Noelle Porter is the director of government affairs for the National Housing Law Project, a left-of-center organization that advocates for increased government spending on Department of Housing and Urban Development programs and for policies that would weaken eviction laws. ¹ The National Housing Law Project also uses identity politics to advocate for the consideration of race and gender under government housing programs. ²

Noelle Porter is an advocate for policy that would forgive rental indebtedness and late mortgage payments, at the cost of landlords and mortgage companies. ³ She also advocates for policy that would grant tenants and mortgage borrowers the right to counsel in eviction proceedings as well as for increased funding for public defenders to defend individuals in housing cases. ⁴

Background

Noelle Porter is the director of government affairs for the National Housing Law Project, a left-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates for increased spending on social housing programs and for the weakening of eviction laws. She began as a policy analyst in 2015 and worked in congressional relations from 2017 to 2018 before becoming the director of government affairs. ⁵

From 2014 to 2015, Noelle Porter was a research consultant for the Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm. ⁶ In 2014, Porter graduated with a master’s in public health from the University of South Florida. ⁷

National Housing Law Project

The National Housing Law Project is a left-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates for increased government spending on social housing programs and the weakening of eviction laws. ⁸

Activities

In 2018, Noelle Porter sent an email to congressional staffers criticizing the Homeless Children and Youth Act, which was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Porter argued that the bill, by only increasing eligibility for homeless shelters and housing services, would overwhelm already exhausted resources for the homeless. ⁹

While being questioned about the increasing number of jurisdictions that provide counsel in eviction cases, Noelle Porter advocated for legislation that would increase right to counsel protections for individuals facing evictions in jurisdictions that do not have them, increasing funding for additional public defenders to defend housing cases, and legislation that would limit protections for landlords. ¹⁰

In an article about the expiring eviction moratorium that was instituted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Noelle Porter advocated for policy forgiving unpaid rents during the pandemic. She argues that nobody benefits from evictions and foreclosures, so the government should end them. ¹¹

1. “What We Do.” National Housing Law Project. December 1, 2017. https://www.nhlp.org/about/what-we-do/.
2. “Advocacy.” National Housing Law Project. January 21, 2021. https://www.nhlp.org/advocacy-and-litigation/advocacy/.
3. Sisson, Patrick. “The Pandemic Has Exposed How Broken Our Housing System Is.” Medium. September 2, 2020. https://gen.medium.com/the-pandemic-has-exposed-how-broken-our-housing-system-is-bcef9a8861e6.
4. Savitch-Lew, Abigail, Ras Stanford, Francisco Aviles Pino, and Joshua Vaughn. “The Movement That Is Upending Landlords’ Power Over Tenants.” The Appeal. Accessed March 28, 2022. https://theappeal.org/the-right-to-counsel-movement-upending-landlords-power-over-tenants/.
5. “Noelle Porter.” Linkedin. Accessed March 28, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelle-porter-a1362b11.
6. “About Us.” Accelerating Healthcare Transformation For Real-World Impact. Accessed March 28, 2022. https://www.lewin.com/about-us/about.html.
7. “Noelle Porter.” Linkedin. Accessed March 28, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelle-porter-a1362b11.
8. “What We Do.” National Housing Law Project. December 1, 2017. https://www.nhlp.org/about/what-we-do/.
9. Modan, Naaz. “Slipping through the Cracks: Differing Federal Policies Keep Homeless Students from Getting Help.” K12Dive.com. March 7, 2022. https://www.k12dive.com/news/slipping-through-the-cracks-differing-federal-policies-keep-homeless-stude/619756/.
10. Savitch-Lew, Abigail, Ras Stanford, Francisco Aviles Pino, and Joshua Vaughn. “The Movement That Is Upending Landlords’ Power Over Tenants.” The Appeal. Accessed March 28, 2022. https://theappeal.org/the-right-to-counsel-movement-upending-landlords-power-over-tenants/.
11. Sisson, Patrick. “The Pandemic Has Exposed How Broken Our Housing System Is.” Medium. September 2, 2020. https://gen.medium.com/the-pandemic-has-exposed-how-broken-our-housing-system-is-bcef9a8861e6.