We currently focus on tenant and mobile home cases that have widespread impact. Currently, the need for legal and organizing services greatly outweighs our capacity so we focus on cases that can directly benefit as many tenants or community members as possible. This primarily translates to pursuing class actions against large landlords, property managers, or their vendors for common or systemic abuses (as opposed to abuses or issues that are unique to a given individual). Sometimes, this means taking on a case to enforce or clarify Colorado law so that it can lead to industry-wide changes or empower and embolden renters across the state.
If we are unable to help you at this time, please reach out to our partners at Community Economic Defense Project, Colorado Legal Services, and Colorado Poverty Law Project.
JFP receives 20-50 inquiries per week and we mostly focus on cases impacting many other people. It usually takes us about 2 weeks to get back to new inquiries. If we are able to take on your case, we will send a follow email with a more detailed intake form to fill out. (this form will send emails to info@justiceforthepeoplecenter.org)
If we are unable to help you at this time, or for a quicker response, please reach out to our partners:
Eviction: Community Economic Defense Project, Colorado Legal Services, and Colorado Poverty Law Project.,
Worker and consumer rights: Towards Justice
As an organization that focuses on social movement work, we work closely with other grassroots organizations, law firms, policy organizations, and funding partners to build and grow out the housing and land ecosystem.
JFP was born out of the housing organizing of 9to5 Colorado, a grassroots member-based organization dedicated to putting women’s issues on the public agenda. We consider them our “Sister Organization” and work closely with them on major projects.
JFP co-counsels on some of our major cases with Towards Justice, another organization that invests in impact litigation. They are a great resource for people experiencing wage theft and other workers’ rights issues and are deeply involved in the Colorado State Legislature.
ECCC is one of our closest grassroots community partners. They invest heavily in on-the-ground tenant union organizing along one of the most diverse corridors in Colorado and are working to push back against predatory gentrification practices.
GES is a trusted community partner that is based in 3 vulnerable neighborhoods in Denver. They are working to both organize mobile home owners and tenants to create pathways toward resident controlled communities
JFP is a member organization of RTTC and is part of their Our Home Our Land, Legal, Mobile Home, and Loan Fund Committees. Their work and vision is very much aligned with ours in that they strive to create ‘a world in which people have control over our land, housing, and resources in our communities.”
CHF provided the seed funding necessary to start JFP. They continue to serve as advocates of our work as well as thought partners in tackling the biggest housing issues in Colorado.
JFP partners with CEDP on legal cases and advocacy work. They are a great resource for work we don’t engage in as often, namely eviction defense and other types of limited representation cases. They are strong advocates at the state level for rights for working class communities
Bobby Salandy lived in an apartment complex managed by one of the largest property management companies in the country, which manages thousands of apartment units throughout the state, most in metro Denver. Despite working long shifts and multiple jobs, he struggled to pay rent on time and was charged fees everyday after the 4th of the month, as well as service fees to supposedly pay for management to issue notices and supposed attorney fees if he hadn’t completely caught up by the 9th of the month. These fees quickly racked up and snowballed, resulting in several eviction filings against him that caused the amount he owed to stay housed only snowballing further. While driving for a rideshare company, he met JFP’s lead attorney and at the time, contract lawyer for 9to5 Colorado. It was clear to Jason that these fees were not actually paying for damages or services and were another source of profit for the management company. After years of litigation, the class action resulted in a significant victory for Colorado renters. First, following class certification in the case, Bobby’s property manager agreed to a settlement where it refunded millions of such fees to its former Colorado tenants through checks and debt cancellation. It also agreed to cease its practice of pursuing these types of charges and using eviction and collection referrals to pursue them. Second, led by Bobby’s advocacy at the Capitol, Colorado’s legislature passed SB21-173 banning the abusive practices Bobby was subjected to on a statewide basis and putting in place much stricter penalties and enforcement mechanisms for all of the state’s renters going forward.
