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| Housing Justice Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Housing Justice Project |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Area served | United States |
| Mission | Legal aid and advocacy for tenants' rights, eviction defense, affordable housing |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
| Leader name | Maria Delgado |
Housing Justice Project Housing Justice Project is a nonprofit legal and advocacy organization focused on tenant protection, eviction defense, and access to affordable housing. It provides direct legal services, legislative advocacy, community education, and strategic litigation to preserve housing stability for low-income renters and marginalized communities. The organization operates in partnership with legal clinics, civil rights groups, community development corporations, and academic institutions.
Housing Justice Project delivers legal representation, policy analysis, and organizing to prevent displacement in urban neighborhoods. The organization coordinates with Legal Services Corporation, National Low Income Housing Coalition, ACLU, Public Counsel (Los Angeles), National Housing Law Project, Eviction Lab, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Pew Charitable Trusts, Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Casey Family Programs, Chicago Community Trust, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, Enterprise, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Coalition for the Homeless, Skid Row Housing Trust, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, Coalition on Homelessness, Community Legal Services, Pro Bono Net, Equal Justice Works, Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Columbia Law School, New York University School of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law and local bar associations to coordinate clinics, impact litigation, and public education.
Founded in 2008 amid foreclosure crises and rising rental insecurity in the wake of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the organization emerged from collaborations among tenant unions, legal aid offices, and community development groups. Early partners included Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, Transport Workers Union, AFSCME, ACORN, Metropolitan Tenants Organization, National Lawyers Guild, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southwest Organizing Project, Black Lives Matter, MomsRising, SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, Corporation for Supportive Housing, and university clinical programs. Major milestones included establishing a tenant defense hotline, initiating a model eviction diversion program with the Cook County Court, and filing early impact lawsuits to challenge predatory rental practices.
The mission prioritizes preventing displacement, expanding affordable housing, and enforcing civil rights in housing. Programs encompass eviction defense clinics, administrative advocacy before agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, strategic litigation in federal and state courts including the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, legal education with law schools like Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and University of Chicago Law School, and policy research shared with think tanks like the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Service lines include tenancy counseling, emergency rental assistance navigation tied to programs like Emergency Rental Assistance Program, foreclosure prevention coordination with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resources, and landlord-tenant mediation modeled after initiatives in New York City and San Francisco.
The organization has lobbied state legislatures and municipal bodies, collaborating with coalitions such as National Low Income Housing Coalition, Coalition for the Homeless, Housing Not Warehousing, Right to the City, Homes First, Campaign for Housing Justice, Rent Control Coalition, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and local campaigns that resulted in strengthened tenant screening laws, expanded just-cause eviction protections, and reforms to Section 8 and Housing Choice Voucher Program administration. It has submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court of the United States and state supreme courts, testified before committees in the Illinois General Assembly and city councils, and contributed to municipal policies modeled after Minneapolis 2040 and Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability frameworks.
Housing Justice Project has engaged in strategic litigation addressing discriminatory landlord practices, unsafe housing conditions, and unlawful evictions. Notable cases were litigated in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Cook County Circuit Court, and federal district courts challenging violations of the Fair Housing Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and state consumer protection statutes. The organization has partnered with national litigators from Public Interest Law Firms, filed class actions comparable to matters brought by Legal Services Corporation grantees, and secured precedent-setting settlements that influenced municipal code enforcement and housing inspections in jurisdictions including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.
Community engagement includes tenant leadership development, Know Your Rights workshops conducted with Community Action Agencies, neighborhood canvassing with Faith in Action, collaborations with Community Development Corporations, partnerships with universities for clinic placements, and alliances with advocacy networks like National Low Income Housing Coalition and Right to the City Alliance. The group amplifies tenant narratives through media partnerships with outlets such as ProPublica, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, NPR, WBEZ (Chicago), Vox, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, The Intercept, CityLab, and local broadcasters to influence public discourse and legislative calendars.
Funding sources include philanthropic grants from foundations like Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and municipal contracts with agencies in Chicago and other cities. Revenue streams combine foundation grants, impact litigation recoveries, individual donations coordinated through platforms affiliated with Network for Good, pro bono partnerships with law firms, and federal or state grants administered through intermediaries such as Legal Services Corporation. Governance follows a nonprofit board model with committees for litigation, governance, finance, and community advisory boards that include representatives from tenant unions, civil rights groups, and academic partners.
Category:Non-profit organizations based in Chicago Category:Tenant rights organizations in the United States