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The National Homelessness Law Center and the National Housing Law Project congratulate the American Bar Association in passing “ABA Ten Guidelines for Residential Eviction Laws.” The Resolution was passed Monday, on Valentine’s Day, bringing a little love to all the renters across the country. According to its website, “The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.” In recognition that evictions... Read More »

Statement by NHLP and NLIHC in Support of Human Rights Watch’s Report, “The Tenant Never Wins” HRW report statement... Read More »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 15, 2021  Media Contacts: Alejandro Davila, Earthjustice, adavila@earthjustice.org Deidre Swesnik, National Housing Law Project, dswesnik@nhlp.org Flint residents file civil rights complaint over asphalt plant approval Asphalt plant will dump air pollution in a Black community unrecovered from lead poisoning  Flint, Michigan—Today, residents of Genesee County filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the local approval of a polluting hot-mix asphalt plant. The complaint said that Genesee Township’s approval of the Ajax asphalt plant violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Housing and Community Development Act, as it is part of a pattern of discrimination. Groups are represented... Read More »

David Madway, who was a leader of the National Housing Law Project and the national legal services movement for almost two decades, died peacefully on Saturday, June 26, 2021. His death followed a long illness. Originally from Philadelphia, David earned his B.A. from Earlham College, a Quaker school in Indiana, in 1961, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law in 1964. He began practice with a New York firm, but left it in 1969 to join the staff of what was then National Housing and Economic Development Law Project. His first role was as head of the Project’s Economic Development section. Initially, he focused on homeownership by low income people under the HUD and Department of... Read More »

August 10, 2020 For Immediate Release Deidre Swesnik, Director of Communications, 202-919-9106 Statement by Deborah Thrope, Deputy Director, National Housing Law Project Washington, D.C.– On August 8, 2020, President Trump issued an “Executive Order on Fighting the Spread of COVID-19 by Providing Assistance to Renters and Homeowners.” Unfortunately, despite the title, the Executive Order does nothing to help renters and homeowners during this economic and public health crisis. It is important for the public to understand that the order does not expand protections previously enacted by the CARES Act, bar evictions moving forward, or provide emergency rental assistance funding. Landlords, courts, public housing authorities, and other entities can still seek to evict tenants. “Trump’s executive order does... Read More »

WASHINGTON, DC/SAN FRANCISCO – On January 27, 2020, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to lift a nationwide injunction allowing the “Public Charge” rule’s implementation awaiting other court rulings.  The rule, finalized by the Department of Homeland Security last August, will penalize low- and moderate-income immigrant families based on a prediction that they may use certain federal benefits in the future. The rule will also affect immigrant families that use or qualify for federal housing assistance. The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) worked closely with its partners on the Protecting Immigrant Families campaign opposing this rule, and has several resources on the housing impact of the public charge rule. “The National Housing Law Project strongly condemns... Read More »

On April 17, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a proposed rule for Congressional review that would prohibit “mixed status families” from living in public housing and Section 8 programs. The rule would further require all residents under the age of 62 to have their immigration status screened through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE), which is operated by the Department of Homeland Security. Mixed status families are households that include both members who are eligible and ineligible for housing assistance based on their immigration status. Under a federal law called Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, the housing subsidies of mixed status families are prorated... Read More »

The plan to power California with all renewable energy has cleared a major hurdle, through the Senate Bill 100, introduced by Sen. Kevin de León, which would require all retail electricity to be generated from solar, wind and other renewable energy sources by 2045. Read the full article from The Sacramento Bee here. Read More »

An article by NHLP’s Deborah Thrope appears in the latest edition of the ABA Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law (Vol. 27-1). The article, Achieving Housing Choice and Mobility in the Voucher Program: Recommendations for the Administration, addresses key barriers to housing choice and mobility and provides policy recommendations to HUD that would help deconcentrate voucher families outside of high poverty areas. Read More »

Eric Dunn joins the National Housing Law Project as the Director of Litigation. Eric is a national expert on tenants’ rights and consumer law issues. He is known for high-impact advocacy on matters affecting subsidized housing tenants and families struggling to access housing because of 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. Some of Eric’s most significant subsidized housing cases include Tina Hendrix v. Seattle Housing Authority and Shepherd v. Weldon Mediation Services, Inc., which both lead to significant improvements in the administrative hearing protections for families facing termination from federally subsidized housing. Another case, Resident... Read More »