ACLU-NJ and Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice Release Report on the Fiscal Benefits of Eviction Right to Counsel

The ACLU of New Jersey and the Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice today released a report, The Estimated Fiscal Impact of an Eviction Right to Counsel, prepared by the global financial advisory firm Stout Risius Ross, LLC (Stout), analyzing the potential cost and fiscal benefits associated with a right to counsel for tenants in eviction proceedings in New Jersey. The analysis finds an estimated return of $2.30 to $3.14 for every dollar invested in an eviction right to counsel program. At full implementation with an investment of $86.8 million, New Jersey would recognize annual fiscal impacts of between $200 million and $272.6 million.

“Every person must have access to safe and stable housing. We must pursue policies and practices that ensure tenants can access legal counsel, especially those who have been disproportionally marginalized. A guarantee of legal representation for tenants means a more accessible and fair New Jersey. An eviction right to counsel program would be a meaningful investment in the future of our state,” said DaWuan Norwood, Policy Counsel at the ACLU-NJ.

Approximately 115,000 evictions are filed each year. While a few municipalities in New Jersey have established access to counsel programs for some tenants, there is currently no right to counsel in eviction proceedings in the state, and the municipal programs lack sufficient funding to be fully implemented.

An astonishing 97% of tenants facing eviction in 2023 did not have representation. Having an attorney at their side can dramatically alter case outcomes. Tenants with lawyers avoid disruptive displacement in 80-90% of the cases while unrepresented tenants suffer disruptive displacement in 75-85% of the cases. Stout estimates that a right to counsel in New Jersey would result in 40,604 households being represented and that, as a result, between 58,287 and 79,482 people would avoid displacement each year.

“Tenants do not go to court without representation because they don’t need help. They can’t afford an attorney. And the reality is, without a fully funded right to counsel in New Jersey, there will never be enough pro bono and public interest attorneys to meet the demand. Tenants will continue to be sent into the courtroom alone, facing an uphill battle against experienced landlords and their attorneys who navigate this system every day. Attorneys truly make a difference in ensuring fair outcomes in all types of legal cases. When someone’s housing is at stake, legal representation can provide stability to New Jersey families.” said Anne M. Kassalow, Managing Attorney of the Housing Justice Project at Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice.

The costs of eviction go beyond housing status. By preventing disruptive displacement through guaranteed legal representation, the state may realize as much as $272.6 million in fiscal benefits across housing, employment, healthcare, public safety, and child welfare.

“We need to face the reality: evictions are expensive. They lead to costs not just for individuals losing their homes, but also for taxpayers. We should be taking those costs seriously and developing solutions that work," said Peter Hepburn, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University-Newark, and research collaborator at the Eviction Lab.

The report, prepared on behalf of the nonprofit organizations by Stout, finds that an eviction right to counsel would result in the following estimated fiscal benefits for New Jersey:

• $111.9 million to $152.6 million in reduced housing social safety net responses.
• $26.3 million to $35.8 million related to increased employment stability.
• $17.9 million to $24.5 million in retained economic value by minimizing out-migration.
• $15.5 million to $21.1 million in Medicaid cost savings.
• $12.4 million to $16.9 million in savings related to the decrease in crimes associated with housing instability.
• $6.9 million to $9.4 million related to increased educational attainment.
• $6.1 million to $8.3 million related to the decreased need for out-of-home foster care placements.
• $1.6 million to $2.1 million related to the decreased frequency in criminalizing people experiencing homelessness.
• $1.4 million to $1.9 million in federal funding retained for New Jersey public schools.

“Every cost/benefit study to date has found that tenant right to counsel saves more than it costs, and New Jersey is no exception. We hope New Jersey recognizes how right to counsel is the kind of preventative legal medicine that avoids disruptive and damaging consequences to so many basic human needs and then takes steps to join the dozens of jurisdictions that have acted to protect families and communities,” said John Pollock, Coordinator at the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.

Providing an eviction counsel for tenants in eviction proceedings would be a crucial advancement for ensuring due process and ending unjust evictions. The report shows clearly that the fiscal benefits far outweigh the cost. More important, however, is the benefit in human terms to New Jersey families who will, as a result of an eviction right to counsel, avoid the trauma of homelessness and displacement.