Tenant Right to Counsel Law and Policy, United States, 2017-2024

This study provides a description of state and local tenant right to counsel policies. From July 2017 through June 2024, five states, 17 cities, and one county passed legislation to formally create a right to legal counsel in eviction proceedings. These policies contain heterogeneous provisions, including their intended purposes, design and administration requirements, eligibility criteria, and when the right is triggered in the eviction process. Investigators applied longitudinal policy surveillance, legal mapping, and legal analysis techniques to describe state and local tenant right to counsel laws in 23 jurisdictions. The resulting study includes the requirements and characteristics of tenant right to counsel law, such as policy justification, dates of significance (e.g., passage, effect, implementation), program administration, eligibility criteria, court processes, and community engagement requirements, among other variables.