Housing Justice
Everyone deserves a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.
Across Los Angeles and California, homelessness and unaffordable housing disproportionately impact communities experiencing poverty. Decades of exclusionary and racist housing policies have historically prevented Black and Brown families from accessing the housing market. Today, persistent discrimination, economic injustice, and lack of access to affordable legal representation compound the crisis, deepening housing instability and poverty. Public Counsel fights for housing justice for our communities and works to support tenants, preserve affordable housing, and dismantle barriers rooted in structural racism.
Our Areas of Expertise
Our Approach
Public Counsel’s housing justice advocates work to prevent and end homelessness in Los Angeles County by advancing legal protections for tenants, preserving affordable housing, and strengthening the social safety net. Through a combination of direct legal services, policy advocacy, and litigation, we fight for a future where all people have access to safe, stable housing, legal representation, food, and basic support.
1
Direct Services and Eviction Prevention
We provide legal support through tenant counseling, eviction defense, and advocacy for access to government benefits. Our work includes challenging quality-of-life citations and other fines that disproportionately affect people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
2
Policy Advocacy
We advocate for state and local policies that promote affordable and supportive housing, protect existing tenants, prevent displacement, and increase access to legal representation for tenants.. Additionally, our team monitors and enforces housing laws to ensure meaningful protections for low-income communities. Additionally, our team monitors and enforces housing laws to ensure meaningful protections for low-income communities.
3
Affirmative Litigation
Through affirmative litigation, we actively vindicate tenants’ rights to live in safe, well-maintained, secure housing, free from harassment, discrimination, illegal lockouts, and other abuses. Additionally, we pursue impact litigation to challenge unjust policies and systemic practices that drive housing instability, displacement, and homelessness.
Quick Stats
Hundreds
of Tenants Assisted
Providing legal support to tenants facing eviction and housing instability each year
88%
Positive Outcomes
For tenants receiving full-scope representation through LA’s Right-to-Counsel program
$2.5 Million
Settlement Won
In a housing discrimination lawsuit on behalf of tenants in five Koreatown buildings.
The Latest
Popular Resources
Report
03/25/22
For decades, hundreds of thousands of tenants in unincorporated Los Angeles County had virtually no protection against exorbitant rent increases or unfair evictions, fundamentally undermining their housing stability. This is…
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