REMARKS
Council member expresses concerns about Universal Access to Counsel program
0:39:12
·
62 sec
Council Member Sanchez raises concerns about the implementation of the Universal Access to Counsel program, highlighting the gap between the number of cases served and the total number of housing court cases.
- The program funds legal service providers for about 44,000 cases per year
- There are approximately 200,000 cases moving through housing court annually
- The council member expresses concern about the program's performance in the face of growing evictions
Pierina Sanchez
0:39:12
I'm gonna ask one more question and then I'll stop it here and turn it to my colleagues and I I will come back.
0:39:17
But with respect to universal access, my understanding is that we we as a city, although we have promised universal access to indigent New Yorkers through city council legislation and law, we we fund, legal service providers to provide about 44,000 services to 44,000 cases per year out of the 200,000 that we are receiving, that we are seeing move through housing court, very slow and broken housing court.
0:39:50
How how does the administration understand our performance with respect to universal access in the face of growing evictions and the instability that this causes for New Yorkers?
AnnMarie Santiago
0:40:02
Thank you for that question, council member.
0:40:04
As you know, HPD doesn't administer the universal access program, so we will bring that back to our colleagues, and provide an answer to the council.
