Chair Sanchez questions on housing court delays and rental arrears accumulation

Thank you.

The next question was also for you, so I didn't want to distract you too much.

But in connection with the fast track, the housing court fast track and the announcement that you all made around housing court moving faster on these egregious tenant issues,

one question that has come to me several times by different owners is bringing up the delays on the rental arrears side of the house.

And so the example that someone gave me was if they file an eviction case for nonpayment, you know, it's.

could be $10,000, $15,000 in nonpayment for a unit today or in September, they won't get a judge assigned until sometime in the spring, maybe February, maybe March.

And then a series of adjournments, you know, while this low-income tenant is assigned a housing.

A right to counsel, attorney, et cetera, causes more delays, all the while more and more and more arrears accumulate for this unit, destabilizing the property and all the rest.

So the question on that side is, you know, what is the administration doing?

Have you had any conversations with the Office of Court Administration on that side of the house to try to speed up these cases in court?

Yes, I will thank you for the question, and I will just say it's very much on our radar.

This issue is completely on our radar.

It's not good for anyone that cases drag on and on while arrears simply accumulate.

We are working very hard with the Office of Court Administration, but also the Office of Civil Justice and HRA

to identify upstream interventions where we can actually reach households before they end up in court so that the right to counsel program can then work to serve the truly complex cases that it really, where tenants really truly need an attorney.

And so we don't have anything specific to say at this time, but it is something that our office is working very hard on and we hope to have recommendations soon.

Great.

Thank you.