Alys Cohen leads the National Consumer Law Center's (NCLC) federal legislative and regulatory housing advocacy and coordinates NCLC’s work on climate consumer finance and disaster response. She has been active in areas including: mortgage assistance during the COVID national emergency; government-backed lending programs, such as FHA; legislation, regulations, and programs developed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis; manufactured housing policy; and civil rights issues, including market access for borrowers with limited English proficiency. She partners with consumer, legal services, community, energy efficiency, labor, and civil rights organizations, as well as with members of industry, and serves on Fannie Mae’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, and the Research Advisory Board of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Alys co-authored the Ensuring Consumer Protections in the Delivery of Energy-Efficiency Financing and Renewable-Energy Programs chapter in the 2024 book, What’s Possible: Investing Now for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhoods.

Prior to joining NCLC, Alys served as an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Financial Practices, where she focused on predatory mortgage lending and discrimination matters.

She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as an Associate Editor of the Law Review and as an advocate in the Civil Practice Clinic and the Guild Food Stamp Clinic.