Last October, CUNY School of Law hosted an alumni convening on the future of housing legal services in New York City. One of the clear takeaways from the event was that the alumni community, as well as current and prospective students, are interested in seeing the Law School bolster its curricular offerings related to housing rights.
In light of the city’s escalating crisis of affordable housing and the recently passed right to counsel in eviction proceedings, the need for trained and dedicated housing advocates has perhaps never been greater. CUNY Law has responded by creating the Housing Justice Practicum (HJP), a course offered for the first time in Spring 2019, designed to prepare third-year students to become effective tenant advocates. Professor John Whitlow says, “I think the course is going well. We’re at a critical moment in terms of our housing situation, and we need to be preparing our students to become effective tenant advocates and to think critically about the housing crisis so that we can collectively find a way out of it.”
Through the combination of a weekly seminar and a placement at a legal services provider, HJP facilitates the acquisition of concrete skills, knowledge, experience, and connections in a growing area of public interest law. In the external placement component of the course, students work with partner organizations–Brooklyn Legal Services, DC-37 Municipal Employees Legal Services, Legal Aid Society, MFJ Legal Services, Queens Legal Services–to help them provide critical anti-eviction legal services to their clients. In the seminar, students learn about core aspects of landlord-tenant law and analyze the housing crisis through the lenses of economic and racial justice. The first iteration of the class is up-and-running, and the response so far has been enthusiastic.
“It has helped solidify my interest in becoming a tenant advocate. I’m glad I took the class because it gives me a sense of what it’s like to do the work on a day-to-day basis. I’m getting experience and making connections in the field that I’m about to enter,” says Student Deanna Benigno.