Remembering Daniel Pearlman

The Public Interest Law Project honors Dan Pearlman, our founding board member and former Chair, who helped build PILP from 1996 until his passing in March. Dan's career in public service began after the Peace Corps in Liberia, followed by civil rights work in 1964 Mississippi that shaped his lifelong fight for justice. For 22 years at the National Housing Law Project, through co-founding the California Reinvestment Committee and serving on the board of the California Housing Partnership, he became a national leader in housing justice.

Dan was credentialed with degrees from The Wharton School at Penn and Columbia Law School. After a few years at the Mass Law Reform Institute, Dan joined the National Housing Law Project in 1975, where his work focused initially on addressing affordable housing developments experiencing physical or financial problems. That work included creating and managing the HUD-funded Multifamily Demonstration Project, a multidisciplinary team of housing specialists that analyzed the various operational issues facing troubled HUD-subsidized properties in the Bay Area. This project developed responsive recommendations needed to stabilize properties and improve conditions. This intensive work influenced the development of new federal policies, the preservation protections in the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978, including the Flexible Subsidy program to provide more resources to projects in trouble.

A Leader Who Cared

Dan made time for regular one-on-one lunches at his home with co-directors Mike and Steve, often asking, "How are you doing and feeling?" This showed his genuine care for people through personal mentorship. As a founder, he had a special talent to cajole and engage, sharing wisdom that made everyone think differently. He asked tough questions that helped create PILP's unique way of operating, always knowing how to push people while keeping them committed to the work.  Dan served as PILP's Chair for several years, guiding our organization's growth while teaching new lawyers. He helped grow our board from 4 to 9 members, believing a small, committed group could do great things. The housing protections he created still help Californians today.

In 1981, after Congress enacted the lucrative but poorly targeted 15-year depreciation tax incentives for real estate, Dan and his NHLP colleagues initiated a multi-year effort backed by investments from the Ford Foundation to create a revolving fund to support providing legal and tax advice to nonprofit owners of affordable rental properties. This was absolutely the right strategy for dramatizing both the opportunities—much needed new capital investment to address chronic physical and financial difficulties—and the existential risks nonprofits faced—of losing control of the assets that were fundamental to their mission to predatory forces that dangled the lure of substantial cash. Careful structuring of these partnership transactions was essential to tap the resources while ensuring operational control for the nonprofit, both during the term of the partnership and after the lucrative tax benefits had been exhausted.

Dan shared: "When we began, I worried whether we'd survive the funding challenges facing legal services. To see it thrive decades later—with landmark victories for California's poor—has been my proudest legacy." True to character, he credited others: "Mike and Steve built an extraordinary team. The future has never looked brighter."

We will always be grateful for Dan's wisdom and dedication. His words to the board guide us still: "What began as a small team with big dreams became something extraordinary. PILP's secret? We never accepted that poverty meant powerlessness." While we take comfort in his enduring legacy, we will deeply miss his guidance, insight, and extraordinary dedication. Thank you, Dan, for twenty-nine years of transformative leadership that continues to pave our path forward.