More renters facing eviction have a right to a lawyer. Finding one can be hard
New laws aim to change the power imbalance in rent court, where tenants with no lawyer are more likely to lose. But some cities have a shortage of attorneys or no set way to pair them with renters.
On a recent Thursday morning, attorney Joseph Loveless arrives at rent court in Baltimore hoping to help someone stay in their home. He was inspired to join Maryland Legal Aid after both the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland passed laws in 2021 guaranteeing the right to counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction.
"Homelessness is a crisis in this country," he says. "It's pretty much trying to stop the bleeding at the source."
But Loveless doesn't know whether he'll get a chance to do that this day.
Two years after the laws passed, there's still no system to match attorneys with tenants. So Loveless and his colleagues arrive half an hour before the court opens and offer themselves up. "We will be making
