Sasha Samberg-Champion joined NFHA this year as Special Counsel for Civil Rights, where he leads efforts to protect and advance fair housing rights and protections. Sasha comes to NFHA from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where in the Biden-Harris Administration he served as Deputy General Counsel for Enforcement and Fair Housing. In that position, he oversaw HUD’s fair housing and program enforcement attorneys, as well as much of HUD’s policy and regulatory work related to fair housing and civil rights. Before that, Sasha was at Relman Colfax, PLLC, where he litigated a variety of complex fair housing and other civil rights matters, including multiple cases against HUD for rolling back civil rights protections. Sasha has also served as an appellate attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and in the Office of the New York State Attorney General, and as a law clerk to the Hon. Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He has presented argument in dozens of appeals in federal and state courts and has filed numerous amicus briefs in the courts of appeals and in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Palmer worked in the Office of Fair Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development until he was removed from his position after he went public as whistleblower alleging that HUD was violating its statutory duties with respect to both the Fair Housing Act and the Violence Against Women Act. While at HUD, he worked to enforce federal fair housing laws and laws protecting people who have been the victims of domestic violence. Prior to joining the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Palmer served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Public Advocacy Division (PAD) of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia where he focused on a wide range of issues affecting civil rights, consumer protection, wage theft, and fraud. Palmer also served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia. At OCR, Palmer coordinated and litigated systemic discrimination cases in a variety of areas, including employment, public accommodation, housing, police misconduct, and voting. Prior to joining OCR, Palmer was an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society (CVLAS) where he coordinated eviction defense for thousands of tenants. Before joining CVLAS, Palmer served as counsel and director for a nationwide educational services company. Palmer started his legal career as a public defender in Miami, where he tried dozens of cases, conducted depositions, and participated in appellate oral arguments.