The City University of New York School of Law Joins The White House and Department of Justice Convening of Law Schools That Answered Attorney General’s Call to Action for Stronger Access to Justice and Court Reform on Eviction Prevention
CUNY School of Law took immediate action to increase housing stability and access to justice in New York
Press Release
Washington, D.C. – Today, the City University of New York School of Law joined the White House and the Department of Justice in the convening of 99 law schools that responded to the Attorney General’s Call to Action to the Legal Profession to address the housing and eviction crisis.
99 law schools in 35 states and Puerto Rico immediately committed their law schools to help prevent evictions. In just a few months, law students across the country dedicated nearly 81,000 hours to provide legal assistance to households and communities across the country.
To assist this effort, CUNY School of Law supported its community by partnering students and their supervisor in the Community & Economic Development Clinic with community-based organizations for externships and in-house work such as:
- Contributing to and advancing policy work focused on advocating for good-cause eviction in New York State in coalitions;
- Developing tenant collective bargaining rights;
- Contributing to the passing of good-cause eviction in three state municipalities and the consideration of a Good Cause Eviction Bill at the current state session.
In further assistance, CUNY School of Law’s Community Legal Resource Network, which engages alumni across the city, provided legal counseling for 435 housing advocacy cases, totaling 1493 attorney hours, and 1050 people attended its housing workshops. The Law School’s Launchpad Fellowship for new graduates provided direct housing legal assistance in 261 cases last year.
“Our long-held belief that housing is a human right at the core of justice in our society and city made our response to the Attorney General easy. We provide counsel, training, coalition-building as well as advocacy and policy work as part of our mission to practice law in the service of human needs. There is a great deal that remains to be done in response to the pandemic and our Law School community will continue to uplift the work,” says Interim Dean Eduardo R.C. Capulong ’91.
“Five months ago, I asked the legal community to answer the call to help Americans facing eviction. Law students and lawyers from across the country stepped up to take on cases, and assisted their clients and communities at a time when our country needed it the most. Today, our work is far from over, and making real the promise of equal justice under law remains our urgent and unfinished mission.” – Attorney General Merrick Garland
Law schools drew on resources, such as pro bono and externship programs, clinical offerings, and the service of the larger law school community to help struggling families avoid eviction through rental assistance application support, volunteering with legal aid providers, helping courts implement eviction diversion programs, among other initiatives aimed at increasing housing stability and access to justice.
“The housing crisis is a poverty and economic security issue because of the long-lasting effects that we know evictions have on families. It’s a racial and gender justice issue because of the disproportionate effect the spike in evictions will have on women and people of color. That’s why I have encouraged courts to adopt eviction diversion as an essential tool for keeping people in their homes and landlords to access rental assistance during the pandemic.” – Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta
This call to action by the Attorney General and the response from 99 Law Schools is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s all-of-government approach to help millions of families keep up on rent and remain in their homes. These efforts—along with the distribution of $25-30 billion distributed to well over 3 million households in need through in the American Rescue Plan Emergency Rental Assistance program by the end of 2021—has led to increased access to counsel and eviction diversion in jurisdictions across the country and kept eviction filing rates below 60% of averages in a typical year
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to building a legal system that is just, fair, and accessible to all, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why we salute the law school deans, faculty, and students for answering our call, and for using their legal skills to further the cause of access to justice. Their efforts will provide dignity, housing security, and justice to millions of families across our country.” – Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff
Since the American Rescue Plan was passed, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken a number of actions to speed up emergency rental assistance and establish eviction diversion programs which have dramatically accelerated relief for those in need following the end of the national eviction moratorium and throughout the public health crisis.
“Today, just over one year into the Biden Administration, state and local ERA programs have obligated well over $25 billion in rental assistance and made more than 3 million payments to households. Eviction Lab data shows that in the four full months since the end of the eviction moratorium in August, eviction filings have remained below 60% of historical levels. The data shows that this program is working, keeping hundreds of thousands of families safely housed.” – Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyem
“We could not be more inspired that so many dedicated law students and clinical legal programs have risen to the call to provide legal services to hard-pressed families at risk of, too often, devastating evictions. We are encouraged that the Emergency Rental Assistance has provided critical relief to well over 3 million renters and has helped not only prevent a tsunami of evictions but kept the rate of eviction filings at 60% of historic averages. We believe that the increased access to counsel that is being provided by such dedicated law students and clinical programs has prevented eviction, despair and even homelessness for countless families, and that these types of access to justice and court diversion reforms are also critical to the long-term reforms needed to build back to a better and more humane national eviction policy.” – Gene Sperling, Senior Advisor to the President and American Rescue Plan Coordinator
The City University of New York School of Law is the nation’s premier public interest law school driven by a dual mission: to increase access to legal education and diversify the legal profession and to prepare its graduates to be social justice lawyers. Opened in 1983, New York City’s only public law school offers full- and part-time programs, dual degree options, and the Pipeline to Justice Program.
The City University of New York is the nation’s leading urban public university. CUNY students, alumni, and faculty garner scores of prestigious in recognition of their historic contributions to the advancement of the sciences, business, the arts, and myriad other fields. The University comprises 25 institutions and serves more than 275,000 degree-seeking students.