Homelessness Law Blog

On this Veterans Day, I thought I’d write about why I think ending homelessness for veterans is so important, and really is achievable.  I am not a veteran.  I don’t have any family members who were veterans.  And most of my friends aren’t veterans either.

And yet, I’m outraged that even a single veteran is homeless tonight, and I’d like our country to keep on the task of doing something about that.  We know a lot about homeless veterans – honestly we’ve probably spent more time studying the issue than we need to.  But let’s throw out the numbers, statistics, and data, and just get right down to some common sense – every veteran who is homeless today, whether they served in wartime or during a period of peace, has served the country.  And each one now needs the country to help them.  So let’s roll up our sleeves and get going.

It might surprise you to learn that we already are.  There are 75,000 homeless veterans today, down from more than 100,000 a few short years ago.  Unlike with other homeless populations, and even with recent wars resulting in more homeless veterans, veterans homelessness is going in the right direction.  We’re giving apartments to 10,000 veterans a year (sometimes including a veteran with a spouse and / or children), and housing thousands more with short term help until they get back on their feet – veterans are very resilient.  And happily, though we aren’t all the way there yet, fewer and fewer new veterans are becoming homeless as prevention efforts ramp up.

While government is stepping up to help homeless veterans, we could do more.  Apartments for 10,000 vets a year?  $75 million.  A drop in the bucket even in this time of concern over deficits.  Why not double that?  Or triple it.  It would probably mean one less missile for the Department of Defense.  But something tells me they’ve got extra.  And after all, they created much of the problem, by discharging a lot of soldiers without making sure they had a safe place to go and a stable path to long term success.  So I’ll enjoy my day off today, but Monday I’ll be right back to work making sure that on future Veteran’s Days I won’t have to walk past a veteran sleeping outdoors on my way to celebrate his service.

- Jeremy Rosen, Policy Director

On October 28, I had the opportunity to participate in a groundbreaking meeting between U.N. officials; leaders of NGOs; and members of the U.S. State Department, Department of Justice (DOJ), and HUD to discuss the criminalization of homelessness and poverty and its human rights implications, as well as strategies for opposing such policies.

The meeting, organized by the Law Center, was in response to a U.N. report documenting how criminalization practices in the U.S. and other countries violate internationally recognized human rights standards.  As the Program for Human Rights and the Global Economy fall fellow at the Law Center, I was thrilled to take part in such an important meeting.

The criminalization report, presented to the U.N. in October, was written by the top U.N. expert on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepulveda. In her report, Ms. Sepulveda identified four major human rights violations:

• Control of behavior of people in public spaces. For example, the criminalization of panhandling, eating, and sleeping.
• Discriminatory urban planning and zoning regulations. For example, there is an increasing trend of moving homeless and poor people to the outskirts of cities.
• Excessive and arbitrary restrictions on qualifying for public benefits. The U.S. has implemented a severe public benefits screening process, with the stated goal of avoiding fraud.
• The use of detention in punishing homeless and poor people. The criminal justice system has a disproportionate effect on certain communities.

The purpose of the meeting was to address these concerns and brainstorm measures to combat the criminalization of homelessness, including recommendations from the rapporteur’s report.

As a newcomer to the field of human rights, the meeting gave me hope that international officials, federal government representatives, and NGOs can work collaboratively to combat human rights violations domestically. The diversity of voices in the room forced each participant to consider new perspectives on criminalization, and highlighted the distinct role each stakeholder can play in solving the problem. Discussed strategies included: increasing or decreasing HUD and DOJ funding to states and cities based on their treatment of homeless and low-income individuals; transferring foreclosed homes to community organizations, who could use them to house homeless and low-income individuals; reducing barriers to obtaining housing upon an individual’s release from prison; and the U.S. introducing a UN resolution declaring that the criminalization of homeless and poor people is contrary to human rights.

Simply discussing criminalization through a human rights prism was important; this meeting was an unprecedented interaction between U.S. officials, non-governmental representatives, and international experts and brought much-needed attention to domestic human rights issues.  The U.S. acknowledged that violations are occurring domestically and brainstormed ways to improve the situation.

