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Residents and advocates press aldermen to fund right-to-counsel, tenant impact fund and emergency shelter capacity
Summary
Speakers at the budget hearing urged the committee to increase funding for the Right to Counsel program (advocates estimate $2 million annual need), the Impacted Tenants/tenant relief fund, affordable-housing preservation, and emergency winter shelter/outreach.
Multiple residents and housing advocates used public comment at the Budget Committee hearing to call for larger city investments in tenant legal aid, tenant relocation support, affordable-housing preservation and winter shelter capacity.
What advocates asked for: - Full funding of the Right to Counsel program. Several speakers (Alvania Creighton, Damon Starks, Rachel Hurtado) said the city-funded right-to-counsel effort is under-resourced; speakers recommended a program scale of roughly $2,000,000 annually to handle eviction filings at city scale. "This program is not functional...it is extremely underfunded," Hurtado said of the current intake constraints. - Impacted Tenants Fund: advocates requested the fund be increased (multiple speakers proposed $500,000) to assist people displaced when the city condemns unsafe rental properties or when large affordable complexes go offline. - Emergency winter shelter and outreach: advocates described last winter's shortages, cited the loss of ARPA-funded shelter capacity (Grace House closed when ARPA funds ran out), and urged $400,000-$800,000 in general-fund support to stand up safe-haven and warming services. Brian Eagan, who has run shelter operations, said a safe-haven model placed 127 people into stable housing at a fraction of the cost of emergency care, and he provided a program budget to the committee. - Affordable-housing preservation and neighborhood stabilization: speakers asked for meaningful increases to the Affordable Housing Commission and argued that vacancies and speculator-owned units should be targeted for conversion to affordable housing stock.
Why it matters: advocates and committee members said that eviction filings are high (about 5,000 filings in 2024 is the figure cited by several speakers) and that without counsel and relocation support displaced tenants face long-term harm. Rachel Hurtado cited 6,456 calls to 2-1-1 seeking housing help in 2024 with only 147 referrals to shelter as evidence the system is failing to meet demand.
Committee context: Director Payne described budget lines and trust funds; committee members asked for program-level cost estimates and for the administration to consider making homeless outreach and Right to Counsel a recurring general-fund investment rather than one-time or grant-funded.
Ending: advocates asked aldermen to prioritize recurring, general-fund support for tenant protections, impacted-tenant assistance, affordable-housing preservation and winter shelter infrastructure; committee members indicated they would follow up as hearings continue.
