Homelessness Law Blog

“Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?…Miss the moss covered vines, tall sugar pines, where mockingbirds used to sing?”

Harry Connick, Jr. sang these words on his 1988 album, never expecting the meaning they would take on fewer than 20 years later. In the wake of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, the city’s residents, past and present, still mourn the loss of their communities, even as they continue to try to rebuild.

Events of the past week have caused many of us at the Law Center to be particularly conscious of the ongoing struggles and triumphs of those whose lives were forever changed by the devastating hurricanes five years ago.  On Friday, we received preliminary approval of our settlement in a class action case the Law Center and our partners brought on behalf of survivors wrongly denied housing assistance by FEMA after losing their homes to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Our celebration of this good news was greatly tempered, however, by a report released last week by UNITY of Greater New Orleans, an organization that has provided tremendous leadership on homelessness issues in the city post-Katrina.  The report details the heart breaking increase in homelessness in New Orleans. Since the hurricane, the homeless population has nearly doubled, as people live in abandoned buildings around the city.

The report includes a narrative by Mike Miller, who writes: “We find people living in buildings that were flooded [five] years ago and have not been touched. Many still have the remnants of the previous occupants, including moldy furniture, rotting clothes, cans of rusty food. The air is putrid and reeks of the black mold on the walls. The floorboards are termite-infested and give without warning, forcing our clients to navigate carefully in the dark of late night. The roofs are often tattered from the winds of Katrina or the pick axes used to escape rising flood waters. Rain pours inside…”

Five years after the hurricane, we mourn the loss of these individuals’ and families’ homes, and we remain vigilantly committed to our mission of ending homelessness in the Gulf Coast and across America. For the folks taking refuge in these squalid buildings, we continue to fight for housing solutions. For the millions more across the country who do not have access to adequate housing or social services, we’re working to ensure our government understands (as the United Nations does), that housing is a human right.

-Whitney Gent, Development & Communications Director

Photo credit: thewo0lleyman

In late April, I  accepted a development & communications summer internship at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. While I found the prospect of working in Washington D.C. very exciting, I was not sure what to expect. I was looking for experience with an advocacy or non-profit organization, so the Law Center seemed like a great fit for me. I had devoted the past year of college extra-curriculars to a club that focused on global inequalities. We had hosted a modest forum on homelessness in Alachua County, Florida, where I am a resident.

I anticipated that my internship would expose me to non-profit business practices and office skills. I am happy to say that my knowledge in these areas were most certainly improved. However, I gained so much more than simple filing skills. I gained perspective. I gained the ability to look at a problem, a truly complex problem like homelessness, and think critically about solutions. Homelessness has never affected me personally. I have led an extremely blessed life, and while I have stresses, worrying about the roof over my head has never been one of them. Unfortunately, I believe this has made me blind to issues of homelessness. (more…)

An important aspect of Wall Street reform is the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will take charge of nearly all federal consumer protection regulation – including regulation of mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and other financial products.  The new Bureau might even be able to help us spread the word about the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA).

Why does the Bureau matter to people concerned about ending homelessness?  Well, what helped kick-start the financial crisis?  The push for universal homeownership, which led to the issuance of risky subprime mortgages.  And once home values plunged, many Americans found themselves held prisoner by crippling consumer debt.  The new Bureau can’t make those debts disappear, but it will be able to write fair rules that help give low income families the chance to stay financially stable, and avoid homelessness.

President Obama is now faced with a decision on who to appoint as the Bureau’s new director.  It should be Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, who is currently heading up the Congressional Oversight Panel tasked with overseeing implementation of TARP.  In that role, she has been a passionate advocate for helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, unafraid to criticize the actions of an Administration that she supports as too little, too late.  The new Bureau was Warren’s idea, and she worked closely on the legislation with consumer and affordable housing groups.  She knows what PTFA is, and why it’s important.  And finally, she’s got the Jon Stewart seal of approval.

- Jeremy Rosen, Policy Director

A couple of weeks ago, several members of the Law Center’s staff attended a film screening of Alexandra Pelosi’s new documentary, “Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County.” The screening was followed by an engaging panel discussion on child  homelessness in the U.S.

I was unable to attend this event, but recently watched the film for myself. I thought it did a tremendous job of highlighting just how tough it is to grow up with 5 people crammed into a motel room, with bedbugs and lice, and without a safe place to play or enough food to eat.  And I appreciated the film’s focus on how these challenges outside of school make it extremely difficult for homeless kids to focus on learning when they’re in school.  All in all – this was a job well done.

