About Us
The mission of the Housing and Neighborhood Law Project is to engage in litigation and other legal advocacy challenging policies and practices that perpetuate racial or ethnic segregation and discrimination in housing and neighborhoods. This purpose includes advocacy to remove barriers that keep families and persons of color out of white neighborhoods.
Attorneys
The HNLP was recently incorporated as a non-profit law firm and is seeking funding for the activities of the law firm. Pro bono attorneys will be used initially until funding is in place.
Laura Beshara
Laura Beshara is the President of the Housing and Neighborhood Law Project.
She is also a lawyer with Daniel & Beshara, P.C. See Bio at DBPC website
Ms. Beshara represents plaintiffs in civil rights litigation involving fair housing, environmental justice, neighborhood equalization, and municipal services discrimination cases. Her experience includes complex federal litigation and class action involving racial segregation.
Michael Daniel
Michael Daniel is a founder of the Housing and Neighborhood Law Project and a lawyer with Daniel & Beshara, P.C. See Bio at DBPC website
Ms. Beshara and Mr. Daniel have worked together for many years to challenged segregation and discrimination in housing. Their litigation includes:
class action public housing/voucher desegregation cases that led to thousands of federal voucher families’ ability to move to the suburbs,
litigation creating LIHTC housing in the suburbs,
challenges to exclusionary suburban zoning practices,
municipal services discrimination cases,
environmental justice cases,
and advocating for changes to the inefficient and segregative voucher policies that led to national changes in the program.
They successfully represented ICP before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case concerning racial segregation and discrimination in the LIHTC program in Dallas that upheld disparate impact liability as a model of proof under the Fair Housing Act. The case held that Fair Housing Act cases may be proven without direct evidence of discriminatory intent. Texas Dept. of Hous. and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., 576 U.S. 519, 524 (2015).
Ms. Beshara and Michael Daniel founded the HNLP in order to provide advocacy to a wider group of low-income tenants and neighborhoods.
HOW WE WORK
We seek to provide advocacy and education to individuals, neighborhoods, public-interest groups and other organizations seeking remedies for unequal neighborhood conditions and for removing barriers to fair housing choice. We seek systemic change to address the effects of racial segregation and discrimination in housing and neighborhoods.
The clients approved by the firm will be represented at no cost to further the public interest advocacy mission of HNLP.
LIMITS
Limited funding limits HNLP ability to take many cases. HNLP only accepts cases that are determined to further the mission of the organization. If you believe you’ve discriminated contact your local fair housing organization