The Law Center looks forward to continuing collaboration with the U.N., the federal government, and other NGOs in implementing strategies to eliminate criminalization policies and fight homelessness in the U.S. As my time at the Law Center draws to a close, I am encouraged that the U.S. is open to addressing its own human rights violations, and that the Law Center and other non-governmental organizations are insisting that the U.S. fulfill its obligations.  My experience at the Law Center has equipped me with invaluable strategies on advocating for domestic human rights that will surely be instrumental in my future social justice legal work.

- Julia Lum, Program for Human Rights and the Global Economy Fellow

This month, decades of economic and social inequity have reached a critical mass with the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Across the country, the self-professed “99 Percent” have organized protests and occupied public parks in opposition of the moneyed interests they believe are decaying America’s middle and lower classes.

The protests raise interesting questions about the politics of homelessness and what role homeless people are playing in the Occupy movement.  As the Law Center’s human rights legal fellow, and an active participant in Occupy D.C., I’ve thought a great deal about this.  Though it doesn’t make headlines, the Occupy movement directly affects the day-to-day lives of homeless individuals.  Prior to the protestors’ occupation of McPherson Square in D.C., a less visible group occupied the park: chronically homeless people.

In contrast to the protesters, homeless people try to remain as invisible as possible to avoid arrest while carrying out their lives in public spaces.  This is because cities across the country are enacting laws criminalizing homelessness.  They’re making it illegal to carry out life-sustaining acts in public view.  The trends in major cities are startling:

• 33 percent prohibit camping in public spaces.
• 30 percent prohibit sitting and lying in public spaces.
• 47 percent prohibit loitering in public spaces.

In 2007, the City of Los Angeles budgeted $6 million toward policing the Skid Row tent city area and only $5.7 million for homeless services.  Twenty-four people were arrested 201 times, with approximately $3.6 million spent on criminal proceedings.  For the same cost, the City could have provided housing to 225 people.

When the protests in McPherson Square began, there was a danger that they could have the same effect as a criminalization measure: driving homeless people out of the park.  I felt a disconnect between the 99 Percent and the homeless people in the park.  Given that the Occupy movement is a response to economic inequity, it seemed dishonest to protest without prioritizing the voices of people who are suffering the most.

In my day to day conversations, however, I haven’t spoken with any homeless people who feel excluded.  In the past few days, I’ve noticed homeless individuals chatting with other protesters while waiting in line for free hot meals.  I’ve seen them collaborate and strategize with protesters, and sleep alongside them in the park.

For the moment, the Occupy D.C. protests have arguably improved the safety of homeless people in the park by protecting them from discriminatory enforcement of anti-camping laws.  Federal regulations forbid camping – including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping, the storage of personal belongings, and cooking – in McPherson Square.  So far, police have declined to enforce these regulations during the protests.  At least 40 tents have been erected, taking up one-third of the grass; three meals are cooked on-site each day; personal belongs are piled against a tree; and a generator is running to provide energy for the camp.

The choice of the police not to enforce federal regulations against Occupy protestors is just one example of selective law enforcement.  In Maine, Occupy Portland has set up camp in one area of Lownsdale Park, while a group of homeless people are camped in another area.  The homeless camp cropped up only when the protest began. One homeless man said he moved his family to the park because “it’s a lot safer here.  It’s nice to be somewhere where you are not harassed every morning to pick up and move.”

The City of Portland has announced that the Occupy group may remain in the park indefinitely, but warned the homeless camp that they are in violation of municipal codes that prohibit overnight camping.  The City has requested that businesses in the area log code violations by the homeless group, presumably to build a record for future prosecutions.  In response, Occupy Portland declared its solidarity with the homeless camp and, on October 20, marched to raise awareness about the treatment of homeless people and collect food donations.

Other Occupy groups are taking note.  In Seadside, Oregon, Occupiers protested to repeal a law that criminalizes sleeping outside.  Occupy Salt Lake City has staged demonstrations protesting police treatment of homeless people.  This is a good sign.  It’s vital that the 99 Percent commit to challenging structures of oppression that may be easy to overlook.

