A program that provides free legal representation to low-income renters facing eviction has saved Connecticut millions of dollars and helped thousands of people avoid homelessness, according to a new report.
It’s also at risk of ending in the next two years.
Connecticut’s right to counsel program launched in 2022 with $20 million in federal COVID relief money through the American Rescue Plan Act. That funding runs out this year, making right to counsel one of many social service programs in the state facing a fiscal cliff as the one-time dollars run out.
From January 2022 to November 2024, Connecticut has saved about $36.6 million it would have otherwise spent on emergency shelter services, foster care placements and Medicaid spending, among other social services, according to a report published at the end of last month.
The program has also offered legal aid to nearly 5,500 households, representing close to 13,000 individuals, many of them children.
“If they don’t have an attorney to represent them or give them help at any point during these proceedings, the odds of them being evicted go up exponentially,” said Angela Schlingheyde, executive director of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, which oversees the program.
Evictions and homelessness have a widespread impact on families, particularly on children. Losing housing can affect physical health, mental health, educational outcomes, access to employment and access to transportation, among other things.
Program organizers are asking for $6.75 million in the biennium budget.
Lawmakers this year are in a debate with Gov. Ned Lamont’s office over the state’s spending caps, often referred to as the “fiscal guardrails.” Some say they want to see more spending on social services, while the governor has said the limits help ensure the state can pay down its debt.
The annual report on the right to counsel program, compiled by consulting firm Stout, highlights many of the financial benefits for Connecticut of keeping people housed, as well as information about who the program is serving, their outcomes after getting legal aid and their housing circumstances.
The percentage of tenants who had legal representation in areas served by the right to counsel program has nearly tripled in the time since the program started, from around 7% to 18%.
“Having the attorney, it may not prevent them from having to move, but it can prevent them from having an eviction on their record, and it can help to get them an extended period of time to be able to leave their current home and find a new place to live, which will reduce trauma to the family and hopefully allow the children to continue going to school where they were always going to school,” Schlingheyde said.
Landlords have criticized the program, saying it slows down the eviction process when tenants have legal representation and if the process is slower, they will be choosier about who they allow to rent their properties.
Most program clients were able to achieve their goals, which commonly included preventing an involuntary move, preventing an eviction judgment and getting at least a month to find a new place, according to the report.
The report also found that right to counsel clients were more likely to be women and people of color, and that those populations were disproportionately impacted by eviction, compared to their share of the population.
For example, about 11% of Connecticut’s population is Black, compared to about 44% of right to counsel clients. While 63% of the state’s population is white, 15% of right to counsel clients are white.
And 51% of the state’s population are women, compared to 67% of right to counsel clients. Female-headed households were also more likely to have children in the home.
This is reflective of national data that shows that because of historic and systemic inequities, people of color are more likely to be impoverished and experience housing instability.
Giovanna Shay, litigation and advocacy director at Greater Hartford Legal Aid, said the program is also seeing more senior citizens who are facing eviction and homelessness. Right to counsel is overseen by the bar foundation and legal aid providers hire the attorneys.
“Landlords are seeking to raise the rent, and they’re seeking to evict tenants who can’t pay higher rents,” Shay said. “That’s also very, very hard on the elderly and those on fixed income.”
Over the past couple of years, more tenants and advocates have reported that renters are getting evicted by out-of-state, corporate landlords who purchase properties and evict people en mass.
Just over 1 in 5 right to counsel clients lived in properties whose owners live outside of Connecticut. Those clients were more likely to have month-to-month or oral leases rather than written, annual leases.
They were also more likely to have had problems with their landlord, including with subpar living conditions or previous eviction filings, according to the report.
Schlingheyde said the goal was to better understand “how that was impacting the overall system in Connecticut.”
Shay said since its inception, the program has grown. There are more attorneys, and the program has expanded geographically. Still, there are more people facing eviction than the program can help.
“Connecticut is in a housing crisis,” Shay said. “That crisis is affecting a lot of people, but our poorest residents really face losing their housing and potentially even being unhoused.”