Living in an apartment near Central Campus for a summer gave Stephanie Chang, the newly appointed Housing Law Reform attorney for Student Legal Services, a taste of the bitter hardships that accompany off-campus living.

Now she hopes to make that experience a little sweeter for student tenants.

The fifth member of SLS's staff, which provides legal advice and representation to students at no or little cost, Chang's primary duties include handling tenant-landlord cases, addressing the broad systematic or legislative problems of off-campus housing and educating students on their rights.

Part of Chang's job will involve lobbying legislators on behalf of students to reform current local housing laws.

Chang said she also intends to help students deal with problems before they become severe and to make certain that the fees tenants pay, such as for overdue rent, are lawful.

Since assuming her position Jan. 9, Chang has addressed seven housing cases, most of which dealt with repairs. Chang said repair problems are especially common because much of the city's housing is old. Students need to be aware of what to do if repair requests are ignored.

In addition to landlord-tenant disputes and other property-related issues, SLS provides students advice and counsel in areas such as employment grievances and driver's license restoration.

The goal of creating a new position that focuses on the broader issues of off-campus housing has been in the works for several years, SLS Director Doug Lewis said. While other attorneys in the SLS office will continue to handle landlord-tenant cases, Chang's specialized position will allow for SLS to better track trends in off-housing complaints.

Chang will speak at Monday's public hearing about Ann Arbor Mayor John Heiftje's proposed lease ordinance. The ordinance - which would prohibit landlords from showing a property to potential tenants or entering into a lease agreement with new tenants until one-fourth of the current lease period passes - has been criticized by local landlords and realtors.

At some point this semester, SLS plans to conduct a survey of off-campus tenants to gain more information about common housing-related issues, such as tenant-landlord relationships and ongoing problems with specific landlords or management companies.

Chang, a 2003 graduate of Loyola University in Chicago, has a background and a passion for housing law as well as litigation.

As a fellow at the Chicago Metropolitan Tenants Organization, the soon-to-be attorney implemented a walk-in tenants counseling clinic.

During her time at a branch of Michigan Legal Services in Detroit, she wrote a manual for nonprofit organizations seeking to purchase and redevelop abandoned property.

"People that work in this type of practice are people that care about what they do," Lewis said. "(She had) one of the best references given for a person who I've hired. At this point I can't see that I could've hired anybody better."

Chang said she was drawn to her new position not only because it involves litigation, but also educating students on their housing rights.

"With my previous experience in plaintiff litigation, I dealt with people who didn't know their rights or what direction to take, and in that vein, needed an attorney to guide them," she said.

The student fee went up $.50 to pay the new attorney's salary. The increase, approved by the University Board of Regents last July in conjunction with an increase to boost MSA funding, brought the student fee to $6.50 per semester.