Residents urge Douglas County to adopt tenant right-to-counsel at Sept. work session

Multiple members of the tenant advocacy group Lawrence Tenants urged the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 20 to adopt a tenant right-to-counsel program that would provide lawyers to renters facing eviction. Speakers said the program would reduce illegal evictions, improve public health outcomes for children and families, and save public dollars by preventing homelessness.

“From the moment a tenant receives a 3-day notice on their door, they could be out of their house within two weeks,” said Matt Dickey, member, Lawrence Tenants. “We need to protect this basic human necessity, and that right begins with adequate legal representation for tenants in eviction court.”

Advocates told commissioners the proposal would implement a local version of a civil right-to-counsel in eviction cases. Cornelius Baker, member, Lawrence Tenants, said the county’s 2024 housing and homelessness plan, A Place for Everyone, already identifies tenant representation as a strategy that supports groups at higher risk of displacement, including BIPOC households, LGBTQ+ households, households with children, seniors and people with disabilities.

“There is a larger pattern: across the U.S., tenants are represented by attorneys in about 3% of eviction cases while landlords are represented about 82% of the time,” Baker said. Cassandra Barrett, member, Lawrence Tenants, who works with children and families with disabilities, told the board that eviction is associated with increased rates of chronic disease, developmental delays in children and other negative health outcomes and that a right-to-counsel program would reduce those harms by preventing evictions and holding landlords accountable for habitability violations.

Speakers cited local and national data in support. Matt Dickey said Kansas Holistic Defenders had provided representation to 135 Douglas County households and that roughly 78% of those cases resulted in outcomes favorable to tenants. Gabby Sprague, member, Lawrence Tenants, summarized cost‑benefit studies showing that for every $1 spent on tenant right-to-counsel programs jurisdictions have reported $3–$10 in savings, citing examples including Hamilton County, Tennessee; Oklahoma City and Tulsa County; and Philadelphia. Sprague also referenced a county report estimating roughly $5,000,000 in emergency-service costs for people experiencing homelessness in 2023 and said preventing evictions can reduce those downstream costs.

Advocates contrasted legal representation with mediation, saying mediators often lack landlord-tenant legal training and cannot break neutrality to hold a landlord legally accountable. “Lawyers can do everything a mediator can do, but mediators cannot do everything that a lawyer can do,” said Vince Munoz, member, Lawrence Tenants.

Speakers asked the commission to consider a formal proposal at the board’s scheduled work session on Sept. 3 and said Lawrence Tenants and partner organizations — including Kansas Holistic Defenders and the National Coalition for Civil Right to Counsel — are prepared to present implementation options and research findings.

There was no formal motion, direction to staff, or vote recorded on this topic during the Aug. 20 meeting. Public comment occurred during the announced general public comment period and the remarks will be part of the record for consideration at future hearings or work sessions.