In the Spring 2008 Housing Court Monitor, Legal Support Unit Housing Specialist David Robinson makes the case for a national database on evictions, a resource not currently available to advocates who struggle to create awareness around the issue.

In today's Gotham Gazette, State Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman pens a column highlighting the need for a right to civil counsel, particularly for low-income tenants facing eviction. Legal Services NYC Executive Director Andrew Scherer explains why so many New Yorkers go unrepresented, and why the need for "a civil Gideon" is so great.

Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals Judith S. Kaye responded last week to the dramatic rise in residential foreclosure filings throughout New York by announcing a new pilot program in Queens County intended to educate homeowners and facilitate negotiations through court-sponsored early settlement conferences to try to resolve foreclosure cases without further litigation. As a Program Partner of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, Legal Services NYC is helping to coordinate new and expanded foreclosure prevention legal services city-wide.

In a segment that aired on June 23rd, CBS 2 News investigated the Lantern Group, a non-profit paid by the city to provide clean, safe and affordable housing for vulnerable populations that is being accused of neglecting properties, leaving tenants to live in deplorable conditions despite charging them more than the federally-regulated rent limits. Manhattan Legal Services Staff Attorney Ime Imeh is representing one of the tenants in a lawsuit against the group.

Margaret Becker, Director of the Homeowner Defense Project at Staten Island Legal Services, appears in a June 22nd New York Times article that brings focus to the impact of the ongoing foreclosure crisis on Staten Island homeowners.