On Housing Court and the Right to Counsel
The City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court (now Housing Court Answers) conducted a comprehensive study of Housing Court, called Five Minute Justice, in 1986 showing that the average case involving an unrepresented tenant was dealt with in about five minutes (to obtain this report, contact our office). Understanding that this was devastating for the thousands of tenants whose homes were at stake, the organization worked with others to file a class action lawsuit (Donaldson vs. the State of New York) to try and win the right to counsel for poor people in Housing Court. A study done in conjunction with the suit, The Donaldson Report (pdf), confirmed the tremendous imbalance – 88% of tenants in Housing Court could not afford attorneys while 97% of landlords were represented by counsel. The study also showed that 66% of tenants were eligible for free legal assistance but most were unable to get it thanks to lack of funding for legal providers.

The New York County Lawyers Association published Housing Court in the 21st Century with a series of papers by some of New York’s leading landlord-tenant practioners.  The Touro Law Review article on the Right to Counsel by Ray Brescia is also here on our website.

Eviction Numbers
Researchers can get data from the New York City Department of Investigations about evictions performed by city marshals by filing a Freedom of Information Request. These are actual evictions performed by city marshals, as opposed to warrants issued by the court. Every January, we file the requests to get the number of evictions performed in the previous year. Click here for those numbers.

Housing Court Data
Researchers can also get information from the New York State Office of Court Administration about housing court filings – these are cases started by landlords or tenants. We get these numbers from the court every year.

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board also gets this data and puts it into their easy to read charts. To find their reports, go to the Housing Research section of the RGB website and look at their Income and Affordability Reports.

Homelessness Prevention
In 2005, the Vera Institute of Justice released a comprehensive study examining family homelessness and its causes. One of the findings was that a majority of homeless families resided in the Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Northern Manhattan prior to becoming homeless. Another finding was that only one quarter of homeless families had sought help fighting their eviction.  The Coalition for the Homeless reports on the numbers of New Yorkers sleeping in municipal shelters each night, and reports on their advocacy efforts to reduce those numbers.

Eviction, Housing and Poverty Information
Many organizations do regular reports on New York City housing conditions, income and poverty, and the welfare of tenants. The Community Service Society produces Making the Rent every year about low income people, their rents and incomes.

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board, which is responsible for setting rent increases for rent stabilized apartments, does research on all aspects of the one million rent regulated apartments in the city. The RGB’s website also contains links to the Housing Vacancy Survey, a comprehensive study of the city’s housing done every three years. The Coalition for the Homeless studies the causes of homelessness and the effectiveness of eviction prevention programs. Their advocacy agenda and reports are available on their website.  The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy produces a report every year, The State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods, with details on housing and population conditions in every New York City neighborhood.

Need more information about Housing Court and related topics? Contact us.