May 20, 2025
On April 24-25, the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (a project of the Public Justice Center), the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), and New York Law School’s Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law co-hosted the 2025 Tenant Right to Counsel Convening in New York City. This incredible in-person gathering brought together over 165 tenant leaders, organizers, legal aid attorneys, researchers, advocates, and supporters for two days of full group workshops and strategy sessions. We tackled key questions and shared strategies and resources for addressing important questions related to enacting and implementing the tenant right to counsel.
This convening was a long time in the making! At the outset, our advisory group – Andrew Ashbrook, Malika Conner, Pablo Estupiñan, John Pollock, Maria Roumiantseva, and Andrew Scherer – planned for a convening where we could advance the strength, breadth, and effectiveness of the tenant right to counsel movement by anchoring it in a vision of a human right to housing and a transformative approach to eviction defense. We sought to bring people working on tenant right to counsel together to build community, share lessons learned, and begin to bring more cohesion about the meaning of right to counsel.
In 48 hours, we saw this incredible group share experiences, inspire one another, and form new connections (and friendships). What were once city-specific stories sparked new ideas for advocates in other cities. Conversations generated new, nuanced questions about strengthening tenant organizing and making tenant right to counsel sustainable and effective for tenants. At the NCCRC, we’re so excited to sustain the energy created and to share lessons and publicly available materials from the convening on the NCCRC website and in our new Tenant Right to Counsel Guide in the coming weeks.
This convening was the culmination of many people’s work and support. Thank you to PJC staff, including Andrew Ashbrook, Deb Gardner, Dan Gugliuzza, Sabrina Harris, Vern Insalaco, Kathleen Gregory, Tamra Perkins, John Pollock, and Maria Roumiantseva for assisting with different parts of the planning and hosting stages . Thank you to our incredible speakers! Thank you to the advisory group for all of the planning and programming, to New York Law School for hosting us, and to LUCE Productions for their exceptional assistance in planning and executing the convening. We’re incredibly grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for providing support for this convening.
Thank you especially to the tenant leaders and advocates from around the country who brought earnestness, energy, support, kindness, and wisdom to this gathering. We are inspired by all of you and the work you do. We look forward to working alongside you to advance the right to counsel for tenants and housing justice!
