We’re pleased to announce that UIC Professor of Law and advocate for domestic violence (DV) survivors, Debra Stark, will receive the 2026 Sharon L. King Distinguished Alumni Award at LCBH’s Fall Benefit on October 15th.
The SLK Distinguished Alumni Award is given annually in honor of LCBH’s former board president and long-time donor, Sharon L. King. The award recognizes outstanding professional achievement among former LCBH interns, staff, and board members. Debra’s housing advocacy, which extends beyond Chicago to the entire state, makes her a well-deserved recipient of this award.
Debra started her career as a real estate attorney at Katten Muchin in 1986. In 2003, she connected with LCBH as a board member, where she helped contribute to LCBH’s strategic planning and programming, especially amid the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis.
“I went to law school and knew I wanted to help the underdog. I wanted to right the wrongs and help the most vulnerable members of society. But somehow, I ended up as a real estate attorney,” Debra said. “Once I was in that field, I tried to find ways to pursue my underlying goal using the law to help the most vulnerable people.”
In 1994, Debra began teaching law at UIC Law School, formerly known as the John C. Marshall School of Law. She also founded and directed the Family Law and Domestic Violence Clinic, where she worked with survivors of DV on a myriad of matters, including housing.
“Initially, before I was involved with domestic violence issues, I thought about housing in terms of habitability issues, affordability, and non-discrimination. Once I started to work on domestic violence, I started to see housing in this other way, how it relates to a DV survivor’s safety and financial security. Having a sense of home that’s safe and habitable is so important.” Debra said.
Debra quickly learned that, while Illinois has strong housing protections for DV survivors, very few of her clinic clients were aware of their rights under the Safe Homes Act, including their right to terminate a lease early after sending a written notice of an imminent threat of violence in their home, to avoid staying in an unsafe home or leaving and being liable for double rent.
“By the time they came to us, it was sometimes too late to exercise those rights.” Debra said. “That’s what first motivated me to come up with the idea with my students of creating a summary of those rights that would appear on page one of every written residential lease, so that all tenants in Illinois would become timely aware of some of these special housing protections.”
To make this goal a reality, Debra worked with her students in her Domestic Violence Law, Policy, & Community Engagement course and key partners to rally support from legislators in Springfield. Debra also reconnected with LCBH to survey how many renters were aware of the special housing protections that DV survivors have under various Illinois statutes, including the Safe Homes Act.
“LCBH was instrumental in helping me provide the evidence needed for the law and helping open some doors for its implementation. When I testified in Springfield, I shared the results from the survey, which was something like 98% of the people that answered the questionnaire were not aware of the various housing protections that existed,” Debra said.
The Summary of Rights for Safer Homes Act became effective on January 1st, 2026, but there’s still more to do to make landlords aware of the summary requirement. Debra and her students are working with LCBH’s Executive Director, Mark Swartz, and other stakeholders to spread information to judges, judicial advisory committees, realtors’ associations, pro bono legal service providers, and domestic violence service organizations.
“That’s the goal, to make meaningful the rights that already exist that people aren’t aware of and then have places that they can go to exercise those rights,” Debra said.
Hear more about Debra’s work and continued connection to LCBH on October 15th at Buddy Guy’s Legends where she will take home the 2026 Sharon L. King Distinguished Alumni Award. Learn more and purchase your tickets.