Tenant right to counsel and health: Pathways and possibilities

Abstract

Since 2017, more than a dozen municipalities and five states have passed Right to Counsel (RTC) legislation that guarantees access to free full-scope legal representation for eligible tenants facing eviction. Given the novelty of RTC, much remains unknown about the impacts of these programs or policies on individual renters and their communities. Among these unknown impacts is the way that RTC may affect individual tenant health and population health more broadly. Qualitative research is critical to understanding how these policies are experienced on the ground and how they may affect health and well-being. Responding to this need, we collected qualitative data with more than 100 RTC tenants and other stakeholders in Connecticut, during the first year of the state's statewide RTC policy. Our data show the multiple ways that RTC can help tenants stay in their homes, preventing the well documented health consequences of eviction. Our data also suggest ways that RTC can help tenants secure less health harming outcomes, even when a forced move is unavoidable. Beyond individual impacts, we observe both potential and limitations of RTC in addressing tenant health and health equity more broadly. We do not see evidence in our data that, by itself, CT-RTC substantially changes dynamics between landlords and tenants in ways that would support tenant health. However, we do see ways that RTC can support building collective tenant power that advances systemic changes in the service of housing justice and health equity.