House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Evictions are devastating to our communities. They create housing crises for families, trauma for children, and fuel cycles of homelessness and displacement. They overwhelmingly affect poor, Black and Brown women and their children. Evictions implicate virtually every basic human need, including safety, mental and physical health, employment, and education.  And too often, they are entirely preventable.  
 

While 81 percent of landlords on average are represented by an attorney nationwide, fewer than 3 percent of tenants have any legal representation. Housing court is difficult to navigate and without a right to counsel, there is a massive imbalance of power between landlords and tenants. Unrepresented low-income tenants often face evictions simply because of default judgments or a missed opportunity to secure a payment plan.  
 

Across the country, and in Philadelphia, Right to Counsel programs have proven that providing tenants basic legal representation dramatically reduces eviction rates and keeps families in their homes. Researchers also found these programs save cities and counties millions by reducing dollars spent on the costs of evictions.
  

In the near future, we plan to introduce legislation creating a statewide Right to Counsel program. Providing every county in the Commonwealth with funds to ensure tenants have access to legal assistance is a proven and cost-effective way to prevent evictions statewide.  
 

Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation to keep families in their homes by ensuring every tenant has access to justice.