A.B. cum laude, J.D. cum laude, Georgetown.
Holding a deep belief that housing is a human right, Patty has dedicated herself to expanding affordable housing opportunities and improving homeless services in the nation’s capital for more than forty years. She was one of the co-founders of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and served as its executive director from1991 until her retirement in the fall of 2022. Prior to becoming executive director, she served as president of the Legal Clinic’s board of directors and was in private practice with the law firm of Reno, Cavanaugh & Hornig, specializing in affordable housing law and homelessness issues. Patty serves on the board of directors of The Center for Social Housing and Community Investment (DC) and of Community Spring, (FL), and on the Advisory Board of Neighborhood Hands (CA). She was a founding member of the DC Access to Justice Commission, a co-founder and long-time steering committee member of the DC Fair Budget Coalition, and a member of the governing or advisory boards of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, the Washington Council of Lawyers and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Patty’s work has been recognized with awards from the DC Bar, the DC Bar Foundation, the Washington Council of Lawyers, the National Homelessness Law Center, and Rising for Justice, and with honorary degrees from Georgetown University Law Center and Kings College (PA).
