Housing Justice Project

 

Center for Social Justice

The Housing Justice Project is an initiative established in 2021 with funding from the State of New Jersey that seeks to provide representation and support to tenants in landlord-tenant disputes and with other housing needs. The Project is a collaboration between Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice (CSJ) and Rutgers Law School.

At Seton Hall Law School, the Project includes more than 50 clinic students and volunteers each year who are actively working to provide representation and support to tenants. The project includes the Civil Litigation Clinic, the Health Justice Clinic, and the Housing Justice and Legal Design Clinic.

The Housing Justice Pro Bono Project engages students in housing justice work throughout their time in law school, beginning in the first year. Students participate in pro bono projects such know your rights presentations, community outreach in partnership with community-based organizations, and providing legal advice to tenants.

In the spring of 2023, the Housing Justice Project launched the New Jersey Legal Design Lab as a social change laboratory that combines law and design to channel power into local movements. The Lab’s first mandate is to support local movements community-led struggles for housing justice.

In addition to providing direct services to clients, the Housing Justice Project advocates for broader social change in the field of landlord-tenant law, and specifically focuses on the implementation and enforcement of landlord-tenant reform measures.

Getting Legal Help

If you are a tenant or member of a tenant organization seeking legal assistance on a housing matter, or if you or your organization are interested in community education on housing topics, please contact the Center for Social Justice at 973-642-8700 or [email protected].

Reports Issued by the Housing Justice Project

Report of Observations on Implementation of Landlord-Tenant Reform in New Jersey (February 7, 2022).

Housing Justice Project in the News

Open Thank You Letter to the State Legislature from New Jersey Law Schools
Read Here

Speaker Craig J. Coughlin visits Seton Hall Law to discuss the Housing Justice Project
Watch Here

Managing Attorney Diane Smith on New Jersey Courts' Struggle to Fairly Apply Eviction Law
Watch Here

Professor Adelina Herrarte quoted in article "Falling Through the Cracks"
Read Here

Publications by Housing Justice Project Members

"Using State Law to Enforce 'Affirmatively Further' Fair Housing Obligations: No Longer Fitting a Square Peg in a Round Hole" by Andrew Darcy

"New York City's Public Housing Preservation Trust: The Case for Cautious Optimism, Necessity, and Racial Justice" by Andrew Darcy

"New York City's Public Housing Preservation Trust: The Case for Cautio" by Andrew Darcy

Pope & Treni, Sharing Knowledge, Shifting Power, JOAL Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021).

Pope, Liberatory Legal Design and Radical Imagination, DRS Digital Library (2022).

Meet the Housing Justice Project Team

  • Professor Lori Outzs Borgen

    Lori Outzs Borgen

    Associate Clinical Professor and Director, Center for Social Justice, Director of Externships and Pro Bono Service Program
    J.D., Columbia Law School
    B.A., Harvard University
    | 973-642-8700/8480 | Rm 120 | VIEW PROFILE

  • Kimberly Guzman

    Intake Specialist

  • Image of Prof. Adelina Herrarte, J.D.

    Adelina Herrarte

    Assistant Clinical Professor
    J.D., The City University of New York School of Law | B.A., New York University
    | (973) 642-8231 | VIEW PROFILE


  • Image of Anne Kassalow

    Anne McLane Kassalow

    Pro Bono and Outreach Coordinator, Housing Justice Project
    J.D., Seton Hall Law School | B.A., University of Maryland
    | 973-642-8700

  • Professor Kevin Kelly

    Kevin B. Kelly

    Associate Clinical Professor of Law
    J.D., Temple University School of Law | B.S., St. Joseph's University
    | 973-642-8700 | Rm 123 | VIEW PROFILE

  • Abdul Rehman Khan, Adjunct Professor of Legal Practice

    Abdul Rehman Khan

    Assistant Clinical Professor
    J.D., Rutgers University | B.A., Rutgers University
    [email protected] | 973-642-8700 | Rm 206 | VIEW PROFILE

  • Melinda Lampley

    Melinda Lampley-Merritt

    Paralegal
    B.A., Seton Hall University
    | 973-642-8700

  • Image of Hallie Jay Pope.

    Hallie Jay Pope

    Director, NJ Legal Design Lab
    J.D., Harvard Law School | A.B., Brown University

  • Diane K. Smith (130x81)

    Diane K. Smith

    Managing Attorney
    J.D., Rutgers University School of Law | B.A., Catholic University of America
    | 973-642-8700

  • Image of Kayla Strube

    Kayla Strube

    Housing Justice Project Coordinator
    B.A., Seton Hall University