Lorin Bond is NHLP’s Chief Operating Officer. As COO, she is responsible for helping to set vision and strategy, and for ensuring effective implementation of operational and administrative functions. Lorin’s purview includes finance, technology, grants management, communications, and human resources. Prior to joining NHLP, Lorin served as chief of staff to Zendesk’s Chief Marketing Officer, focused on improving the global marketing team’s operating rhythm and organizational health. She previously held a variety of operations roles within companies, ranging from tiny startups to the Fortune 500, providing her with a broad set of perspectives on how to build and scale strong teams. Lorin earned a B.A. at the University of California, Berkeley, an M.B.A. at Boston University with a focus on leadership and organizational transformation, and a Master of Science in information systems. 

Eric Dunn is a national expert on tenants’ rights and consumer law issues, including subsidized housing and criminal and eviction records. Prior to NHLP, Eric was an attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Northwest Justice Project in Seattle, and the Legal Aid & Defender Association of Detroit. He has been involved in a number of significant cases.  Hendrix v. Seattle Housing Authority and Shepherd v. Weldon Mediation Services, Inc. led to significant improvements in the administrative hearing protections for termination from federally subsidized housing. Resident Action Council v. Seattle Housing Authority vindicated the free speech rights of public housing tenants to post signs on their doors and windows. Downtowner Tenants Association v. Seelig stopped the owner of a HUD-subsidized building from raising rents or displacing tenants after the Rent Supplement contract expired, forcing a sale to a new owner who maintained the building as affordable housing. Simmons v. T.M. Associates Management, Inc. found that a landlord may have a duty to overlook a rental applicant’s disability-related criminal conviction as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, and Arroyo v. Corelogic Rental Property Solutions, LLC established that consumer reporting agencies are subject to the Fair Housing Act when they engage in tenant-screening activities. In Handlin v. On-Site Manager, Inc., the court upheld a rental applicant’s right to obtain a full and complete disclosure of a tenant-screening report that a landlord obtained about the applicant. Indigo Real Estate Services v. Rousey established a right for a domestic violence survivor to have an eviction case record sealed. Eric also was a lead counsel in Smith v. Wasatch Property Management, Inc., which challenged a landlord’s policy of categorically denying admission to applicants with eviction records, by alleging an unlawful discriminatory effect on African-American women. Smith, which settled in 2017, is believed to be the first fair housing case ever filed based on the discriminatory impact of eviction records.

James Grow is a Senior Staff Attorney at NHLP.  His work focuses on the preservation of privately-owned federally subsidized housing developments and he is considered one of the nation’s foremost experts on the subject. He has participated in many significant cases that have established or further defined preservation laws and rights of tenants in threatened properties and regularly provides assistance to legislators, housing attorneys, advocates and organizations. He is also an expert on low-income housing tax credits and utility and energy issues. James has co-authored the following publications on tenants’ rights in affordable housing: NHLP’s HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights, Public Housing in Peril, FmHA Housing Programs: Tenants’ and Purchasers’ Rights, the Subsidized Housing Handbook: How to Provide, Preserve and Manage Housing for Lower-Income People, and for the ACLU Handbook series, The Rights of Tenants. Outside of his experience with NHLP, James has served as Assistant Attorney for the City of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board.

Wendy Mahoney works in Publications and Administration at the National Housing Law Project providing customer service to NHLP’s publication subscribers, accounting, and sales.  She oversees administrative services maintaining advocacy listserv support, and providing administrative and database support to attorneys and staff.

