CRLA is one of the few organizations with the commitment to truly make an impact on housing injustices.
CRLA is engaged with our client communities to improve their access to fair housing at every level. We work with more than 6,000 clients a year in low-income and rural communities to protect existing rights to safe, affordable housing and to engage communities around legal solutions for improving housing conditions. CRLA is one of the few organizations with the resources, access, and commitment to truly make an impact on housing injustices suffered by the rural poor, including immigrants, farm workers, single women, and senior citizens.
"Decent, safe, affordable housing and equal access to housing ensure community and family stability and the dignity that should be accorded to all people in a civil society. Housing and fair housing are human rights. The injustices that our clients face every day are inexcusable. Everyone is entitled to a safe place to go at the end of the day and not to live in constant fear of becoming homeless," says Ilene Jacobs, CRLA's Director of Litigation, Advocacy and Training. "A lot of our housing clients come to us to because they have nowhere else to go."
CRLA provides a wide range of services aimed at obtaining and preserving fair, equitable housing for client communities. We fight predatory lending and foreclosures, improve substandard living conditions and enforce housing laws and regulations. CRLA is exploring the roots of housing inequality and developing strategies to improve housing stock in rural areas in the future research based advocacy. CRLA's homebuyer and financial literacy education programs also assist people to learn the practical skills to save money, navigate the credit system, and enter into housing arrangements fully informed and empowered.