Siya Hegde is a human rights lawyer in New York City, where she currently works with the National Homelessness Law Center on advancing the right to housing and decriminalizing homelessness and poverty. She was previously a civil public defender at The Bronx Defenders, where she engaged in client facing advocacy and litigation that centered on the civil consequences of individuals’ contact with legal systems. Her expertise in eviction defense and housing justice has grown in partnership with local grassroots coalitions, directly impacted tenants, advocates, and defender organizations across the City. Her work and commentary have been featured in various outlets, including the New York Times, New York Daily News, Times Union, City Limits, the New York Law Journal, Bloomberg CityLab, the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and the Indiana Health Law Review. As part of a national task force of civil society advocates, she has engaged with U.N. human rights mechanisms in Geneva around the criminalization of homelessness and poverty and is also a Board Member of the newly reviving U.S. Human Rights Network.