The statewide Right to Counsel program ensures that tenants don't face their landlord's attorney in court without their own legal support. The program is incredibly successful with 90% of closed cases resulting in people keeping their homes or moving into another permanent housing option, often with the eviction record sealed so it doesn't prevent them from accessing housing in the future. The program is one of the state's most effective tools preventing homelessness and displacement, and people helped by the program are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and People of Color or have disabilities. Without this $3 million in funding, many fewer people will be served, just as evictions in Washington continue at all-time high rates.

Evictions are destabilizing for families who need a safe place to call home. Of the more than 30,000 tenants who have benefitted from the Right to Counsel program since 2022, 47% of tenants identified as Black, indigenous, or people of color, and 39% of tenants had a disability. Both groups of people are disproportionately represented as being at risk of eviction and homelessness.

Key Points:

• Eviction filings in Washington in fiscal year 2025 reached 24,368 households – a 47% increase from the pre-COVID baseline of 16,505 households in 2019.
• Studies have found that eviction causes negative repercussions for household members, including physical and mental health problems, future housing instability, education and life expectancy impacts for children, and an overall increase in the likelihood of homelessness.
• The $3 million request from the Supplemental Operating Budget is needed to sustain the current program. Governor Ferguson's budget proposal includes $3 million of continuing funding. If the legislature fails to include it in their final budget, 17 attorneys statewide will be eliminated, putting thousands of households at risk of losing their homes.

Making sure that rules and laws are clear and fair, so that tenants can have peace of mind, freedom to plan for the future, and safe, healthy homes is the a key policy element in the Housing Alliance's "Roadmap to Housing Justice" a comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness in Washington State. Learn more at wliha.org/roadmap