Address by Demetria McCain, G. Rollie White Public Interest Scholar in Residence
Demetria McCain, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will give an address entitled “Federal Fair Housing Policy in the Biden-Harris Administration.”
Reception to follow in the Jamail Pavilion.
Co-sponsors: The Center for Women in Law, Texas Law’s Office for Equity and Inclusion
About Demetria McCain:
Demetria McCain serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At FHEO, McCain assists HUD’s efforts to eliminate housing discrimination, promote economic opportunity, and achieve diverse, inclusive communities.
McCain joined HUD following fifteen years of service, with five as president, at the Inclusive Communities Project (ICP), a Dallas, TX-based affordable fair housing nonprofit. Prior to becoming president, she oversaw operations, communications and ICP’s Mobility Assistance Program, a housing mobility program that helps housing choice voucher holders exercise their fair housing rights. Conceived by Demetria, ICP’s “Voices for Opportunity” initiative has provided advocacy training to low-income renters and neighborhood groups of color.
Before joining ICP, McCain worked on USDA Section 515 rural multifamily housing matters at the National Housing Law Project in Oakland, CA. She was also a staff attorney for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program of Washington, D.C., assigned to the southeast office, where her portfolio primarily included landlord-tenant matters for low-income renters in private and public housing. She has taught, as an adjunct instructor, a Fair Housing and Homelessness course to undergraduate Coppin State University students.
McCain brings dual vantage points to FHEO after having spent years assisting both housing choice voucher holders who sought low-poverty well-resourced housing options and neighborhood groups in underserved communities of color who sought more equitable distribution of resources and services. She is a graduate of Howard University School of Law, New York University and Brooklyn College and a member of the Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
About the G. Rollie White Public Interest Scholar in Residence:
McCain’s visit to Texas Law as a G. Rollie White Public Interest Scholar in Residence is supported by a generous gift from the G. Rollie White Trust. The program brings outstanding legal scholars, practitioners and advocates from the field of public service to Texas Law to foster discussion of issues related to public interest law, to raise the profile of lawyers working in this area, and to encourage students to view public service as an honored and expected part of every legal career. In addition to giving an address, McCain with meet with faculty and students. McCain is Texas Law’s tenth G. Rollie White Public Interest Scholar in Residence.