JFP seeks to build up Colorado’s Housing and Land Justice ecosystem by supporting the leadership of working class, rent-burdened, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, and employing high impact legal strategies. |
To help tenants combat predatory landlords, this nonprofit wants lawyers to think like organizers
Sale closes on Denver’s first community-owned mobile home part
Justice for the People teamed up with Towards Justice and other lawyers to challenge Greystar, an international landlord known for predatory fee and pricing practices
We are dedicated to fighting for transformative justice, liberation and collective self-determination with and for people who have endured violence, harm and trauma at the hands of the U.S. and other colonial justice systems. Our vision is to democratize, decolonize, and liberate land, housing and wealth toward a solidarity economy. We conduct education and outreach to organize and build community alongside impact litigation and policy enforcement. Our work is grounded in anti-oppressive grassroots organizing principles, strategies, and values.
Justice for the People was born out of the organizing efforts of 9to5 Colorado. The work began when 2 Denver mobile home parks that 9to5 members were living in shut down in 2015. It was clear that people in power did not value this type of housing. Many cities, Denver in particular, had incredibly hostile laws that actively encouraged displacement and exploitation.
After 10 years of organizing, filing lawsuits, drafting policy, and courageous residents sharing their stories across the country in order to defend their communities, we now have one of the strongest opportunity to purchase laws in the country and currently have about 10 parks that are owned by community. None of this would have been successful without the use of communications, policy, and legal strategies all led by organizing. We realized however, that the type of lawyers we worked with are few and far between, and partnerships between lawyers and organizers is simply not the norm in Colorado.
Justice for the People exists not only to grow our organization, but to build the necessary legal infrastructure we need for housing & land movement work in Colorado. Our vision is one where we take land and housing off the speculative, rent-seeking market forever and put it into the hands of community to guarantee dignified, affordable, and permanent housing that is not beholden to the systems of oppression & exploitation that drive capitalism.
As an organization that seeks to make deep, widespread and sustainable systemic changes, we believe in coordinating with news outlets to amplify the housing issues most important to impacted communities