The stories couldn’t be more poignant, and even the toughest politician might not be able to hold back tears.  However, despite the reality documented by this film and others, Congress last year determined that these motel kids aren’t homeless.  That’s right – policymakers concluded that the very kids profiled in this documentary have a roof over their heads, so they’re only “at risk” of homelessness.

Why does this happen?  Why can’t we make the connection between media coverage and changed policies?  It happens in other areas – the Washington Post wrote about problems at Walter Reed, and made recommendations for improvements, and soon thereafter a ton of new money was thrown at the problem.  You see, where these stories fall short is in their treatment of solutions. 

We know what would pull each family profiled by Pelosi out of that motel – housing subsidies, some food assistance, and maybe some childcare help as well.  And in the interim, we could really help by ensuring that they get transportation to the same full day schools that their housed peers attend – rather than sitting in a separate and inherently unequal school where second and fourth graders are forced to share a classroom.  But when the media doesn’t talk about solutions, government never takes effective steps to follow up.

Alexandra Pelosi is of course the daughter of Nancy Pelosi – Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Speaker Pelosi attended the premiere of her daughter’s film, so we know she understands the suffering that these motel children and their families are experiencing.  So to the Speaker, and her House and Senate colleagues – let’s move beyond feeling bad for these children and their families, and set to work providing the resources to get them out of motels and into stable housing and public schools.

-Jeremy Rosen, Policy Director

Last time I was in New Orleans, about a year ago, I was part of an international human rights fact-finding mission, sent to assess continuing housing rights violations four years after Katrina.  What we saw shocked our conscience: homeless squatters living in buildings with no running water or electricity, holes in the roof and floor, in the heart of one of America’s major cities, while perfectly habitable public housing units were fenced off and torn down with promised replacements years away from completion, and never intended to serve as many poor persons as before.

This time, I came at the invitation of the Department of Housing & Urban Development, to conduct a training for hundreds of fair housing investigators and attorneys on the very human rights standards we were using to assess the violations last year.  It’s a sign of tremendous progress in the recognition of these human rights standards by the domestic branches of government that they chose to include this session as part of their conference, and promises much for the future at the state and local level as these advocates return home to implement what they’ve learned.

But though there has been progress in the hearts and minds of those at HUD, progress is slow to come for those looking for their housing rights on the ground in New Orleans.  My fellow mission-mate, Sam Jackson, of May Day New Orleans, gave me a tour of the public housing sites we visited last year.  Some, such as CJ Peete, have been redeveloped with some families already moved into the mixed income development.  Others, like Lafitte, only had the concrete building foundations poured before the promised redevelopment money dried up.  Now, where hundreds of families used to live stand only empty fields and concrete blocks, with no promise of renewal.  Five years after Katrina, and still people can’t come home.  And those squatters?  Still thousands living in Third World conditions, right here in America.

I hope the progress we’ve made with HUD in accepting these rights means that next year, I’ll be able to write a happier reflection on how New Orleans’ residents are enjoying them.

-Eric Tars, Human Rights Program Director

Over the past few weeks, the close of the 2009 Supreme Court term and the confirmation hearings for nominee Elena Kagan have together prompted much analysis of the ideology and direction of the Roberts court, particularly with respect to the impact of its decisions on “ordinary Americans.” While the role of the Court in interpreting and validating the nation’s laws has always affected the individuals bound by them, a recent body of decisions has highlighted with unusual clarity the competing interests of the mighty and the powerless where such determinations are concerned.

The Kagan hearings furnished legislators with an occasion not only to review the Court’s jurisprudence from the past few terms but also to discern common themes and priorities likely to reemerge in the years to come.  One such leitmotif has been power dynamics in the workplace and other institutional settings.  To underscore the Court’s anti-worker orientation, policymakers have pointed to such rulings as Rent-A-Center v. Jackson, which recently upheld the power of arbitration agreements to preclude judicial review of their validity, effectively obligating employees to waive their right to a trial in the event of future disputes. (more…)

Yesterday, the Senate passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, sweeping legislation that covers a broad range of financial and housing policy issues. The House had already passed the same bill on June 29. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law during the week of July 19. The Act contains several key provisions of importance to homeless and low income Americans.

Of particular note is an extension and clarification of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA), which ensures that renters whose properties go into foreclosure – through no fault of their own – receive adequate notice so they can find new homes. The Law Center helped spur the passage of PTFA last year and has since been advocating for its extension past the original sunset date of 2012. Dodd-Frank extends it to 2014.

To read more about PTFA, see our commentary in the Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity.

The bill also provides new funding for foreclosure prevention measures and efforts to help rebuild housing in blighted communities. Read more about these provisions here.

Today we celebrate these significant victories for housing advocates and the American people!

