Dear Commissioners,

Three of you have already voted to establish Tenant Right to Counsel in Douglas County -- please stand by your vote and establish our right to legal representation by funding the program from the general fund and directing staff to locate other funding sources.

You should do this because:
- Over 90% of landlords have representation in eviction cases whereas less than 5% of tenants are represented. We deserve representation, and we deserve to defend our homes.

- Many tenants have reasonable counterclaims to evictions, but we don't have the lawyers to back it up, and that's unfair.

- We deserve the opportunity to stay, be provided extra time to leave, or hold accountable our landlords when they're renting not up to code property to us.

- Tenant Right to Counsel advances health and racial equity. All people deserve safe and affordable housing, and according to Princeton University's Eviction Lab, "Less than one in every five renters in America is Black (18.8%), but over half of all eviction filings are against Black renters (51.1%).” Right to Counsel advances racial equity by giving BIPOC renters legal advocacy.

-Evictions are unnecessarily hard on children and families. According to a 2023 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “the typical eviction case filed in America involves one child.” Tenant Right to Counsel helps families avoid displacement.

- Tenant Right to Counsel works to change unfair systems and address power imbalances in our community. Many landlords will include illegal clauses in leases, both intentionally and unknowingly. Tenant Right to Counsel helps weed out these illegal clauses and baseless eviction claims, enabling a tenant to fight the eviction and incentivizing landlords to actually learn and follow the law.

Take action now. Do the right thing and vote yes on Tenant Right to Counsel.