Tenant Right to Counsel Convening

In this strategy session, you'll hear from and work with tenant leaders and organizers from jurisdictions that have passed a tenant right to counsel. We’ll explore successful tenant RTC campaign building strategies, specifically for tenant organizers, tenant leaders, and people impacted by eviction. We’ll also cover specific challenges organizers and leaders face advancing tenant RTC. We’ll have opportunities to examine existing campaign plans from various jurisdictions where RTC has been enacted and implemented.

In this strategy session, we’ll workshop the type of community organizing infrastructure necessary to implement RTC effectively, sustainably, and justly. The conversation will focus on the critical role of grassroots mobilization, coalition-building, and ongoing community engagement in ensuring that tenants are aware of their right to counsel and can fully access and benefit from it. While the passage of RTC laws represents a monumental victory, the fight for tenants' rights does not end there.

This session will focus on court watch—an organizing tactic in which tenants and organizers maintain a consistent, visible presence at the housing courts to support tenants with information about their rights, monitor ongoing cases, and ensure accountability in the court system. Court watching serves as a critical component of community-based efforts to protect tenants' rights and uphold Right to Counsel. Court watch allows organizers to identify trends in eviction cases, pinpoint systemic issues in the court process, and highlight gaps in the provision of Right to Counsel. Court watch serves not only as a means of direct intervention, but also as an organizing tool for expanding our base.

In this strategy session we’re focusing on leading a right to counsel campaign. We’ll workshop strategies, talk about challenges and ways to respond. We’ll explore key aspects not to miss in planning your tenant RTC campaign. We’ll look at plans that have worked and discuss some mechanisms for passing tenant RTC like passing funding first then tenant RTC legislation or working on advancing a tenant right to counsel through a ballot initiative process.