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Council hears updates on Right to Counsel: state grants, RFPs and limited outreach capacity for defaulted tenants
Summary
Law department and Right to Counsel director reported state awards, RFPs for tenant representation and limits on outreach; council moved parts of eviction-defense funding and outreach discussion into executive session.
Diamond Conley, executive director of the city’s Right to Counsel program, told the council the program has preserved housing for thousands of tenants but that outreach capacity for tenants who default and miss court dates remains limited.
Conley said the program has enabled about 3,546 tenants to remain in their homes and that the law department expects to spend the full $18 million ARPA allocation for the eviction-defense initiative through fiscal year 2026 with the current mix of ARPA and general-fund support.
The city has been awarded $2.5 million in state funds, Conley said. She described two current requests for proposals (RFPs): $2.2 million for full legal representation of tenants and $225,000 for outreach to reach tenants who are defaulting and not appearing in court. Conley also said the program was awarded a separate $1.5 million state grant last year but that a contract for that money had not yet been received.
“225,000 at this point, I do not think would be sufficient to cover 5,000 tenants who are being defaulted,” Conley told the council when members asked whether the outreach allocation could reach an estimated 5,000 defaulted tenants. She calculated the outreach funding would amount to roughly $7.60 per defaulted case if the entire cohort were reached.
The council discussed hotline capacity. Conley said there is not a dedicated Right to Counsel hotline; tenants seeking representation must appear in court for an initial hearing or call the Housing Resource Division (HRD) hotline, which lacks attorneys on its line. City staff said Chelsea’s housing hotline receives calls and can direct people to Right to Counsel resources but cannot provide attorney guidance on the line.
Council president Mary Sheffield moved to place the office-of-eviction-defense/outreach discussion into executive session for further detail; there were no objections and the action was taken.
Why it matters: Council members cited the program’s eviction-prevention successes but raised concerns that current outreach funding is insufficient to reach tenants who default, potentially leaving eligible tenants without counsel and at risk of eviction.
Ending: Council members asked for additional information about outreach plans and the status of awarded state funding and contracts. Law department and Right to Counsel staff said they would return with further details and follow-up materials to the committee.
