the Future of Change

As reported in the NY Daily News and other outlets, New York City has endorsed a right to counsel for low-income tenants in housing court in the city.  Such an unprecedented move will undoubtedly not just help families avoid the terrible hardships of homelessness but will also save the City tens of millions of dollars in the cost of housing such families in homeless shelters.  This makes both moral and fiscal sense.  I’ve written about this issue at length here, and have encouraged the people of the State of New York to adopt this concept statewide should they vote to consider amending the state constitution in the upcoming referendum on whether to hold a new state constitutional convention.  Congratulations to Andrew Scherer who has been a tireless advocate on this issue for decades and Council Member Mark Levine for leading the charge on the legislation.