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The Effects of Legal Representation on Tenant Outcomes in Housing Court: Evidence from New York City’s Universal Access Program

Author

Listed:
  • Mike Cassidy

    (Princeton University)

  • Janet Currie

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

Housing is one of the areas where it may be most critical for poor people to have access to legal representation in civil cases. We study the roll-out of New York City’s Universal Access to Counsel program (UA), using detailed address-level housing court data from 2016 to 2019. The program, which became law in August 2017, offers free legal representation in housing court to tenants with income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline. We find that tenants who gain access to lawyers are less likely to be subject to possessory judgments, face smaller monetary judgments, and are less likely to have eviction warrants issued against them. Lawyers have larger effects in poorer places and in those with larger shares of non-citizens. UA also reduces executed evictions in these locations. Our results support the idea that legal representation in civil procedures can have an important positive impact on the lives of poor people.

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Cassidy & Janet Currie, 2022. "The Effects of Legal Representation on Tenant Outcomes in Housing Court: Evidence from New York City’s Universal Access Program," Working Papers 2022-4, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    • Handle: RePEc:pri:econom:2022-4
    as

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    File URL: https://economics.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Currie_Cassidy_UA.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Will Dobbie & Jacob Goldin & Crystal S. Yang, 2018. "The Effects of Pretrial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 201-240, February.
    2. Abadie, Alberto, 2003. "Semiparametric instrumental variable estimation of treatment response models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 231-263, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hoynes, Hilary & Maestas, Nicole & Strand, Alexander, 2023. "Legal Representation in Disability Claims," SocArXiv svcy3, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing; Legal; Universal Access to Counsel program; Legal Representation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R39 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • K49 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Other

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