Phase 2

These innovations focus on improving tenants’ understanding of what is happening, equipping them throughout the legal process, and connecting them to other resources and supports.

Improved notices and official documents about evictions

Information sheets from the court or the landlord (and their attorney) that would accompany a notice of a possible eviction action, a summons to court, or the eviction complaint and which provide information about legal aid, financial help, and other resources.

Requirements that landlords register any notice to evict with a mayor’s office or other agency to increase awareness and tracking of informal evictions.

Visual design standards for all notices, summons, and complaints (and possibly all documents used by landlords and their attorneys) to ensure that these documents are legible, comprehensible, and actionable by tenants.

Language requirements that ensure landlords, attorneys, and courts are communicating in tenants’ preferred language.

Financial services

Microcredit and lending services that responsibly provide short-term financial assistance, including emergency rental assistance.

Social Services

Social workers and eviction prevention counselors for tenants in public housing complexes, nonprofit housing, and private housing.

Legal services

[Applicable at all stages of the process] Right to counsel policies that provide counsel to those facing evictions, often throughout all stages of the process, and either for all tenants or based on established eligibility criteria (e.g., income level or type of eviction).

Phone and chat hotlines that provide guidance to tenants about their options and the process and refer them to other resources.

One-off advice clinics or consultations, such as lawyers-for-a-day programs, that provide tenants quick access to a lawyer who can help them form a strategy or represent them in court. Lawyers can often be accessed in court, at legal aid, or elsewhere.

DIY websites and paper materials that guide tenants through how to prepare documents, paperwork, and scripts for their court process. These can be through ‘guided interviews,’ ‘document assembly programs’ and other tools that provide interactive, tailored information and can provided by courts, self-help centers, legal aid groups, foundations, or other entities.

Google and other search engine strategies that improve the likelihood that tenants will find free legal help (or other guidance) if they search online, through courts and legal aid groups investing in outreach and search engine placement or through technology companies proactively choosing to foreground public interest resources if someone is searching for help with eviction.

Court processes

Lower barriers to answer, in those states that require a tenant to answer the lawsuit in order to get a hearing (and avoid a default). Eliminate filing fees for a tenant filing an Answer. Have the court do the ‘Proof of Service’ rather than the tenant. Lengthen the Answer response time to 14 days. Make a simple Answer form that does not require expert knowledge to complete. Allow tenants to e-file their answer, rather than doing it in person at a limited time. Or, at the most basic, remove the Answer requirement and guarantee all tenants a hearing.

Language access for all forms and communications, interpreters who are available pre court and the day of the hearing.

Collaborative courts and social services at court that give litigants additional support, including access to mental health supports and social service screening and referrals. This could also entail changing the structures and formalities of the court in order to allow litigants to speak more freely, find outcomes that serve their needs, and overcome other biases.

Court watchers or navigators, who accompany a litigant through the procedure and hearing and provide some amount of explanation and guidance (though not legal advice).

Negotiation and settlement assistance

Eviction diversion programs that bring landlords and tenants together after an eviction lawsuit has been filed to agree on a settlement plan that eliminates the lawsuit and typically includes rental assistance and other measures to help tenants stay stably-housed.

Mandatory settlement conferences that bring parties together before the hearing to work out a mutually beneficial settlement and close the lawsuit, or efforts to at lease encourage settlements.

Housing settlement masters and standards for default agreements to prevent imbalanced and harmful settlements. This could entail the court or legal aid providing Settlement Negotiation Templates that guide first-time litigants through what to ask for and how to navigate settlement talks and suggest provisions such as receiving a reference letter, full return of the security deposit, and financial consideration for poor living conditions.