USD School of Law Legal Clinics Awarded Price Grant to Establish New Housing Rights Project

Legal Clinics Awarded Price Grant to Establish New Housing Rights Project

SAN DIEGO (December 9, 2021) – The University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Legal Clinics recently received notice of a $230,000 grant award from Price Philanthropies to establish a new Housing Rights Project as a program of the Civil Clinic that will become an integral part of USD’s Legal Clinics.

The new Housing Rights Project will focus on providing education, outreach, and direct client representation to serve the legal needs of low-income and undocumented tenants facing housing instability and homelessness. According to Faculty Director of the Legal Clinics, Robert Muth, USD’s new Housing Rights Project will fill a vital unmet need in the San Diego community for tenant related legal services while providing USD law students an opportunity to gain further practical experiential training.

The grant award provided by Price Philanthropies provides critical initial funding for the Housing Rights Project in its first year of operation. USD School of Law will work closely with the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, the Eviction Prevention Collaborative, City Heights Community Development Corporation, private philanthropic funders, and the County of San Diego to ensure the Housing Rights Project continues to meet the legal needs of underserved community members as they seek access to legal remedies related to their housing problems.

Price Philanthropies is a private family foundation dedicated to improving life opportunities for youth and families.

About the USD School of Law Legal Clinics

USD's Clinical Education Program is recognized as one of the most extensive and successful in the nation. For more than fifty years, the Law School has been providing free legal services to San Diego residents in need through the now eleven client-serving Legal Clinics. Those clinics provide assistance to and legal representation for underserved members of the county while offering opportunities for students to learn first-hand from highly skilled attorneys and interact directly with actual clients.

Our Clinical Education Program has become a national leader in bridging the gap between courses in legal theory and the practical skills and experience individuals need to become effective lawyers. These programs—particularly those directly serving clients—are a public service that instills in student participants a deep sense of social responsibility and a commitment to pro bono service.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world.  The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates.  The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 30th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 31st nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.