More than half the households eligible for New York City's Right to Counsel program are not receiving legal representation in eviction cases, with representation rates peaking at just over half the qualified tenants in 2022 before falling to roughly one-third of citywide tenants in 2024, according to a report.

The New York City Independent Budget Office released the analysis Thursday, eight years after the city became the first U.S. municipality to provide legal representation to tenants facing eviction. Eligibility was set to be rolled out in phases, but the program went citywide more than two years ahead of schedule when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a pause on evictions and changes to state-level tenant protections.

"When eviction cases resumed, they were longer and more complicated, and far more cases had become eligible for the program," the IBO said. "These impacts were not visible for several years until after the pause on evictions ended. Program contracts have not been updated to match the longer, more complex cases and expanded eligibility of today."

Before the pandemic hit, around 97% of general eviction cases were resolved within a year, according to the report. That number fell to 87% in fiscal year 2023.

"Coinciding with lengthening case times, the [New York City Human Resources Administration] announced that it would no longer fund representation for cases that took longer than one year, even though attorneys handling such cases would be ethically bound to continue working on them," the IBO said.

The analysis showed that eligibility for representation in housing court under the Right to Counsel program increased by 110% from 2022 through 2024, while spending on the program increased by only a third.

The program also offers one-time conversations known as "brief assistance," a service the IBO found to be on the rise as rates of full representation fall.

"Through 2024, contracts limited one-time brief assistance legal guidance to 30% of all tenant households served, unless given explicit permission by the city to exceed this threshold," according to the report. "However, an examination of RTC services indicates that brief advice has become a much larger portion of the program in recent years. In fact, brief advice grew to more than half the program in 2024."

The New York Legal Aid Society is the city's largest provider of representation under the Right to Counsel program. The organization had pushed back against New York City's 2023 request for proposal for its new 2025 contracts, calling the $3,063 per case rate "woefully insufficient" and saying the requirement for more new cases was more than what their staff could handle. The city ultimately reissued a request for proposal that updated caseload standards and let providers submit their own pricing in September 2023. However, funding gaps remained.

"Providers confirmed this option did enable them to increase funding per case, but not up to the full cost; some providers were reluctant to bid the full amount the work required given their reliance on city contracts," the IBO said.

Many attorneys who provide indigent legal services through organizations such as the Legal Aid Society have had to contend with caseloads and salaries that leave them stretched thin. Earlier this year, several legal service providers represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys went on strike over issues like pay and workload management.

The Legal Aid Society is the ALAA's largest member shop, with 1,100 unionized workers in its ranks. The organization managed to avert a strike in July 2025 with a tentative deal, but both its union and its management have called for better funding.

Jane Fox, chair of the Legal Aid Society attorneys chapter of the ALAA, said in a statement at the time: "While we are proud of these historic gains on workload protection to increase retention, a first-of-its-kind student loan fund, 20 weeks parental leave, retiree health benefits, and more, we were fundamentally left behind by Mayor Adams and our employers on salaries and pensions."

Still, the program's hurdles aren't limited to a lack of funding. Tenants must appear in court to receive services, and the IBO estimates that 81% of cases from 2024 onward in which tenants appeared in court were eligible for the Right to Counsel program; however, the share of tenants who make an appearance continues to hover around 50%.

"The imbalance between tenants and owners in New York City housing court, in both representation and answer rates, likely means that evictions occur that may have been preventable," the report said.

--Editing by Covey Son.