kids and parents, even though the Supreme Court has ruled it is not constitutionally required. But child representation is not always provided by a lawyer.

News Story

Free legal help for tenants who get eviction notices? LA poised to budget $3M for it

Nadra Nittle
Curbed
May 16, 2019
That’s enough money to help about 195 renters at risk of getting booted from their homes.

News Story

Is Tenants’ Right to Counsel On Its Way to Becoming Standard Practice?

Jared Brey
NextCity.org
December 10, 2019
Eviction is a deeply disruptive and destructive event in a tenant’s life that, in the words of Matt Desmond, director of Princeton University's Eviction Lab, “is not just a condition of poverty, it is a cause of it.” Research shows that most of the time in housing court landlords have lawyers but tenants do not. The good news is that there is a growing national movement to provide all renters facing eviction the legal help they need to ensure a fair outcome in eviction proceedings. So far, five cities have passed such bills, and more are considering it.

News Story

As Rents Rise, Cities Strengthen Tenants’ Ability to Fight Eviction

Laura Kusisto
Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
December 26, 2019
Half-a-dozen cities from San Francisco to Cleveland are promising tenants the right to an attorney in eviction cases, a costly and logistically daunting initiative that advocates say is a necessary response to rising housing costs and homelessness.

News Story

Alternative approaches: Pew study finds civil legal problems impacting 47% of US households

Marilyn Odendahl
Indiana Lawyer
January 8, 2020
After finding the need for civil legal assistance in the United States is widespread across all income levels — and perhaps spread wider than previously thought — The Pew Charitable Trusts sees a need for new solutions to addressing the problems experienced by many individuals and families.

News Story

City’s ‘Right to Counsel’ Law Fosters National Movement in Housing Courts

Sadef Ali Kully
City Limits
February 28, 2020

News Story

Going To Court Without A Lawyer Was Always Hard. The Pandemic Has Made It Much Harder.

Zoe Tillman
BuzzFeed
May 15, 2020

News Story

11 million households could be evicted over the next four months / A new tool helps you see the contours of the approaching housing disaster

Kristin Toussaint
Fast Company
July 27, 2020

News Story