HRA outlines five‑year plan for Right to Counsel, warns funding and data gaps limit reach

New York City’s Human Resources Administration told the City Council’s oversight committee it will publish its first public five‑year strategic plan for the Right to Counsel program and begin a procurement process intended to align contracts with case realities. Administrator French and HRA staff said they will use data from fiscal 2025 to estimate how many housing‑court cases are eligible for counsel and to better model funding and staffing needs.

HRA explained that prior internal strategic planning had not been the same as a public plan and that the agency expects the forthcoming document to guide contract length, reimbursement timing and any adjustments to how deliverables are measured. “This is the first time there will be an official 5 year strategic plan that we'll publish,” HRA said in opening remarks to the committee.

HRA officials addressed a recurring operational issue: cases that extend beyond a single contract year. The agency said it currently reimburses providers for work performed regardless of whether the case originated in that fiscal year, but it has changed what providers may count toward annual deliverables. HRA staff described 3‑year multiyear contracts with fixed end dates and said they want to work with providers on budgeting approaches that acknowledge lengthy cases. Council members asked for clarity about a 2023 decision to tighten rollover counting; HRA representatives said they would continue to work with providers to “bake in” the realities of longer case timelines into future contracts and procurements.

On data and eligibility, HRA said it has begun cross‑system matching with the Office of Court Administration and provider records and expects more precise eligibility and representation‑rate numbers in 2026. That analysis will, HRA said, let the agency model scenarios (including possible changes in federal benefits) and estimate the numbers of lawyers and other resources needed under different eligibility thresholds. When asked about modeling beyond the statutory 200% federal‑poverty eligibility, HRA said its current data do not yet support reliable estimates at alternate slices (for example, 400% of FPL), but that the agency will consider it in future planning.

HRA reiterated that its contracts at present are with nonprofit providers only, and that about 13 organizations (including subcontracting relationships) deliver RTC services under current agreements. The agency also acknowledged staffing and retention challenges across human services providers and said payments and contract timing have put operational stress on nonprofit partners. HRA told the committee it had made advances in processing one‑shot rental assistance applications compared with recent years but that some individual cases still take longer than the public guidance suggests.

HRA described pilot lessons from Brooklyn that showed potential gains from upstream outreach (proactive contact with landlords and tenants before a court appearance) and court‑adjacent clinics designed to resolve cases at or before first court dates. The agency said it is testing how to scale those interventions citywide beginning in early 2026.

The agency repeatedly framed the forthcoming strategic plan and a data‑driven procurement as the primary levers to align funding, provider capacity and contracting mechanics. HRA told council members it would follow up with borough breakdowns of representation rates, more precise vacancy and staffing figures for OCJ (the Office of Civil Justice), and details on FY25 spending and encumbrances.

For council members seeking near‑term relief, HRA recommended continuing collaborative work with providers and the court system on intake, earlier screening and pilots to resolve matters before they require prolonged litigation.

Ending note: HRA said the plan will be published and that it expects FY25 data to provide the first reliable municipal estimate of eligibility and representation gaps that can drive budget and procurement decisions.