Housing Reform Case Study

Introduction: The housing reform movement began in New York City in the beginning of the 1800s. It was a necessary action as a result of the incidents emerging from the overcrowdings that had emerge because of the large mass of migration into America, by foreign groups. The population of immigrants in the city was growing so much that in order to provide a place to live people were being crowded up together in unsanitary and constricted spaces (Robert, p. 8). Therefore, in order to address this issue, New York City began to legislate for better housing conditions. A well-known philanthropist, Robert Hartley began to conduct reports exposing the living conditions of people within the city. His actions helped called for a plan to regulate the …show more content…
420). This article reveals that the majority of tenants lack legal representation in housing court cases while the landlords are the only ones mainly enjoying this privilege. Legal supporters for the poor have argued that it’s crucial and necessary for poor tenants to have legal counsel in order to guarantee due process of the law which is crucial to tenants, their families and to the community (Caroll, p. 420). In order to conduct the experiment, two primary empirical questions were developed and two randomized groups were created. One of these groups received legal representation and the other did not. The tenants randomly selected were specifically chosen from cases of nonpayment preceding in the Manhattan housing court. The tenants randomly selected were specifically those waiting in line to register with the clerk (Caroll, p. …show more content…
In New York, housing courts play a crucial role as they help determine the conditions and welfare of the poor who live within the community. Reports show that the city has had a low percent of rent level due to the unaffordable rent arrears (Caroll, p. 420). As a result, major of the homelessness the exist is said to be due to housing problems. “The lack of legal representation for most tenants, the severe housing problems of the city, and the complex regulatory system in New York City have led legal advocates for the poor to argue for the right to counsel in Housing Court” (Caroll, p. 420). In other words, the lack of proper and fair representation in housing courts is directly associated with the lack of financial funds. Furthermore, the experiment reveled that those tenants receiving legal representation were less likely to have a final judgment or experience an order of eviction against them (Caroll, p. 429). Nonetheless, these tenants enjoying legal representation had their landlord forced by the court to conduct proper repairs to their