Not every illness has a biological cause. The Medical Legal Partnership for Children (MLPC) combines the strengths of law and medicine to address the social determinants (food, housing, education, and safety) known to influence child health.

To address one of the largest problems, housing, MLPC works with its clients to secure sustainable housing options. MLPC is aware that there currently exist few if any options for resolving disputes among tenants or between tenants and landlords, and that these problems left unresolved often culminate in eviction proceedings. MLPC hopes to work with HNMCP to propose a more effective dispute management system. The first step in this project is to conduct a comprehensive analysis exploring what dispute management mechanisms already exist and what kinds of disputes typically go unaddressed.

Our work

Step 1: Research the current conflict resolution service provision in tenancy cases and analyze the findings.

Step 2: After considering all possible stakeholders, conduct comprehensive stakeholder interviews.

Step 3: Research best practices for managing disputes in similar settings.

Step 4: Provide a preliminary analysis of feasibility of certain proposed dispute management solutions, including focused collaborative outreach efforts with stakeholders to help get them involved and invested into the process.

Final Product

A sophisticated analysis of current dispute management structure, a summary of best practices for dispute management solutions in similar, and a proposal for possible reforms that might be undertaken to expand the services available and help better manage disputes.