The broken windows were the first sign that something was wrong. For USC Gould School of Law 3L Piper Mik, what came next was heartbreaking: pests on every surface, cockroaches crawling out of the outlets and mold on the walls. All of these combined made it hard to believe that the place could be habitable.
“The conditions were so inhumane, maybe the worst I’ve ever seen,” she remembers.
For the tenant, a single mother facing eviction over $16,000 in rental debt, the visit by Mik and fellow law students from USC Gould’s Housing Law and Policy Clinic was a revelation that the state of her home could make the debt unlawful.
The clinic wrote a demand letter to the landlord and filed a complaint with the city, prompting inspections and enforcement of repairs. The tenant remained in her home with her debt forgiven. The students left with a deepened commitment to public service.
“We focus on empowerment,” 2L Haven Hunt says, adding, that just because tenants pay low rent, it doesn’t mean they have to live in unsafe conditions. “People often don’t know they have the right to anything better.”
The clinic, led by USC Gould Clinical Associate Professor of Law Deepika Sharma, is in its fourth year of expanding access to housing justice through both direct services and systemic reform. Sharma and her team of USC Gould law students conduct workshops, provide legal representation and advocate for equitable policies on behalf of their clients, many of whom are low-income, monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants.
The clinic partners with the Los Angeles City Council to directly reach tenants who are most at risk of having their rights violated. This year, that included Council District 1 and a day of outreach with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.
“The clinic is designed both to train our students as lawyers and to ensure that legal services reach communities that might not otherwise have access,” Sharma says. “Partnering with the council districts helps us conduct door-to-door outreach in buildings where low-income tenants face evictions or unsafe living conditions. It’s especially important now, as increased immigration enforcement has made many tenants reluctant to seek legal help.”
A 2022 ordinance Sharma helped draft requires landlords to file eviction notices with the city’s Housing Department. This allows council offices to identify at-risk tenants and connect them directly with services. Throughout the academic year, students and representatives of Council District 1 visited buildings across neighborhoods that included Chinatown, Echo Park and Westlake.
“I think the tenants felt more empowered because the councilmember was there,” Mik says. “When tenants come together, there is more momentum to advocate for their rights.”
Hunt agrees. “If you didn’t knock on that door, nothing would have changed,” she says. “It feels good to be the turning point in someone’s health and safety.”
For 2L Elianet Romero, a first-generation law student from Northeast Los Angeles, the clinic has been one of the most meaningful parts of her education.
“This experience allowed me to step into my purpose,” she said. “I came to USC Gould to serve the community that made my journey possible.”
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