Shana Tomenes is the Director of Manufactured Housing Policy and a Housing Justice Litigator at the Housing Justice Center. As a first-generation college graduate, she is passionate about empowering communities through legal education and strategic litigation that protects and strengthens housing rights.

Shana graduated magna cum laude from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in 2019, where she served as Managing Editor of the St. Thomas Law Journal and successfully argued an appellate case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as a student attorney with the St. Thomas Appellate Clinic. After law school, she completed a judicial clerkship with Justices G. Barry Anderson and Paul C. Thissen at the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Shana first joined the Housing Justice Center as an Equal Justice Works Fellow from 2020 to 2022, returning in 2023 to her current role, where she specializes in manufactured housing litigation and public policy initiatives. She has led state and federal cases to protect community leaders from retaliation and enforce health and safety laws in manufactured home parks. She has also drafted legislation and helped lead state and local housing policy reforms to close gaps in Minnesota’s housing laws and ensure meaningful relief for individuals and families when their rights are violated. Her appellate advocacy includes authoring or contributing to amicus briefs before the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

When she isn’t drinking coffee and writing legal arguments, Shana enjoys early-morning CrossFit, cooking, and spending time with her husband and two sons.