Natalie N. Maxwell is the Managing Attorney at the National Housing Law Project. Natalie’s work at NHLP focuses on preserving rural housing (with a focus on USDA’s housing programs), preserving housing for low-income tenants impacted by disasters, and protecting and expanding the fair housing rights of low-income tenants and communities. Prior to joining NHLP, Natalie worked in the Florida legal aid delivery system, where she engaged in community lawyering to support community-based groups working for social, economic, and racial justice; engaged in state and local policy advocacy; and conducted litigation on behalf of low-income individuals and communities involving housing preservation, housing discrimination, disability rights, and public benefits. She also worked as an assistant public defender in Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit representing indigent clients in felony and misdemeanor trials. Natalie began her legal career as a 2005 Equal Justice Works Fellow, developing and engaging in legal strategies to increase access to accessible and affordable housing for low-income Floridians with disabilities. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and earned her law degree from the American University, Washington College of Law.

Noëlle Porter is NHLP’s Director of Government Affairs.  She is responsible for managing relationships with Congress and the Administration, organizational policy priority development, and strategic advocacy planning and execution. She works closely with all of NHLP’s attorneys to monitor and influence federal legislation and regulations. Prior to joining NHLP, Noëlle managed congressional relations for the National Alliance to End Homelessness after beginning her career in health policy. While earning her Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida, Noëlle worked as a case manager for a homeless services provider in Tampa.

Shamus Roller has been the Executive Director of NHLP since November 2016.  Before joining NHLP, Shamus served as the executive director of Housing California, a statewide advocacy organization working on issues of housing and homelessness.  During his time at Housing California the organization’s advocacy led to over five billion dollars in new funding for affordable development and a host of new programs and policies.  He helped start the Residents United Network, which organizes residents in affordable developments. Previous to that he was the executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, a regional housing and homelessness advocacy organization. He started his career running street outreach programs for people that are homeless and ran a meditation and yoga program for incarcerated youth.  He serves on the boards of the California Association of Nonprofits and Brilliant Corners.

KC Shah is the David B. Bryson Fellow at NHLP. KC manages the editing process for the 6th edition of HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights, also known as the “Green Book.” KC also works on NHLP’s initiatives to advance housing justice and tenants rights. KC holds a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and a law degree from Stanford Law School. While at Stanford, KC participated in the Community Law Clinic, assisting tenants facing eviction, and was a research assistant at the Legal Design Lab. KC assisted the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession and the National Center for State Courts assess online legal tools to help self-represented litigants file in state court, and was also a housing policy intern at Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Lisa Sitkin is a Supervising Attorney at the National Housing Law Project.  She provides technical assistance, training, and practice resources to attorneys representing homeowners in connection with mortgages and foreclosure. Before joining NHLP, Lisa was managing attorney at Housing and Economic Rights Advocates in Oakland, CA. Lisa has counseled and represented individual clients, participated in policy advocacy regarding mortgage servicing and foreclosure, and assisted with mortgage servicing, predatory and unfair lending litigation. She has conducted numerous workshops and trainings regarding mortgages, foreclosures, loan modification and foreclosure rescue scams, including programs produced by the Practicing Law Institute and the National Consumer Law Center, and has testified before the California State Legislature and other governmental bodies regarding mortgage servicing and foreclosure issues. She is one of the original drafters of the bill that ultimately became the California Homeowner Bill of Rights.

Deidre Swesnik is the Director of Communications for the National Housing Law Project.  Before joining NHLP in 2019, she worked for 20 years in the areas of housing and community development. She was a program officer at the Open Society Foundations where she managed the housing and community equity portfolios for the United States. Prior to that, she was the director of public policy and communications for the National Fair Housing Alliance and a policy associate at Rapoza Associates, where she managed the National Rural Housing Coalition and other coalitions and clients.

Deborah Thrope is the Deputy Director of the National Housing Law Project. Deborah’s work focuses on federal, state, and local policy advocacy to preserve affordable housing and tenants’ rights. She provides training and technical assistance to advocates working with low-income tenants and serves as an advisor and editor of NHLP’s seminal publication, HUD Housing Programs: Tenants Rights. Deborah has testified before Congress about increasing economic mobility in the Housing Choice Voucher program and improving living conditions for public housing residents. Before joining NHLP, Deborah was a senior attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and represented clients with disabilities facing eviction and civil commitment.