Some low-income renters in King County evicted without attorneys, despite state law

As eviction case filings in King County reach record high levels, some low-income tenants have been going without legal representation despite a 2021 law that gives them the right to counsel.

The first-of-its-kind state law, which gives indigent tenants publicly funded attorneys in eviction cases, has provided legal representation to more than 25,000 tenants statewide, according to data from the state Office of Civil Legal Aid.

However, the law only guarantees public defenders if the program is adequately funded. In the past four months, the program became unable to keep up with demand in King County, said state Eviction Defense Program Director Philippe Knab.

Knab attributed the shortfall to both the massive increase in eviction case filings — which in the first quarter of 2025 were double the 2019 rate — and speedier case processing in King County Superior Court in recent months. The court recently hired two judges focused on evictions to work through a months–long backlog and keep up with the rapid pace of new cases.

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Last November, Jessica Mitchell-Butler got an eviction notice from the landlord of her subsidized apartment on Capitol Hill.

“It's nerve-wracking, to say the least,” Mitchell-Butler said. She didn’t think the landlord had grounds to evict her, and the notice said she had the right to legal counsel.

When Mitchell-Butler called the King County Bar Association’s Housing Justice Project, which provides lawyers to low-income tenants in the county facing eviction, the staff were encouraging, she said, that she had a good case. At her first hearing, in February, the judge gave Mitchell-Butler another month while she waited to be assigned an attorney.

At Mitchell-Butler’s second hearing, in March, she was still waiting for representation. A lawyer for the Housing Justice Project asked the judge for a four-week continuance in both Mitchell-Butler’s case, and numerous other tenants’ cases that day, to allow the organization more time to work through the waitlist for attorneys.

The judge said that because Mitchell-Butler had been waiting for months already, the hearing could not be delayed any longer, and she’d have to represent herself. The judge found in the landlord’s favor, and said Mitchell-Butler could be evicted. Every other tenant who was waiting for an attorney was evicted, too, she said.

“It was really sad to see that,” Mitchell-Butler said. “One man didn’t even speak English. He was thanking the judge. I don’t think he understood that he’d been evicted.”

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Although people in subsidized housing and those with disabilities were supposed to be among those prioritized for attorneys, Mitchell-Butler said she fits both criteria — but didn’t get one. People with limited English were supposed to get priority, too.

“It feels like we aren’t even treated as people. I feel like just my side wasn't heard in the entire situation, because I didn't have the proper representation,” she said.

The Eviction Defense Program received funding from the state Legislature for five additional attorneys to serve King County beginning in July, Knab said. Whether that will meet the demand for eviction counsel in King County depends on how many new cases landlords file, he said.

From now until July, Knab said, the program is guaranteeing full representation for tenants in King County only if they have disabilities or limited English proficiency. All others who qualify based on income level under the law can get legal advice, assistance with settlements, and other services, but may need to represent themselves if their cases go to court, Knab said.

At King County Superior Court, Presiding Judge Ketu Shah said eviction cases became overwhelming in the past year, with backlogs as long as 10 months. The court has mostly caught up, Shah said, with eviction cases now taking about 10 weeks to resolve.

Still, he said, he laments the shortage of legal representation available for low-income tenants.

“We would love to have everyone have an attorney who needs to have an attorney,” Shah said. “We have to balance that with what the available resources are for all of these organizations, and making sure that cases get heard in a reasonable timeframe.”

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Landlords, too, are frustrated with the long delays for tenant eviction defense, said Marilyn Yim. She and her husband have had small rental properties in King County for 23 years, and her group, Seattle Grassroots Landlords, supports other small rental property owners as they go through eviction proceedings.

“These cases have gone from being a simplified process to so complex,” Yim said, after the Right to Counsel law passed. She said what sounds like fair dealing - giving tenants the ability to defend themselves in court - has had wide-rippling negative consequences in practice.

“For the landlord, their legal costs have gone through the roof,” Yim said, as evictions take months — or longer — to resolve. The eviction process has become so cumbersome that fewer people are willing to rent out their property, Yim said, which only further limits housing affordability in the region.

For Jessica Mitchell-Butler, her initial optimism in maintaining her low-income housing dissolved into defeat when she was evicted before she was able to get a lawyer.

Mitchell-Butler was spending her final days in her Capitol Hill apartment looking for a place that would take someone freshly evicted, while waiting for a sheriff’s deputy to come to her door.

“Every day I wake up, I'm anxious like, are they gonna show up today?" She said. "Are they gonna show up today? Are they gonna show up today?”