The following statement can be attributed to Giselle Routhier, Policy Director for the Coalition for the Homeless: “The Mayor and Council Speaker’s laudable initiative to guarantee a right to counsel for low-income tenants in housing court is a significant victory for the thousands of New Yorkers who are wrongfully evicted each year. Eviction remains a leading cause of homelessness and this critical step will substantially reduce the number of families that fall into homelessness. The City is making impressive progress in homelessness prevention – but that is only one-half of the equation. Until there is a realistic housing production and placement plan that gives homeless families a way out of shelters and into permanent housing, including a much-needed increase in placements into NYCHA public housing, homelessness in New York will continue at record levels.”