The power dynamics of political movements are real and must be recognized.  In any movement, it is easy for group leaders – who frequently have the time, education, and resources that allow them to protest – to control the direction of the movement and overlook individuals who may not have the ability to participate as regularly.  These people may choose not to take a public role in the Occupy movement because they do not have the financial resources, or because they cannot risk arrest or deportation.  As participants in the Occupy movement, it is important that we remember the people who have been most affected by the One Percent and listen to a diversity voices.

If we’re to achieve true economic justice, the Occupiers must acknowledge that the 99 Percent includes homeless people, immigrants, people of color, and low-income individuals – and allow these folks to have prominent roles in the movement.  If they do, the movement will continue to grow and may very well bring meaningful change to the U.S.

- Julia Lum, Human Rights Legal Fellow

Over the past decade and a half, the Law Center has been working hard to get the federal government to acknowledge housing as a basic human right and begin taking steps to implement its obligations.  As documented in our report, Simply Unacceptable: Homelessness and the Human Right to Housing in the U.S., for many years, the government was openly opposed to defining housing as a human right.  It came close in recent years, but didn’t quite get there.

Then, during last year’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), HUD stated for the first time the relevance of this human rights process to its domestic housing and homelessness policies.  Last week, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness issued its first-year assessment and update of Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.  Among other items, the report states:

HUD has been working on a number of other activities over the past year that helps further the housing objectives in Opening Doors[.] In March 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) conducted the first comprehensive review on human rights done in the United States.  For the first time, the United States acknowledged housing as a human rights issue on an international stage. The Department of State, with the support of representatives from HUD, noted its support of the recommendation by UNHRC, which stated “broad range of safeguards for the homeless people to allow them the full enjoyment of their rights and dignity” and supports reducing and ending homelessness as a human rights concern.

This reaffirmation of the importance of the UPR in HUD’s and the Interagency Council’s work on homelessness is another step toward making the human right to housing the framework to which our government holds itself accountable.  While these words on paper don’t put homeless families in homes today, they are an essential step toward making sure those homes are created tomorrow, and that homelessness is prevented for more families in the future.

From my personal perspective as the Law Center’s human rights program director, this reference is a gratifying acknowledgment of the work we – and many others across the country – have been doing.  For years, pushing the human right to housing felt like banging our heads against the wall, with seemingly little progress.  But without those years, we would not have reached this tipping point, where it appears these references are beginning to build on each other.

Small words, but they represent a fundamental shift in policy. And as momentum continues to build, these words and values will help create that future where no one in America spends a single night without a place to call home.

- Eric Tars, Human Rights Program Director

This past summer I served as a human rights fellow at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. The policy work I engaged in there will help spur change for countless Americans, but my interactions with a man named Jim reminded me of the very individual reasons this work is so important.

Jim sits on a bench at 15^th and K streets in Washington, D.C., across from a Cosi and one block from the Law Center. During the morning rush hour, his well-worn voice pleads with pedestrians, “Spare a dollar?” “I need to eat!” “Can you help me today?”

We usually say good morning and not much more as I pass by. But last Friday was a beautiful morning, sunny and warm without being oppressively hot. When I said hello, Jim declared that he was having a great day. He had found housing!

Jim is a D.C. native, born and bred. Education was a challenge for him here. His first grade teacher would turn on the television instead of teaching, and Jim was promoted each year without ever learning to read or write.

Jim enjoyed working in construction, but fell on hard times. After a back injury he was unable to work. When his mother passed away, the sale of her house left him a little money so he could rent his own room, but that apartment turned out to be the worst place for Jim. First, sheetrock from the ceiling fell down on him as he slept, re-injuring his back. Next, the old wires sparked and started a fire, destroying most of his belongings, and the rest of his money. In November, 2010, as D.C. prepared for winter, Jim moved out to the streets.

