Eric Sirota has spent his career advocating for homeowners and tenants in a variety of contexts. Graduating from law school during the Great Recession, Eric worked for Prairie State Legal Services helping to lead their burgeoning foreclosure defense practice. He then worked for the Illinois Office of the Attorney General Consumer Fraud Bureau, where, most notably, he initiated and lead litigation against Safeguard Properties for their mistreatment of legal occupants of foreclosed homes.
In 2013, Eric became a supervising attorney in a foreclosure defense and consumer-housing clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law. Prior to joining the Shriver Center, Eric helped lead Michigan Law School’s Veterans Legal Clinic, which provides general legal services to veterans. His article “The Rental Crisis Will Not Be Televised: The Case for Protecting Tenants Under Consumer Protection Regimes” was published in the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. In his spare time, Eric geeks out on music, performance poetry, and Scrabble.
Background screening practices block many tenants from safe and affordable housing.
Since everyone needs a place to live, ensuring that people with records have access to stable housing is not merely equitable, but also a matter of common sense.
Source of income discrimination disproportionately affects people of color, women, and people with disabilities.
All families deserve to live in happy and stable homes free from criminalization, family separation, and surveillance.
Crime free rental housing and nuisance property ordinances often have very costly consequences for tenant families, landlords, and the whole community
67 East Madison Street, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60603
phone: 312.263.3830
