Justin J. Babino (J.D. ’16, B.A. ‘07) was accepted into the highly competitive U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of General Counsel’s 2016-2017 Legal Honors Program. Through a rotational program within the Office of General Counsel, new attorneys gain exposure to the broad array of legal work within HUD.
As an undergraduate student, Babino realized the importance of law when he was in New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “While I organized over 300 hundred college
volunteers to provide residents with manual labor for new home construction, home restoration, and wetlands restoration, I was limited in my ability to address the mounting
legal issues these residents faced,” said Babino.
Babino, also a licensed realtor, returned to his alma mater for law school. He participated in the HeLP Legal Services Clinic and interned with HUD and worked as a graduate research assistant in the Office of the Dean of Students, examining policies and serving as a case officer adjudicating community living standards cases for students residing in university housing.
Babino participated in the Urban Fellows Program, an interdisciplinary initiative of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth in which top graduate students are selected to study issues related to urban growth with key metro Atlanta decision makers. He earned a certificate in environmental and land use law, focusing on affordable housing, and examined health and housing disparities in professor Courtney Anderson’s Law and Health Equity course.
Under the mentorship of professor John T. Marshall, Babino participated in the 9th Annual Break the Cycle conference at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. His research examined the impact of the HUD-funded Green and Healthy Homes Initiative to reduce asthma in disadvantaged pediatric populations in Atlanta, culminating in a co-authored 2014 article published in the International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health.
A second progression of research assessed in-home interventions. “Improving substandard housing conditions reduces pediatric exposure to asthma triggers, which can achieve a broad range of public health objectives such as reducing school absenteeism, reducing parents’ lost work days, and improving quality of life for sick children and their families,” said Babino. “My study has important implications for leveraging public and private resources to support comprehensive initiatives, which can ultimately yield health care cost savings as well as break the link between unhealthy housing and sick children.” His findings were published in 2016 in a solo-authored article in the International Journal of Child Health and Human Development.
While a second-year law student, Babino was appointed to the Atlanta BeltLine Affordable Housing Advisory Board. In that role, he made recommendations to the Atlanta
Development Authority and City of Atlanta officials on affordable housing policies and coordinated with other affordable housing efforts throughout the City of Atlanta. “While
the BeltLine Affordable Housing Advisory Board is an important step in extending the reach of the city’s amenities to moderate- and low-income residents, it’s simply not enough to address the rising price tag on housing for the entire city,” said Babino. He recommends an interdisciplinary approach that brings together stakeholders from various fields
such as law, housing, health care, business, transportation, environmental, and others to address disparities in a coordinated way.
Babino expects to use his law degree to further HUDs mission and deliver something of value to millions of people. “I hope to have an impact on housing development, long-term recovery following natural disasters, quality affordable housing, and mitigation of housing discrimination,” he said. “I really believe that good public service in the law can make a difference. It’s an honor to have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of families in the southeast.”