On January 28, 2022, the White House and Department of Justice announced Hofstra Law as one of 99 law schools stepping up to help fight the housing and eviction crisis. According to statistics from the White House the response has helped to keep eviction filings below 60% of historic averages.
The Attorney General’s Call to Action to the Legal Profession, issued on August 30, 2021, asked lawyers and law students to assist with the eviction crisis through pro bono services such as assisting with Rental Assistance application support.
Hofstra Law operates the Legal Hand Call-In Center, serving Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Legal Hand is an organization that provides free information and assistance to visitors to help them resolve problems before they become court cases. The Center is staffed by student volunteers enrolled in the Access to Justice class, who volunteer 40 hours a semester. Visitors are able to contact the center through phone, text, email, and chat to receive helpful information for their problem.
In the last year the Legal Hand Call-In Center has assisted more than 750 Long Islanders and contributed to more than 2,000 hours in volunteer efforts. Many of the visitors to the Legal Hand Call-In Center contact the Center with housing issues, including eviction, housing discrimination, rent assistance, senior housing, foreclosures, lease terminations, public housing, and Section 8.
Student volunteers have been able to help visitors with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) application process as well as provide other housing related resources. The student volunteers are closely supervised by Judge Fern Fisher, the former Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for the NYC Courts, who is currently serving as Special Assistant to the Dean for Social Justice Initiatives, and by a recent Hofstra law graduate, Nicole Moss.
Hofstra Law is also a partner of the medical-legal partnership (MLP), a collaboration of the Gitenstein Institute and Northwell Health, which provides legal services for patients facing issues that contribute to poor health, such as unsanitary housing conditions, evictions, denial of health benefits, immigration issues, domestic violence, access to healthy food and water, lack of consistent or affordable child care, and other issues that stand in the way of achieving good health outcomes for individuals and communities.
The MLP’s mission is to provide much-needed legal services to community members across Long Island and New York City, regardless of the ability to pay and in the area of housing, its primary focus is on providing legal assistance with evictions, repairs and foreclosures. Since 2020, MLP has assisted in 81 housing cases and looks forward to continuing to provide help to those in need going forward.
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