DCA Releases New Eviction Defense Tool for New Jersey Tenants

• Posted on: 07/23/2025

Comprehensive Guide Helps At-Risk Tenants Navigate the Eviction Process

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) today announced the release of an interactive guide that walks tenants through New Jersey’s eviction process. The new guide helps explain New Jersey’s landlord-tenant laws clearly and concisely, allowing tenants to better understand their rights and obligations as renters, maneuver the eviction process, and prepare for court. The guide can be accessed by visiting https://evictionguide.nj.gov.

"The Department of Community Affairs is committed to ensuring that people effectively navigate the landlord-tenant process, which means making sure tenants across New Jersey have access to the resources and knowledge they need," said DCA Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez. "This new guide is a vital tool in helping tenants understand their rights and responsibilities, and it's part of our broader effort to prevent unnecessary evictions and promote housing stability. We are dedicated to supporting housing security and a component of that is ensuring tenants have access to the information and assistance necessary to maintain secure housing."

The guide is particularly useful because of its interactive features. By asking just a few yes-or-no questions, the tool takes into account the unique situation facing each tenant before providing advice and resources tailored to their circumstances. DCA’s guide also connects tenants to resources in their county so that they may receive immediate assistance with case management, social services support, rent arrears, relocation, and legal advice or representation.

DCA plans on accompanying the launch of the tool with a series of virtual town halls, as well as meetings with legislators, local officials, community-based organizations, and other key stakeholders to showcase the guide and explain its role in DCA’s broader strategy to promote housing stability in New Jersey.

Tenants using the guide receive recommendations on critical actions to take at each stage of the eviction process, as well as information about the rights and responsibilities both they and their landlords have under New Jersey state housing law. The tool also highlights a range of permissible legal defenses tenants may use in court to prevent their own eviction, as well as practical advice on the evidence they must present in court to effectively assert their claims. Finally, the tool helps connect at-risk tenants with prevention and legal services agencies in their area dedicated to providing them with the support they need, whether in terms of legal aid or other housing support services. 

DCA first developed the tool to better address the growing role evictions play in creating homelessness across the state. In 2024, nearly one out of every four people (24.17%) entering homelessness in New Jersey did so due to eviction. Eviction is the second largest cause of homelessness in the state with its impact even more pronounced among those experiencing homelessness for the first time in 2024, as 27.59 percent of these cases were attributable to eviction.

According to Court Management Statistics (njcourts.gov), in 2024, there were over 112,000 eviction filings throughout New Jersey, the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that filings topped 100,000. Eviction filings continue to rise, with a projected total of 115,000 filings by the end of 2025, which accounts for nearly 10 percent of renter-occupied households in New Jersey. These numbers are expected to continue to grow following actions and proposals at the federal level aimed at cutting rental assistance and programs to create affordable housing units. For example, the budget framework for Federal Fiscal Year 2026 proposes a cut of 44 percent to rental assistance programs, which would eliminate more than 9,400 rental vouchers. Of these impacted households losing their rental vouchers, more than 75 percent are predicted to face eviction within one year of that loss. In the face of these federal cuts, DCA is redoubling its commitment to supporting at-risk tenants by providing them with an array of support services and rental assistance programs.     

Aside from the new guide, DCA is also assisting tenants through its Office of Eviction Prevention (OEP). OEP oversees various eviction prevention and diversion programs and services, including rental assistance, social services support, and access to counsel for low-income tenants threatened with eviction. The Office also handles general inquiries about landlord-tenant rights and publishes the biannual Truth in Renting Guide, an explainer on the rights and responsibilities facing both residential landlords and tenants in New Jersey. The Office works closely with nonprofit community-based organizations in disseminating information about available resources and conducting direct outreach to at-risk tenants.  

"The release of this guide represents a significant step in our mission to support tenants and prevent unnecessary evictions," said DCA Assistant Commissioner and Director of the Division of Housing and Community Resources Janel Winter. "By providing clear, accessible information about the landlord-tenant process, we aim to empower tenants with the knowledge they need to protect their housing. Our team is working tirelessly to offer resources and assistance that help keep New Jersey residents in their homes." 

One major initiative of the OEP is the Comprehensive Eviction Defense & Diversion (CEDD) statewide network. CEDD is a comprehensive wraparound support system in which experienced homelessness prevention case workers (resource navigators) from community-based nonprofit social services agencies are paired with nonprofit legal services providers, and the two collaborate to provide support services, including rental assistance, emergency financial assistance, legal counsel, mediation, crisis intervention, and case management. In a coordinated fashion, they ensure: 

• Prevention - assisting tenants in averting lockouts. 
• Justice - educating tenants about their rights and helping them assert their rights in court while ensuring equitable access to a fair legal process. 
• Diversion - increasing tenants' participation in non-adversarial quick resolutions outside of court, where possible, or reaching sustainable, informed, equitable settlements in court before trial or pre-warrant of removal. 
• Relief - helping tenants gain access to stabilizing resources, including rental assistance (for arrears or future rent), relocation assistance, and utility assistance, among other benefits.
• Equity and Fair Housing - serving individuals and families disproportionately at risk and lacking access to resources. 
• Evidence-based Assistance - immediate problem solving and creative intervention driven by household demographic and eviction data collection and analysis. 
• Low Barrier Partnership and Harm Reduction - fostering partnerships across the eviction and homelessness prevention ecosystem that break down barriers to resources while reducing harm, expanding flexibility and efficiency in assistance, and promoting collaboration or community-centered support. 

To date, CEDD has been a great success. Nearly 86 percent of households who received intensive support (legal and non-legal) remained housed in their original housing or were permanently relocated. The households CEDD served were severely cost-burdened, with close to 59 percent of their household income going toward rent; the median income of households served was $2,200 a month. Other vulnerable populations served include veterans, seniors with disabilities, and survivors of domestic violence. The average cost per household was $1,300, a relatively low cost compared to the significantly higher cost of providing housing support after eviction. Through targeted outreach and integration into the landlord-tenant court process itself, CEDD provides at-risk tenants with an immediate and lasting remedy to housing instability. 

In addition, DCA’s Office of Homelessness Prevention (OHP) offers a variety of programs to assist those who are homeless or in danger of homelessness. The OHP coordinates efforts among State and local agencies and private organizations that provide services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Their services include the Homelessness Prevention Program, which helps pay rent arrears, and the Homelessness Diversion Pilot, which deploys rapid case management paired with flexible funding to protect eligible households from the risk of unsheltered homelessness and shelter placement. 

Access the New Jersey Eviction Guide: https://evictionguide.nj.gov

DCA’s Division of Housing and Community Resources provides a wide range of services addressing needs in housing assistance, housing production, community development, neighborhood revitalization and improvement, energy assistance, and community services.

DCA offers a wide range of other programs and services, including local government management and finance, fire safety, building safety, disaster recovery and mitigation, local planning services, historic preservation, and information privacy.

For more information about DCA, visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow the Department on social media: