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