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Housing Justice Project

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

Unjustified Residential Evictions in New Jersey (October 29, 2024)

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

Housing Justice Project in the News

Advocates Shine Light On Rash Of Deficient Evictions In NJ (December 6, 2024)
Read Here

Center for Social Justice Hosts Second Annual Housing Justice Summit (November 21, 2024)
Read Here

Thousands Of NJ Tenants Face ‘Unjustified Evictions’ Every Year: Study (November 8, 2024)
Read Here

Professor Adelina Herrarte quoted in article "Falling Through the Cracks" (November 7, 2023)
Read Here

Open Thank You Letter to the State Legislature from New Jersey Law Schools (April 30, 2023)
Read Here

Speaker Craig J. Coughlin visits Seton Hall Law to discuss the Housing Justice Project (April 11, 2023)
Watch Here

Managing Attorney Diane Smith on New Jersey Courts' Struggle to Fairly Apply Eviction Law (February 15, 2022)
Watch 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 218 | VIEW PROFILE


Image of Andrew Darcy

Andrew M. Darcy

Associate Clinical Professor
J.D., Seton Hall Law School | B.A., Fordham University
| Rm 122 | VIEW PROFILE


Image of Anne Kassalow

Anne McLane Kassalow

Managing Attorney
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 119 | 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 123 | 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


Image of Kayla Strube

Kayla Strube

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