Photo credit: carlossg

The Law Center applauds three County Commissioners from Charlotte County, Florida, for voting against a proposed anti-lodging ordinance yesterday that would have further marginalized the County’s homeless population.  The anti-lodging ordinance would have prohibited homeless persons from sleeping outside in public spaces anywhere in the county. In a time when these kinds of measures seem to be cropping up all around the country, the rejection of this law is something to celebrate.

The Law Center was part of a coalition of groups, including the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition and the National Coalition for the Homeless, that successfully advocated against the proposed law.

Cities truly need to wake up to the reality of the counterproductive nature of these laws.  Not only do they frequently violate homeless people’s civil rights, but they do nothing to further the goals of cities in getting people off of the street.

No one thinks it is a good idea for human beings to have to live on the streets or in places not meant for human habitation.  But, cycling people in and out of jail and back to the streets does nothing to help them move out of homelessness.  In fact, arresting or citing homeless people under these types of measures only perpetuates their homelessness, as obtaining housing and employment can be more difficult once a person has a criminal record.

In this time of budget crises around the country, communities need to consider the costs of their actions and use their resources more intelligently. According to a nine-city survey of shelter, housing, and jail costs, jail costs are 2 to 3 times higher than providing housing.

While the trend toward criminalizing homelessness has been ongoing for the past couple of decades, decisions like the one yesterday in Charlotte County provide a ray of hope. Let’s hope that more cities will follow their lead in rejecting these very counterproductive measures.

-Tulin Ozdeger, Civil Rights Program Director

Photo Credit: robinsan

The following is a letter from Board Member G.W. Rolle to St. Petersburg, Florida’s Mayor Bill Foster regarding the city’s recent ban on street solicitations and a letter reaching out to the city’s Homeless Leadership Network. To read the back story, see Mr. Rolle’s previous post.

Dear Mayor Foster,

My name is Gregory Rolle. Most people call me “G.W.”, and you may as well.

The marginalization and the criminalization of the homeless and near homeless is a disgrace and a blight on our city. Housing, Mayor Foster, is a basic human right. Affordable housing is intrinsic in that formula.

Laws that make people criminals by their very definition are laws that criminalize and marginalize that particular definitive group. You see, sir, the number one reason that people are homeless is that they lack housing. Most ne’er do wells, thieves, drug addicts, alcoholics, petty criminals, and prostitutes live inside. The small amount of people who live outside do so because they can either not afford or not negotiate living inside. No one wants to be homeless. When homeless people do get jobs and lift themselves off the street through meager means, such as the sale of the St. Petersburg Times, please tell me how it serves society or St. Petersburg to nix their earning potential and render them again street homeless, by passing laws and ordinances which criminalize certain aspects of that homelessness. (more…)

On Tuesday afternoon, lawyers from firms across Washington, DC gathered at Sidley Austin LLP for “Ending Homelessness through Pro Bono Work,” hosted by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

The event began with a panel discussion featuring partners from law firms who have contributed significant pro bono resources to the Law Center’s work. Suzanne Turner of Dechert LLP spoke of the firm’s work on issues relating to unaccompanied homeless youth, access to education for homeless children and youth, and the human right to housing. Peter Thomas of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP provided a detailed explanation of the firm’s work on housing provisions of the Violence Against Women Act – noting the tremendous policy impact their work with the Law Center has allowed the firm to see. And Patricia Brannan from Hogan Lovells LLP spoke about how the firms involvement with issues related to the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act and homeless persons’ access to voting have offered the firm’s attorneys opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

It was inspiring and humbling to hear of the firms’ commitment to pro bono work and to hear them, as Ms. Brannan put it, understand these projects as “heart of the mission work.” When attorneys participate in pro bono work at the Law Center, they have the opportunity to both contribute to policy change and produce materials that can “actually be used by constituents out in the community.” And, as Ms. Turner pointed out, the need for pro bono work on these issues is “greater than ever.”

During the reception following the panel, DC Bar President Ronald S. Flagg delivered a touching keynote address on the importance of the Law Center’s work and pro bono attorney involvement in the battle to end homelessness. Flagg is a true believer in the power of attorneys to effect large-scale change, and his own pro bono work is a testament to that belief. We are tremendously grateful to Mr. Flagg, and to all of our panelists, for sharing their pro bono experiences.

Last year, through the support of major law firms, the work of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty was amplified by more than $2 million worth of pro bono support, and by the financial support of its LEAP firms. This donation of time and resources helped create key policy changes and reinforced the existing laws designed to prevent and end homelessness.

To all of our supporting firms, we say a HUGE thank you. Your work is changing lives.