Independent evaluation shows Cleveland’s Right to Counsel keeps families housed and delivers $44.7 million in community benefits

CLEVELAND, OH — An independent evaluation by Stout Risius Ross, LLC confirms that Cleveland’s Eviction Right to Counsel program (RTC-C) continues to deliver significant benefits for tenants, the court system, and the broader community, helping thousands of Cleveland residents avoid eviction and maintain housing stability. 

This past week, for the sixth year in a row, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and United Way of Greater Cleveland delivered an independent evaluation to the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County leaders highlighting the success of Cleveland’s Right to Counsel in eviction cases.

From January 1–December 31, 2025, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland assisted 2,717 residents in 947 eviction right to counsel cases. Since the program launched in July 2020, Cleveland Legal Aid has assisted 18,940 residents with 5,370 cases.

“This independent evaluation confirms what our clients experience every day — that having an attorney can be the difference between losing a home and maintaining stability,” said Colleen Cotter, Executive Director of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. “Eviction is a life-altering event. Right to Counsel helps families stay housed, strengthens communities, and promotes fairness in a system where the stakes could not be higher.”

Key findings from the 2025 evaluation include:

• High-impact legal services: Approximately 88% of RTC-C clients received extensive legal services in 2025, a rate that has remained consistent since the program began.
• Low repeat-client rate: Only 7% of households served since 2020 were repeat clients, indicating the effectiveness of legal intervention in stabilizing housing.
• Improved access to justice: Tenant representation in Cleveland landlord-tenant cases has increased from approximately 2–3% before RTC-C to about 15% since implementation.
• Economic and fiscal benefits: Cleveland and Cuyahoga County likely realized economic and fiscal benefits of approximately $44.7 million since July 1, 2020. The program generates public economic benefits by preventing unnecessary displacement and reducing downstream costs associated with eviction and homelessness.

“Right to Counsel–Cleveland shows what’s possible when philanthropy and the public sector come together to launch solutions that meet urgent community needs,” said Sharon Sobol Jordan, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Cleveland. “United Way’s five-year investment helped put that right into practice for families facing eviction, while Legal Aid delivered it with quality and consistency. As this evaluation shows, our start-up funding helped Right to Counsel mature into a nationally recognized model, with a strong foundation now in place to continue protecting renters across Cleveland.”

Read the full report at FreeEvictionHelpResults.org.

In 2019, Cleveland City Council passed Cleveland’s Right to Counsel ordinance with a recognition that “a lack of legal counsel for low-income tenants with minor children during eviction cases is a violation of a basic human right.” Through Cleveland Codified Ordinance 375.12, the city became the first in the Midwest and only fourth in the United States to provide such a right.

Launched on July 1, 2020, Right to Counsel Cleveland provides a right to free legal representation pursuant to the ordinance. This right is delivered to eligible households through a partnership between United Way and Legal Aid.

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