As we mentioned in our newsletter earlier this month, this coming year holds great promise in making a real difference in the lives of New Yorkers who are homeless and at risk of homelessness. 

One of the crucial efforts underway to establish housing justice for tens of thousand of New Yorkers facing homelessness is the Right To Counsel Campaign -- to ensure that the 30,000 New York households facing the threat of evictions each year in housing court are provided with legal counsel -- and if provided with legal counsel we understand that as many as half of these families would still be in their homes!!

Under our current laws, someone jumping a subway turnstile is provided an attorney at no cost but a family facing the imminent loss of their home ... is on their own to fight the legal onslaught of the attorneys who's sole objective is to deliver their apartment to the highest bidder... low income family AND THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS be damned!!

But New York City can become the first city in the nation to make this right! I am writing to you to ask you to sign a petition to the Mayor today and encourage him to help save tens of thousands of New Yorkers a year from losing their homes and adding to the ranks of those in our shelters and streets. 

Learn more about right to Counsel visit their new website and read the piece below. 

Thank you so much for your help.

Right to Counsel 

Protecting up to 15,000 households annually from unwarranted evictions  

The most effective way to address homelessness is to help people stay in their homes! Despite this, in 2013, nearly 30,000 households were evicted despite the fact that as many of half of these could have stayed in their homes if they had been represented by legal counsel. Your right to an attorney only exists in criminal court not in civil / housing court despite the fact that one's home is central to one's ability to lead a productive life and care for one's family. For the first time, the City Council and the de Blasio administration are considering providing resources to enable households facing eviction proceedings to be represented by legal counsel - where currently 97% of landlord are represented by attorney while nearly 90% of tenants are not! Click here to learn more about this very important initiative that could prevent many thousands of New Yorkers from becoming homeless and save New York City hundreds of millions a year in shelter costs.



Let's work together in 2015 in Building a Better City for those most in need. Together we will make a difference!


   



Marc Greenberg
Executive Director
212.316.3171 / 917.913.0098

      Helping Homeless People to Rebuild Their Lives. 
      Building the Blessed City Together
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ABOUT IAHH

 

The Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing is a coalition of religious organizations and individuals working with and on behalf of homeless, poorly housed, and at-risk individuals. A not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, The Assembly was founded in 1986 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

 

The Interfaith Assembly Addresses homelessness through a combination of our public policy advocacy efforts and a series of Life-Skill Empowerment Programs designed to assist those who have been homeless to recover from the trauma associated with their homelessness and rebuild their lives.  

  

For more info visit our website at iahh.org and our facebook page  or by calling us at 212-316-3171 or emailing Executive Director Marc Greenberg at [email protected]