News & Stories
Justice starts with one person. Read the stories and voices of NJP’s clients along with updates to our legal advocacy challenging unjust practices.
Free Legal Services for Washington
Justice starts with one person. Read the stories and voices of NJP’s clients along with updates to our legal advocacy challenging unjust practices.
My house is on the Spokane Indian reservation. My grandpa grew up on this land. He had a sawmill. He ended up paying for the land by being the lumbermill for the tribe. They would haul wood by horse and flatbed. They’d get up at dark and come home at dark from Spokane. My dad […]
ShaWayne Hodges, a single mother of five in Vancouver, Washington, found herself facing an unexpected $250 charge from her property management company, Zenith Properties NW. The reason? Her grass had turned brown during a summer heat wave. This fee, along with numerous others, quickly accumulated to around $3,000, a staggering amount for a low-income tenant […]
After settling in Washington to be close to family, I embarked on the journey of becoming a homeowner. I wanted a place my children could always call home. I qualified for a United States Department of Agriculture home loan and felt confident that the mortgage rate would be affordable while I built equity. I hired […]
Interview with NJP attorney Carrie Graf: Whenever a tenancy can be saved, it must be saved Q: Why did you decide to become a legal aid lawyer and practice housing law? During my second summer of law school, I interned with Legal Aid in Minneapolis. On my first day in eviction court, I saw a […]
A lawsuit against discrimination in housing, filed in 2019, may now help keep the same property owners in check, as they scoop up three new properties in Tacoma. Robert Elon Mix, a disabled veteran, sued Dimension Townhouses LLC and its affiliate after they acquired his apartment complex and altered payment terms, leading to late fees […]
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On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court determined that cities may arrest and banish homeless residents who sleep or shelter outdoors in the city, even when they have nowhere else to sleep or the city does not provide access to shelter indoors. The decision, in favor of Grants Pass, Oregon, overturned the 2018 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Martin v. Boise, which had found the practice of penalizing people for sleeping outside if no shelter was available to be “cruel and unusual punishment.”
As I prepare to retire as Executive Director of Northwest Justice Project (NJP) at the end of this month, I have been reflecting on the incredible privilege it has been for me to serve in this role, and on where NJP is today. In that regard, I am thrilled that Director of Advocacy Abigail Daquiz and Deputy Director/General Counsel Hickory Gateless – two senior members of our outstanding leadership team – will serve as interim co-executive directors during the transition to NJP’s next executive director.
Most evictions in Washington State never go to court. They are resolved through settlements between landlords and tenants. After Kathleen and Aaron Allen, mother and daughter, were threatened with eviction, they agreed to a settlement with their landlord, Princeton Property Management.
Most evictions in Washington State never go to court. They are resolved through settlements between landlords and tenants. After Kathleen and Aaron Allen, mother and daughter, were threatened with eviction, they agreed to a settlement with their landlord, Princeton Property Management.
Angela, a Tacoma homeowner raising her teenage daughter and three grandchildren, faced foreclosure due to unpaid property taxes.