NYC March evictions
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
March 2025 appears to have been a low point for tenant legal representation—Right to Counsel monthly representation rates reportedly fell to about 30% in March 2025—and citywide evictions were already mounting, with roughly 2,500 evictions recorded so far in 2025 as courts worked through pandemic backlogs [1] [2]. New state-level "Good Cause" protections went into effect in 2024 and shaped eviction defenses in NYC through 2025, but enforcement and coverage remain complex and uneven [3] [4].
1. March’s headline: representation plunged while evictions rose
A Comptroller analysis cited in city reporting finds that the monthly rate of tenants with counsel in housing court fell below 50% for three years and hit just 30% in March 2025—a striking contrast with evidence that representation dramatically improves outcomes [1]. At the same time, New York City Council oversight records note roughly 2,500 evictions had already occurred in 2025 and expected to increase as courts cleared backlogs of warrants and cases delayed by the pandemic [2].
2. Why Right to Counsel matters — and why March was consequential
The Comptroller’s materials underline that Right to Counsel is highly effective: in 2024, 89% of represented households reportedly remained stably housed, and declining representation rates directly reduce that protection as eviction filings and enforced removals rise [1]. The drop to ~30% representation in March 2025 therefore signals that many tenants faced housing court without an attorney during a period of mounting enforcement [1].
3. Good Cause Eviction reshaped defenses but did not eliminate evictions
New York’s Good Cause Eviction law—effective in April 2024—gives many market-rate tenants a legal defense against no-cause evictions and caps on extreme rent hikes; state agencies and municipal guidance framed it as a tool tenants can use in housing court [3] [4]. Sources also show the law’s reach depends on eligibility rules and local opt-ins, and administration of those protections intersects with housing court practice, where representation gaps matter [5] [4].
4. Two parallel dynamics: laws expanding tenant rights, systems straining to implement them
Between new statutory protections (Good Cause) and local initiatives to curb unlawful lockouts and sanction bad actors, policy has moved toward stronger tenant safeguards [5] [6] [3]. However, enforcement capacity—courts resolving pandemic-era backlogs, Right to Counsel programs under strain, and the deployment of marshals—has struggled to keep pace, creating a gap between legal rights on paper and outcomes in practice [1] [2] [7].
5. Unlawful evictions vs. enforced evictions — scale and trends
City Council data show that unlawful lockouts and illegal evictions exist alongside large numbers of enforced evictions: one review covering Aug 2024–Aug 2025 recorded 1,814 illegal lockouts, 54 illegal evictions, and 18,620 enforced evictions, illustrating that most displacement follows formal court processes but that unlawful practices remain a serious, targeted harm [6].
6. Where numbers and timelines create different impressions
Some outlets focusing on monthly filings later in 2025 reported that eviction case starts and enforced removals were climbing back toward pre-pandemic levels, while other sources emphasize fewer filings than in prior peak years—reflecting different metrics (cases filed vs. households evicted) and timeframes (early 2025 vs. later months) [8]. Available sources do not mention a unified, single-month national comparison for March 2025 beyond the Comptroller and Council figures cited above [1] [2].
7. Practical takeaways for tenants and advocates
Tenants benefit from legal representation: statistics cited by the Comptroller show vastly better housing stability when tenants have counsel [1]. Given the reported 30% representation rate in March 2025, tenants facing court should urgently seek Right to Counsel and community legal services, and advocates should press for funding and administrative fixes to increase representation rates [1] [9].
8. Where reporting diverges and what to watch next
Sources agree that Good Cause changed the law and that evictions rose as courts handled backlogs, but they differ on scale and timing: the Comptroller highlights representation collapse in March 2025, City Council materials quantify early‑year evictions (~2,500) and warn of increases, and data dashboards count both unlawful lockouts and thousands of enforced evictions across a year [1] [2] [6]. Watch monthly Right to Counsel coverage figures, marshal enforcement reports, and OCA housing court statistics to see whether representation rebounds and whether Good Cause materially reduces the number of households actually removed [1] [2] [6].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the supplied sources; claims about causes beyond court backlogs or administrative choices are not included unless cited above.