The Legal Aid Society has announced a significant expansion of its services to assist New Yorkers confronting an escalating eviction crisis. The nonprofit legal firm’s emergency response team, which has handled 170 urgent housing cases across the city since June 2025, is now prepared to manage up to 600 cases annually, supported by increased funding from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).
The funding allocation includes $5.3 million for the 2026 fiscal year and an equal amount for 2027. Legal Aid officials said these resources aim to prevent homelessness and displacement among the city’s most vulnerable families. Munonyedi Clifford, attorney-in-charge of Legal Aid’s citywide housing practice, identified a surge in calls to the group’s housing helpline as the main catalyst for creating the emergency response team. The hotline received approximately 18,000 calls from tenants facing housing crises over the past year.
Clifford emphasized the urgency of the cases, noting that many callers were individuals who should have already been assigned attorneys in housing court but had fallen through the cracks, often facing imminent eviction or already having been evicted. “The clock is really ticking on these cases, and they really are people who needed our help,” Clifford said. She described the court process as daunting even for lawyers, and particularly challenging for tenants representing themselves.
The emergency response team consists of a citywide director, 13 paralegals, and three supervisors, focusing on protecting tenants against illegal lockouts, court-ordered evictions enforced by marshals, and aggressive landlord tactics, such as attempting to lease properties while eviction cases remain unresolved. About 15% of the allocated state funds are dedicated to assisting tenants in covering rental arrears.
Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the OTDA, expressed support for the initiative, commending Governor Kathy Hochul’s commitment to providing New Yorkers with essential resources to maintain stable housing.
New York City tenants who face eviction are entitled to free legal assistance under the “Right to Counsel” law. However, Clifford pointed out that many eligible tenants still proceed without legal representation. The expansion of right-to-counsel coverage between 2019 and 2024 tripled the number of eligible cases—from roughly 15,675 to 50,487 annually—according to a 2025 report by the city’s Independent Budget Office. The report also indicated that funding for the program has not kept pace with this increased demand.
“I think people think that right-to-counsel has been fully implemented and everyone who’s eligible is getting a lawyer. That’s really not the headline,” Clifford said. She stressed the need for full funding to cover all eligible cases.
Legal Aid’s newly enhanced rapid response team comes about four years after the nonprofit and other public defender organizations were overwhelmed following the expiration of a statewide eviction moratorium in January 2022, when a surge of landlord lawsuits flooded housing courts. The expansion aims to address gaps in representation and provide critical assistance during what many consider a worsening housing emergency in New York City.