Donovan McCarty has always been passionate about using the law for public interest and driving positive change. Although he grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, he held the city close to his heart, recognizing and confronting the stark contrast between the suburbs and the city.
While earning his law degree, McCarty volunteered and worked for various organizations and advocacy groups focused on housing and land use in Detroit, such as the United Community Housing Coalition, Michigan Legal Services and the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Through these experiences, McCarty realized there was a major need for supporting clients facing housing injustice.
Previously, the Michigan State University College of Law’s Housing Justice Clinic spent years focused primarily on eviction defense cases. Now, in his first year as the clinic’s new director, Assistant Professor McCarty is focused on bringing systemic change to victims of housing injustice across Michigan.
Addressing deed fraud
Prior to joining the College of Law, McCarty worked at the Detroit Justice Center, where he developed an on-the-ground understanding of how housing injustice manifests in the everyday lives of ordinary citizens. He recalls feeling disenchanted as the same challenges repeated themselves, which inspired him to seek solutions through advocacy.
One of the most significant challenges he identified is deed fraud, wherein people lose title to their homes when the property is illegally transferred out of their name.
In response, McCarty worked with the Wayne County Register of Deeds to help people regain title to their home, recognizing that many lacked the financial resources necessary to secure legal representation.
“What I love about this work, and what I love about coming to MSU, is the opportunity to take this advocacy to another level and to teach and engage law students,” McCarty said. “I am excited to give students a jump start on all the things that I’ve learned in my time as an attorney, all the different ways that I’ve been an attorney, whether it’s from a big law firm to a small nonprofit.”
Engaging law students
McCarty has a half dozen students to ensure they receive individualized attention. They work on several cases and issues relating to various aspects of housing injustice, including deed fraud, property tax appeals and advocacy projects. While each student is assigned their own matters, the overlap in the subject area is intentional to encourage collaboration between students.
“There are a lot of ways that you can be a lawyer. There are ways that you can really integrate yourself into movements, into communities, let them be the voice and you can just help,” McCarty said. “What I want to bring to these students is the excitement of these current events and these issues that I’m constantly engaged with.”
For example, McCarty shared his work on a recent high-profile case in Detroit where tenants at the Leland House are facing long-term displacement and struggling to convince the city to allow them to retrieve their belongings. McCarty sees this case as an opportunity for the city to do something different with housing, and he has advocated in that regard for those tenants.
He is also focused on ensuring students know how to litigate. In fact, that is what drove him to redirect the clinic away from eviction defense work, which is very fast-paced and relies heavily on informal negotiations as opposed to motion practice and the formal tools of litigation. McCarty feels that his approach gives students a wider variety of experience and allows the clinic to have a deeper impact.
“There are a lot of cases that legal services generally do not touch,” McCarty said. “They do not have the time or capacity for more complex cases, given the demands of their current caseloads. We actively try to identify these cases and fill this gap. These also just happen to be cases that I feel are perfect for students to learn. Students will get excited and interested when they know what they are doing contributes to a broader goal and moves the needle.”
Striving for impact
At the clinic, McCarty emphasizes that lawyers must also be storytellers — a stance that is, in part, informed by his film background. The clinic works to communicate the real stories of tenants affected by a cycle in which landlords, investors and companies purchase buildings, allow them to fall into disrepair or abandonment, and leave residents in precarious situations.
“I can know every law in the book,” McCarty said. “But if I can’t convince a judge to do what I want them to do, you know, if I can’t tell that story in a way that they can understand, then I fail.”
To support and find clients, the clinic has partnered with many community organizations, like the Tenant Resource Center of Mid-Michigan, the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, the Detroit Tenants Union and the Detroit People’s Platform.
“Housing affordability is so important because it is a fundamental part of people’s lives and necessary for stability,” McCarty said. “I really want students to think about addressing systemic issues so that they can achieve the change they are seeking.”
Promoting policy change
McCarty emphasized that the affordability crisis has increased demand for government action. In the case of the Leland House, the residents are calling for the city to purchase and create affordable housing. And this is the larger goal beyond just any single case.
There are many avenues for legislative changes, according to McCarty. For example, McCarty is also working with community groups on a feasibility study to understand if and how Vienna’s Social Housing model could be implemented in Detroit and other cities. Over six in 10 tenants in Vienna live in social housing, which refers to below-market rental housing managed by government or public entities.
In Detroit, 75,000 parcels are owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority; McCarty believes there is ample opportunity for governments to think differently about how housing is done in Detroit and across the state.
For anyone going into law, McCarty advises practicing law in what you care about most. He chose a path to deeply engage with communities in Detroit and across Michigan.
