Gary Rhoades, Executive Director
Gary Rhoades joined The Heartland Center as Executive Director on June 1, 2026.
Before returning to his home state of Missouri, Gary has been a civil rights lawyer whose career has included the successful litigation of over a hundred cases on behalf of families and persons regarding their civil rights, housing rights, and consumer rights. Those cases include impact judgments, trial and appellate wins, and published cases.
As the founding litigation director for the Southern California Housing Rights Center, his work in civil rights cases in federal court established fair housing protections for thousands of tenants in Los Angeles as well as some of the largest monetary recoveries. As a deputy city attorney for Santa Monica, Gary shepherded three pioneering housing laws, including one of the first laws outlawing discrimination against tenants using housing subsidies such as the Housing Choice Voucher. After defending that law in court, he led national efforts to reverse this type of discrimination through enforcement and education. He also drafted and enforced ordinances that prohibit evictions of students and teachers during the school year and require warning notices before certain types of eviction filings. His advisory work for cities has included Right to Counsel, Right to Return, affordable housing, and emergency housing orders.
Gary helped develop federal and California law on injunctive relief as lead counsel on precedential cases and obtained early injunctions under the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act and voucher protection laws. He has published over forty articles and co-authored two manuals on the topic of civil rights, especially in housing.
Gary’s honors include California Lawyer Magazine’s award as a California Lawyer of the Year, UC-Davis School of Law’s Martin Luther King Jr. Alum Public Service Award, and the 2024 Fair Housing Hero Award at the national conference Fair Housing For Our Future. A 2023 proclamation from Santa Monica City Council states that his "creativity, drive, and leadership helped keep Santa Monica at the forefront of fair housing rights and consumer rights."
He also serves on the editorial board of the ABA's Human Rights Magazine. In 2026, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas appointed him to Kansas City’s Housing Trust Fund Board.