New Orleans First City Court Senior Judge Veronica Henry was among a select group of individuals invited by the White House to give a presentation during a summit titled, “Building on Emergency Rental Assistance to Ensure Long-Term Eviction Reform” on Tuesday, August 2, 2022. Senior Judge Henry spoke specifically about First City Court’s Eviction Diversion Program.
This virtual event focused “on the need to build on the American Rescue Plan’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program to ensure long-term eviction reform, including highlighting model innovations across the country.” Senior Judge Henry’s presentation was part of the panel on Visionary Court-Led Eviction System Reform, and included Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice; Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, Michigan Supreme Court; Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon, New Mexico Supreme Court; and Senior Judge Veronica Henry, First City Court of New Orleans.
“I am extremely honored to have received an invitation from the White House to detail the tremendous success of eviction diversion in New Orleans City Courts,” said Senior Judge Henry. “The passage of the White House American Rescue Plan gave municipalities the much needed funding to build an infrastructure to handle the swell of tenants and landlords in need of help as a result of the global pandemic. To date, Treasury dollars in New Orleans have helped over 17,000 tenants and landlords with 5,000 more anticipated to be served.
“During the pandemic, the Judges of New Orleans First and Second City Courts determined that we needed to incorporate eviction diversion in order to cement Court-based reform in the way evictions were handled. The Eviction Diversion Program of First and Second City Courts incorporates legal assistance at every eviction hearing, on-site emergency rental assistance representatives from the City of New Orleans at every eviction hearing, an Evictions Help Desk, and other supportive services — all to prevent eviction and maintain housing stability.
“In May 2022, the City of New Orleans built on the City Courts’ Eviction Diversion Program by approving a Right to Counsel Ordinance for tenants facing eviction in 2022. Two million dollars in Treasury funding was utilized to implement the Right to Counsel Program at First and Second City Court - a first in the state of Louisiana, yet there is still more work to be done to fully ensure equitable and meaningful access to justice in eviction cases.”
In October 2021, New Orleans First and Second City Courts received the 2021 Legal Services Innovation Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Access To Justice Committee for its Eviction Diversion initiatives.
Original source can be found here.