Issues: Tenant Protections, Gentrification & Displacement, Affordable Housing, Fair Housing
Since joining Public Advocates in 2021, Suzanne Dershowitz (she/her/hers) has worked with grassroots groups to design, manage, and advance policy advocacy campaigns for economic and housing justice at the local and state levels. Suzanne’s work includes enforcement of state and local housing laws and participation in numerous coalitions. Her campaigns have supported power-building in low-income communities of color throughout the state and resulted in impactful policy change, including rent stabilization and other renter protections in the city of Salinas. Suzanne’s state legislative advocacy has included SB 567 (Durazo) which strengthened California’s Tenant Protection Act, SB 1201 (Durazo) which sought to increase transparency in corporate ownership, and SB 1017 (Eggman) which strengthened eviction protections for survivors of domestic violence.
Prior to joining Public Advocates, Suzanne served as Housing Policy Attorney for Legal Aid of Sonoma County where she managed the organization’s state and local housing policy advocacy and led campaigns resulting in a stronger eviction moratorium and a $1.4 million right to counsel pilot program. Previously, Suzanne was a Neighborhood Law Corps Attorney at the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, where she spearheaded one of the city’s largest tenant protection cases in its history (People v. DODG Corp., et al).
Education:
Suzanne graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley in 2010 with a B.A. in Political Science and received her J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law in 2017 with a Public Interest & Social Justice Certificate. As a law student, she was the Senior Articles Editor for the Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law.
Selected Publications:
“Shady business owners can hide behind LLCs. California should make their identities public,” CalMatters, March 13, 2024.
“Community involvement is key to solving housing crisis,” with Khanh Russo, CalMatters, May 18, 2022.