Brooklyn tenants demand city strengthen Right to Counsel law
Tenants rights advocates rallied Monday outside Brooklyn Housing Court, calling on the city to bolster a law that guarantees low-income tenants the right to an attorney in housing court proceedings.
Right to Counsel – the legislation passed in 2017 that guarantees that right – is being phased in neighborhood-by-neighborhood and will spread citywide by 2022. The swath of Brooklyn where RTC is already in place includes parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Flatbush, Bushwick, Prospect Lefferts Gardens and Crown Heights.
“We’re calling on the city to expand and strengthen Right to Counsel, so that almost all tenants have Right to Counsel and know about it,” said Sarah Guillet, an organizer with the Flatbush Tenant Coalition.