Libby Benton is the Associate Counsel to National Initiatives at the Center for Community Progress, America’s nonprofit leader for turning “Vacant Spaces into Vibrant Places.”
Prior to joining Community Progress, Benton worked for ten years as an advocate for low- and moderate-income tenants, homeowners, and consumers. During law school, she was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a student-run legal services organization. After graduating, she received a Skadden Foundation fellowship to work in partnership with tenant organizers to fight the displacement of tenants and former homeowners in Boston during the foreclosure crisis.
More recently, she was a principal investigator of a research project aimed at better understanding the prevalence, patterns, and causes of evictions in Michigan. As part of this research, which was conducted with faculty from the University of Michigan Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Benton co-authored the first comprehensive report on Michigan evictions, a journal article analyzing the characteristics of evictions in urban and rural places, and a report analyzing Michigan evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommending reforms to reduce Michigan evictions going forward. Benton received a BA from the University of Michigan and a JD from Harvard Law School. She is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.