Jim has gotten funding from the Red Cross to stay in a hotel a few times, but generally he sleeps outside. He has diabetes and checks his blood sugar twice a day, subsisting on the kindness of strangers. Even though many people ignore him, he still jumps up mid-story to open the Cosi door for a woman pushing a stroller and toting a suitcase. He uses a cell phone to keep in touch with his sisters, his caseworker, and a lawyer helping him with the injuries from the sheetrock. Despite his illiteracy, Jim easily recites phone numbers and addresses off the top of his head.

Last week, his caseworker called to say that Jim would soon have a place to live, news he joyously shared with me. We both had the happiest of days.

My last day at the Law Center was bittersweet. This summer, I learned to fight homelessness on a larger scale, drafting resolutions for housing as a human right and editing a petition to the U.N. But as he shared his story with me, Jim brought into focus the reason for this all – no one should ever be without a place to call home.

-Julie Butner, former Human Rights Fellow

Each year, the Law Center recognizes outstanding contributions by individuals and organizations to the movement to end homelessness at its 13^th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards. This year’s event will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C.

For Rob Robinson, homelessness isn’t an abstraction; he’s lived it.  For almost three years, Robinson survived on the streets and in shelters in Miami and New York.  And since resolving his homelessness in 2007, he’s become a powerful voice for all those still suffering its indignities.  Working with Take Back the Land, Picture the Homeless, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Robinson has been a fierce advocate for the human right to housing. He has also been a leader in the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights.  G.W. Rolle, a former honoree and Law Center board member,  will present Robinson with this year’s Personal Achievement Award.

Robinson’s work has been made possible, in part, by the U.S. Human Rights Fund (USHRF), this year’s Stewart B. McKinney Award winner.  Since its founding in 2005, USHRF has provided more than $20 million to nonprofits fighting for human rights here at home.  Making the Law Center one of its core grantees right from the start, USHRF has helped us change the way policymakers view homelessness.  In March 2011, following years of advocacy by the Law Center, Robinson, and others, the U.S. acknowledged for the first time that homelessness implicates its human rights obligations. Human Rights expert Dorothy Q. Thomas, who helped start the fund, will present the award.

Congressman Barney Frank, this year’s Bruce F. Vento Award winner, has fought time and again for legislation addressing and preventing homelessness.  In 1987, he helped pass the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  And in recent years, his leadership has been critical to helping enact the Homelessness Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP), and Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA).  He was also a primary sponsor of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and the Dodd-Frank Act. Susan Vento, the Congressman’s widow, will present Rep. Frank with this award.

This year’s Pro Bono Counsel Award will go to DLA Piper, which has provided thousands of hours of pro bono support to the Law Center across a range of issues, most prominently access to education for homeless children.  DLA Piper is taking a national leadership role on the Law Center’s new Project LEARN (Lawyers’ Education Access Resource Network) initiative.  The firm will provide training and technical assistance on homeless children’s education rights to families and school officials across the country. Suzanne Turner, pro bono partner at Dechert LLP, who received this honor last year, will present the award.

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, originally scheduled to provide the evening’s keynote address, is unexpectedly unable to join us. In her stead, Assistant Secretary for Policy William Spriggs will join us to honor the efforts of those working to end homelessness in America.  Laura Evans, of Washington’s Fox 5 News, will also join us as the event’s mistress of ceremonies.

Thank you to all who have helped make this event possible. We’re so excited for what is certain to be an inspirational evening.

Today’s guest post comes to us from Laurene Heybach, director of the Law Project at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Each year the start of school brings smiles and excitement throughout our town. Kids love getting the new supplies and backpacks. The faces of the children reveal a readiness for the new year with hopes high.

Nowhere is this excitement more stirring or poignant than in the eyes of homeless children and youth. Often living in chaotic, dismal or unstable circumstances, frequently hungry, these children and youth look forward to the community provided by school, a caring teacher or coach, friends and fun, a regular meal or two, familiarity and routine.

