Following months of tense discourse about tenant right to counsel, Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday voted 3-2 for a pilot program that will grant some tenants facing eviction access to legal representation.

In March 2024, Lawrence and Douglas County set a goal to establish a tenant right to counsel (TRTC) program for those facing evictions in Douglas County as part of the joint “A Place For Everyone” plan to end chronic homelessness. Over the course of more than a year, county commissioners have participated in a work session on TRTC and it’s been on the regular agenda four times.

The pilot program in development does not mean the commission is committing to a full-blown, long-term TRTC initiative. 

All defendants in criminal proceedings have a right to representation in court, but that right doesn’t expand to eviction proceedings, which are civil issues. Lawrence Tenants, a citywide renter union, has championed a full TRTC program that would cover all Douglas County residents facing eviction regardless of income or other potential eligibility requirements.

Still, renter advocates in the room rejoiced following the vote.

County staff came to the commission with the pilot program proposal after commissioners directed them to do more research on mediation following a TRTC discussion in December. The proposal, a Tenant Eviction Defense (TED) program, is modeled off of a Topeka initiative that is assisted by Kansas Legal Services. 

Per the agenda item, the KLS was able to extend their eviction prevention services in Topeka due to additional program funding. Over the course of a year, KLS attorneys gave advice to 92 tenants, limited-scope representation to 18 and full representation to 10.

“Among these cases, 34 resulted in the eviction case being dismissed as of March 2025,” the packet reads.

KLS had an $84,000 contract for those services across a year. Douglas County, by comparison, is working with the $40,000 that commissioners already set aside in the 2026 budget for eviction prevention efforts.

Commissioner Shannon Reid asked why staff selected a TED program as opposed to TRTC.

“With this dollar amount, I cannot guarantee right to access,” said Sarah Plinsky, county administrator. “I can only provide some access at that dollar amount.”

Under the staff proposal, the county will contract with nonprofit legal groups like KLS and Kansas Holistic Defenders for a seven-month trial period.

Tenants needing legal support or representation would be referred to the program through the Douglas County District Court Self-Help Center, which provides self-represented landlords and tenants with relevant forms, tools and resources. Folks with the center cannot provide legal advice.

Before finalizing their decision, commissioners posed questions to Heddy Pierce-Armstrong with KHD.

Pierce-Armstrong said that she often gets evictions dismissed because landlords did not provide appropriate notice, as outlined in Kansas’ Landlord and Tenant Act. But that hinges on her providing representation.

“I find it hard to tell someone that represents themselves how they could defend themselves against an attorney on the other side when there is a true notice issue,” Pierce-Armstrong said. “Where I can, often, before even going to court, get the attorney to dismiss that one, because I know it’s wrong, and they know it is too.”

Commissioner Erica Anderson confirmed with Pierce-Armstrong that the most common reason for eviction was nonpayment of rent. Anderson asked if rental or utility assistance would pose a good solution.

Pierce-Armstrong said that, especially with families, one cash injection isn’t usually enough to help them catch up.

“A lot of this with nonpayment is that the people just really need more time,” she said. “And what I can do as an attorney, if I know there’s probably going to be payment coming soon, is try to get the other side to agree to giving an additional two weeks … so that they can avoid vacating the property and so that they can stay stabilized in their housing.”

She said the county’s Housing Stabilization Collaborative, which provides rental and utility assistance, is a good resource. However, she said tenant requests for funds are often processed more quickly when that person has legal representation, such as herself.

Almost 40 people spoke during public comment. Around a dozen were against TRTC or the pilot program, and 21 were for a program. Others did not make their stance clear.

Many people who identified themselves as small, private landlords said that tenants receiving legal aid could put their businesses at risk by causing more legal costs. They were also concerned that a TED would make it harder to evict difficult tenants.

In response to a commissioner question, Pierce-Armstrong said that representation does not give tenants the ability to sidestep the law. Even with legal representation, tenants can be evicted, and lawyers cannot bring frivolous claims to court.

Some of the people against a TED said it would be a misappropriation of taxpayer money.

“We’ve heard a lot about how it’s a burden to the taxpayer,” Kelly said. “$40,000 is about 75 cents a year on a $350,000 home.”

Reid spoke in favor of a TED. She said that many small landlords hold their properties in LLCs, which means they are required to have a lawyer. That is a business expense they choose to take on, Reid said, but it automatically tips the scales in their favor in court.

“I understand some of the initial reactions and concerns and questions that rise up about this, but I think that, frankly, in many ways, we have significantly over complicated this conversation,” she said. 

The vote passed 3-2, with Anderson and Commissioner Gene Dorsey opposed.

Commissioners Kelly and Karen Willey agreed that the program would pose a good opportunity to collect data on the efficacy of TRTC-style interventions. Willey said she had been nervous to sign onto previous proposals guaranteeing a right, but felt more comfortable with a scaled-back pilot program.

Dorsey said “all of my constituents are opposed to this program” and said he wants the money to go to rental assistance.

Anderson agreed there were significant gaps in the housing system, but she wanted a solution that interjected upstream. She suggested they needed to intervene with a partner in the city-county housing plan that she said was the number one evictor.

Throughout the conversation she also said she thought the City of Lawrence should partner with the county on a policy level for any possible tenant right to counsel.

Matt Gifford, of Lawrence Tenants, said that he is a homeowner and his parents are landlords, so he understands both sides of the argument.

“This is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” he said, echoing what other public commenters have said in past meetings. “If you go to trial for an eviction and you haven’t paid your rent, in all likelihood you will get evicted. But adding this small balance in the scales can prevent folks from being evicted out of retaliation, or for personal vendettas, or for making maintenance requests, for political differences, for unwanted sexual advances, for misogyny, for bigotry, or whatever whim the landlord can find it justified, and that list goes on and on.”

Based on the vote, county staff members will move forward in developing a TED pilot and bring it back to commissioners for review.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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