Tenant Right to Counsel Convening

In this session, we'll examine the national tenant RTC movement: where it's been, what it looks like today, and where it's headed. We'll also discuss the patterns we're seeing in implemented jurisdictions and how we can respond to the current political environment.

We're excited to launch a key tenant RTC resource during this session!

What a “right to counsel” is or should be, has not always been the same to advocates in different places. There are points of consensus, such as the focus on full representation and the avoidance of any merits testing, but also points of contention, such as whether a law is indeed a right to counsel if it lacks enforceability.

In this session, we will put forward what a tenant right to counsel is and work with our audience to explore the baseline of what must be in place for a law to be a right to counsel. We’ll examine what a tenant right to counsel “North Star” might look like and discuss strategies around:

• Enforceability (such as grading jurisdictions on their implementation);
• Building strong and sustainable tenant RTC laws using the NCCRC's model ordinance;
• Pushing tenant RTC laws to be expansive and transformative;
• Advancing tenant RTC despite perceived or anticipated challenges like a lack of government or policymaker support, lack of funding, building up capacity, etc. 

This session explores the critical role of tenant leadership in enacting and implementing tenant right to counsel laws, highlighting strategies for empowering tenants, strengthening local organizing, and overcoming challenges in coalition-building between tenants, organizers, and legal services.

What does it mean to advance race equity as you work to enact and implement tenant RTC? How do we talk about race in the broader discussion of evictions, people who are evicted, why we are advancing a tenant right to counsel? Are there strategies and tools to do this better and to build a coalition - particularly in this political moment? Join us in this full group workshop, led by DrT of TheCaseMade, to explore these ideas in the context of advancing tenant RTC.
A key resource for this session: Building Support for a Civil Right to Counsel by Anchoring Your Case in Racial Justice: A Playbook for Justice Seekers Everywhere. 

We’re fighting for a tenant right to counsel in more and more places every year. Often, we look at tenant RTC as part of other eviction reforms and interventions, like eviction diversion, mediation, rental assistance, just cause protections, etc. Tenant RTC is just one tool. But what are we using this tool to achieve? Where are we looking to go? And what is the goal of tenant RTC advocacy? In this lunch-time address, we'll explore how tenant RTC can help advance housing justice more broadly. 

Attendees will participate in a full-group workshop to strategize sustaining and strengthening the national tenant RTC advocacy! 
In this interactive, large-group session, we’ll consider forward-looking questions, including: 

• What strategies are we taking to build on the incredible momentum of tenant RTC work around the country? 
• What tools and conversations are missing in this work? 
• What do you want to see out of this convening? 
• What training and support do you need in the coming months and years? 
• How do we sustain and strengthen the national tenant RTC movement? 
• How do we celebrate the victories and progress as we grapple with challenges?