Jeannine Cahill-Jackson is getting vulnerable New Yorkers back in their homes. Jeannine serves as the Supervising Attorney for two of our Bronx Courthouse-based initiatives: the Housing Help Program and the Assigned Counsel Project. As an advocate for tenants in need, she is building a stronger community in the Bronx.

The two initiatives that Jeannine oversees provide essential support to some of the most at-risk tenants in the Bronx. Through the Housing Help Program, Jeannine and the HHP staff offer help to clients in at-risk communities to avoid the harmful consequences of displacement from their homes. These tenants could be on the brink of eviction and homelessness, or they could be facing insurmountable debts related to housing payments. In any of these cases, Jeannine and her team “resolve grave housing issues after others had said it was not possible to do so.”

Assigned Counsel is the only project providing emergency support for senior tenants.

Through the Assigned Counsel Project, Jeannine offers crucial legal support to senior tenants. The Project targets the specific problems that seniors face, from rebounding from a loss in the family to transitioning from senior assisted living facilities back into their communities. Jeannine is focused on maintain housing for these tenants with the goal of “keeping their lives stabilized.”

Stable housing provides life stabilization.

Jeannine has long dreamed of fighting for the rights of tenants in need. Growing up, she experienced housing instability, having lost her own home at a young age. When she first learned about the resources places like The Legal Aid Society can provide to people in need, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. Even now, she remains excited over the prospect of helping people who have nowhere else to turn, stating “one of the most rewarding experiences is providing all of these resources to a client who doesn’t know how much we can do to help them.” Jeannine and her staff are making a lasting difference for tenants in need.