Though New York City has a law that guarantees access to a lawyer for tenants, many renters in the Bronx housing court arrive without an advocate.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/BloombergHousing
In Housing Court, a Scramble for Eviction-Fighting Lawyers
Right to counsel laws can help struggling tenants keep their homes. But as the movement to boost renter protections goes national, legal aid help is hard to find.
Two by two, tenants and lawyers shuffled into the airless courtroom at Bronx Civil Housing Court.
On a bench in the waiting area sat Damon Williams, 52. He had been kicked out of his apartment in March over missing rent payments. He was couch-surfing by the time he was connected with a lawyer, who was now trying to get his home back.