Thanks to the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless children and youth have the right to return to their home school and receive transportation to attend and participate in school activities, receive free breakfast, lunch and assistance with other needs. But none of this start-of-the-school-year excitement is realized if the first day of school arrives and there’s no transportation to get you there and no money to buy the train or bus pass. In Chicago, the free transit passes are distributed through the school. For some of our poorest families, getting to school in the first place to claim those free passes becomes a real obstacle so children and youth miss the first day or week or even a few weeks of school. This can leave a student feeling left out of things when he or she arrives late and can result in some kids starting out the school year behind their classmates. Fortunately, the McKinney-Vento Act also requires that school districts continuously identify “barriers” such as this faced by homeless students in enrolling, attending and succeeding in school.

This school year, finally, Chicago Public Schools listened to the long-time plea of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (“CCH”) see http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/advocates-claim-back-to-school-push-missing-key-piece/. Through a collaborative effort involving the Mayor’s office, too, the Chicago Transit Authority provided free rides to school-age kids –homeless or not– and for an accompanying adult to ensure attendance on the first day of school. Chicago Public Schools is reporting the highest first day attendance in four years! CCH had proposed that the CTA service involve widespread and early publicity casting the effort as “Catch A Ride to Your Future.” Though publicity was last minute and our suggested slogan was not adopted, the free first day rides mark an important step in removing one barrier faced by our young people in accessing school. We look forward to making this a tradition in Chicago just as the free transit rides on New Year’s Eve have become.

Chicago has the third largest school system in the nation with over 600 school sites. Among its almost 400,000 students –most of whom meet federal poverty guidelines– are more than 15,000 students without stable housing. A round trip transit ride (without the student pass) is $5.00.

Recently, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty has joined a number of local and national groups to advocate for the expansion of the Restaurant Meals Program – a long-standing federal program that gives homeless, elderly, and disabled poor people access to restaurant meals via their SNAP (formerly known as “food stamp”) benefits.  Yesterday, we had the opportunity to share this work with hundreds of thousands of CNN viewers. Check out the video below to learn more.

It’s a summer evening in Washington and I’m leaving a downtown reception, full of drink, food and people—a typical DC scene.

Walking through downtown at dusk, making my way towards home, I’m struck by a quieter scene on the street. Block by block, corner by corner, I see solitary figures, some with luggage or bedrolls by their sides, settling in to the evening, nowhere to go, nothing to do but remain where they are.

Meanwhile, others like me are also on the street, mostly walking by, some noticing or acknowledging, most just walking, getting into taxis, perhaps traveling to suburban homes. Those who are remaining sit on curbs, benches, or walk along themselves; some ask for spare change, some explain they are hungry. One man simply dives into the garbage, eating scraps of food discarded there by others.

I wonder how I can walk by, even though I am among those who acknowledge, sometimes offer spare change. The reception I’ve just left is to benefit work for a progressive America, and I believe in that so much. Every day at the Law Center that’s what we work for. But this walk tonight is still tough. (more…)

As I graduated from law school back in 2004, my women’s rights classes were abuzz with the preparations for the upcoming Supreme Court hearing of the Castle Rock v. Gonzales case. Little did I suspect that the case, which had been in the courts for five years already, would take another six years for some body of law to actually recognize the injustice that had been done to Jessica Lenahan (then Gonzales) and her family.

The case had its origins in Castle Rock, Colorado, in 1999, when Jessica Lenahan’s ex-husband abducted the couple’s three daughters, Leslie, Katheryn, and Rebecca. Despite a domestic violence restraining order limiting her husband’s access to her and her daughters, when Lenahan called the police repeatedly over several hours and went down to the police station, the police made no effort to locate the children or enforce Colorado’s mandatory arrest law. Shortly after midnight, Lenahan’s ex-husband got into a shoot out with the police, and after he was shot and killed, they found the three girls had been shot dead in the bed of his pickup truck. To this day, Lenahan has not been told definitively if it was her ex-husband or the police officer’s shots that killed them.

Lenahan sued the Castle Rock Police Department for failing to protect her daughters, particularly since she had a restraining order against her ex-husband that mandated the police to arrest him if he violated the order.  However, in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Lenahan did not have a constitutional right to protection, and that the police’s failure to enforce her protection order was not unconstitutional. (more…)