Legal Clinic for the Homeless

To get help from the Legal Clinic for the Homeless, call 212-626-7383.

Overview

The City Bar Justice Center’s Legal Clinic for the Homeless (LCH) team, with the support of volunteer attorneys, provides advice, advocacy, and representation to residents of homeless shelters on issues related to the receipt of public benefits and other legal challenges that New Yorkers struggling with poverty face. LCH partners with shelter providers and law firms, corporate legal departments, and other entities to bring needed legal services to people living in New York City shelters.

More than 50,000 people, including over 15,000 children, sleep in the city’s homeless shelters each night. Of those experiencing homelessness in New York City, the overwhelming majority come from communities historically deprived of equal access to stable housing and employment due to structural racism. These historic socioeconomic factors, combined with today’s high cost of housing, food, transportation, clothing, Wi-Fi, cell service, and other necessities create barriers for individuals residing in shelters to achieve stability and independence. LCH primarily assists families experiencing homelessness and those who have exited shelter to secure state and federal public benefits that are vital tools in poverty prevention and alleviation. LCH advocates also contest denials of Cash Assistance and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and shelter, public housing, and rental assistance supplements. LCH aims to help families in shelter and those who have left shelter on the road to economic and housing stability.

Lisa Pearlstein directs the Legal Clinic for the Homeless and Mariana Monahan Negron is the program coordinator.

Not sure if this is the right project? Contact our free Legal Hotline at 212-626-7383.