2023 Academic Conference

Lauren d. song

Lauren D. Song is a Senior Staff Attorney at the National Housing Law Project, working on affordable housing preservation. She joined NHLP in 2022 and helps to build campaigns to support legal and organizing partners and tenants to preserve their federally assisted housing, advance racial equity through tenant-centered advocacy, and improve housing conditions and tenant rights. Prior to NHLP, Lauren worked for over 15 years at Greater Boston Legal Services where she partnered with many grassroots community-based organizations, low-income tenant organizations, and public agencies to ensure the one-for-one redevelopment of thousands of severely distressed federal and state public housing units into inclusive mixed-finance, mixed-income communities through participatory development processes; to collaborate on anti-displacement legislative campaigns and neighborhood-specific litigation to defend BIPOC communities targeted by corporate speculators; and to leverage building-wide direct representation of post-foreclosure homeowners and tenants to stabilize and protect vulnerable communities during the foreclosure crisis.

A first-generation immigrant from Korea who is proud to be the first in her family to attend college (Yale), Lauren began her legal career after Harvard Law School as a Soros Justice Fellow, committed to empowering immigrant victims of domestic violence to enforce their rights under the Violence Against Women Act. Lauren was also a PhD candidate in Human Development at the University of Chicago where she spent 10 years marveling on the diverse resiliency of high-risk, low-income teens of color.

Verónica gonzález rodríguez

Verónica González Rodríguez is an activist, lawyer, and university professor. She is a Litigation Coordinator and Community Lawyer at Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico. Her work focuses on environmental, community, and human rights issues. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Science and a J.D. from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Masters in International Law from American University Washington College of Law. She directs the environmental section of the Inter American University’s Legal Assistance Clinic. She has participated in high-impact community cases, in particular the defense of communities against displacement.

Julia McNally (moderator)

Julia McNally currently works as the Attorney-in-Charge at The Legal Aid Society's Queens Neighborhood Office and is an Adjunct Professor at New York University School of Law. She holds 15 years of experience as an Attorney at the Legal Aid Society and the New York City Housing Authority Law Department, with expertise in administrative law and housing law. She also served as a Founding Director of Pathways Togo, a 501c3 organization that provides young women scholarships and funds small-scale community development programs. McNally is a graduate of Middlebury College and New York University School of Law.

Panel 2: Building Toward Social Housing in New York (March 31st, 3:00–5:30 PM est)

You can access the reading material for our second panel here.

marika dias

Marika Dias is the managing director of the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project. She is a public interest attorney who has worked in civil legal services since 2001 with a focus on providing legal services that support community organizing efforts and grassroots organizing groups. Prior to her role at SNP, Marika was the Director of the Tenant Rights Coalition at Legal Services NYC and before that, the Managing Attorney at Make the Road New York. Marika is a member of the Steering Committee of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition and a movement lawyering trainer, including with the Movement Law Lab trainers collective. Marika is also an active board member of the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project. which provides services for incarcerated LGBTQ+ immigrants and organizes around prison abolition. 

Oksana Mironova

Oksana Mironova is a housing policy analyst with the Community Service Society, researching and advocating for housing policies that benefit low-income New Yorkers and works in coalition with grassroots organizations. Her research focuses on publicly subsidized, privately owned housing and current issues impacting low-income New Yorkers, including displacement, evictions, and homelessness. 

Prior to CSS, Oksana worked with organizations across the housing field, including Tenants & Neighbors, the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, and Enterprise Community Partners. Her writing about affordable housing, urban planning, and public space has appeared in Urban Omnibus, Metropolitics, Shelterforce, and other publications. Oksana was born in the former Soviet Union and grew up in Brooklyn. She holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from CUNY Hunter.

Esteban Girón

Esteban Girón is a member of the Crown Heights Tenants Union (CHTU), an autonomous, tenant-run formation celebrating its 10 year anniversary. He is a CHTU Steward for Community Partnerships, managing the union’s interactions with elected officials and allied organizations, and representing the union in coalitions like HJ4A, Right to Counsel, Rent Justice Coalition and the Autonomous Tenants Union Network (ATUN). He also serves on the Board of Tenants PAC and the Brooklyn Community Board 9 Land Use/ULURP Committee. He grew up in Panama, Ecuador, Portugal and Tennessee and is a proud Guatemalan and Chilean-American. He lives in Crown Heights.

Jennie Stephens-Romero (Moderator)

Jennie Stephens-Romero is the Supervising Attorney of the Housing & Benefits team at Make the Road New York (MRNY), where she works with legal staff and community organizers to support, educate, and represent tenants as they fight tenant harassment, demand repairs, and defend against eviction.  Prior to joining MRNY, Jennie investigated housing discrimination at Project Sentinel, one of the largest fair housing agencies in California.  Jennie received her J.D. from University of California College of the Law, San Francisco and her B.A. from University of Pennsylvania.