The Legal Aid Society launched on Monday its new Emergency Response Team (ERT) designed to provide rapid legal help to New Yorkers who were evicted or facing immediate eviction from their homes.
The team is made up of attorneys, supervisors and paralegals who focus on urgent housing cases, with the goal of intervening within 24 hours. Legal Aid reps said the program is aimed at preventing displacement and homelessness among New Yorkers.
“The impetus for our new unit in the first place was the gap between clients who are eligible for legal services under the right to counsel but aren’t getting it and fell through the cracks,” explained Munonyedi Clifford, attorney-in-charge of the Citywide Housing Practice at Legal Aid.
Because Legal Aid has the only citywide housing helpline, the organization gets an influx of calls from New Yorkers who need legal help.
“We have so many clients calling us who should have gotten a lawyer but didn’t get a lawyer,” Clifford said. “By the time they call us, oftentimes, it’s too late. So, the team prioritizes cases where clients have already been evicted or about to get evicted, so cases that are the most urgent.”
ERT working in the courts
A lot of the work has been taking place in court. The ERT can file emergency court papers seeking to stop an eviction or prevent a landlord from renting out an apartment while a case is pending. Attorneys can also work to bring tenants back to their homes when possible and help them apply for emergency rental assistance to address unpaid rent.
“For tenants facing eviction, a single phone call can be the difference between maintaining stability or losing everything,” said Emma Salas, citywide director of the ERT. “The Emergency Response Team ensures that no family is left alone in that critical moment. This is life-changing work that interrupts the pipeline to homelessness.”
The team began operating in June 2025, but officially launched on Sept. 21, according to the organization. In just over a year, Legal Aid reps said the team has prevented or reversed the loss of housing in 111 cases, while 59 cases remain pending. It also secured nearly $2 million in housing-related assistance, primarily through Oe-Shot Deals and other emergency rental assistance programs.
Funded by the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), Legal Aid is now expanding ERT’s staffing, which will include more attorneys and paralegals to manage its Housing Justice Helpline, which received nearly 18,000 calls from primarily low-income tenants over the past year, according to the organization.
Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the OTDA, said funding the new program is important because it is “critical to our work to reduce homelessness and support family well-being” in the city.
“The launch of The Legal Aid Society’s new Emergency Response Team will provide vital legal assistance to tenants when they need it most, helping them avoid eviction, remain in their homes whenever possible, and even cover rental arrears,” Guinn said. “OTDA is proud to provide funding for this important new program and grateful to Governor Hochul for her steadfast commitment to providing New Yorkers the support and resources necessary to maintain stable housing.”
Legal Aid expects the team to handle more than 600 cases annually, including emergency eviction cases, rental arrears applications, subsidy issues, and illegal lockouts or evictions carried out by city marshals.