Mon 27 Feb 2012
Mark Horvath from Invisible People recently caught up with our founder and executive director, Maria Foscarinis. They discussed how she left behind the life of an attorney at a big-time law firm to become a leading advocate for homeless persons, as well as the successes and inadequacies of policies addressing homelessness.
Check it out!
Wed 15 Feb 2012
A new USA Today column by Arjun Sethi, a young attorney and member of the Law Center’s Associates Advisory Council, leaves no room for debate: it’s wrong to treat homeless persons like criminals.
There’s no shortage of reasons why criminalizing homelessness is wrong. On their face, such policies are morally deplorable. The idea that we would punish people for their lives having unraveled is so far outside the boundaries of conscience that it’s almost surreal we’re even talking about it.
Even stripping away the human element, basic math is on our side. It costs about $87 per day to jail a person, and $28 to give them shelter. There’s no escaping the fact that criminalization is irrational fiscal policy.
And while these laws cycle homeless people in and out of the criminal justice system, making it more difficult for them to receive services and get a job, there’s ample evidence that prevention and housing programs work. The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program prevented or ended homelessness for over one million people. Seems a little more constructive than throwing them in jail, doesn’t it?
At the end of the day, it’s incumbent upon us to keep the pressure on. By every objective measure, we’re in the right on this issue.
To learn more about criminalization laws and how you can get involved in the fight to restore homeless persons’ dignity, read our report and advocacy manual.
- Andy Beres, Development & Communications Coordinator
Fri 10 Feb 2012
Check out the most recent Huffington Post article about the homeless crisis in Sacramento.
While the Law Center isn’t cited, this article still provides a great review of the situation in Sacramento and what is currently going on.
On Wednesday, February 8th, the Law Center’s Eric Tars was featured on KCRW, Whic Way L.A.? radio segment to discuss the recent UN letter warning Sacramento of their human rights violations to the homeless population. His segment begins at 23:00, take a listen!
Also check out the most recent Huffington Post article describing California’s homeless crisis. A poignant article about two homeless men who recently died trying to keep warm on a winter’s night and the general lack of shelter across the state.
Wed 8 Feb 2012
We hope you’ve been following our work to protect the human rights of Sacramento’s homeless people. A UN expert wrote a letter last week warning Mayor Kevin Johnson that the city’s systematic elimination of bathrooms and clean water sources near homeless encampments may constitute “cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment” under international law.
Here’s some footage from our partner Safe Ground Sacramento’s press conference:
Tim Buckley describes his experience as “sanitation engineer”
The media has caught on. There’s been a lot of coverage of the work we’re doing with Safe Ground Sacramento to restore human rights.
Make sure you listen to our own Eric Tars tonight on “Which Way, LA?” with Waren Olney on KCRW. The broadcast starts at 10:00 EST (7:00 PST). You can listen live here.
Here’s a break-down of some of the other coverage this past week.
Sacramento Bee:
U.N. investigator urges Sacramento to provide water, sanitation for homeless
The Sun Herald and Kansas City Star both reprinted the Bee’s story.
Sacramento Press:
United Nations Warns Kevin Johnson of possible human rights violations
Read it here.
They followed up again yesterday:
Mayor Discusses Human Rights of the Homeless
KCRA Sacramento:
They led off their broadcast with a story on the UN’s letter.
A follow-up story:
Capital Public Radio:
Insight: Sacramento’s Human Rights Violations
They followed up with a segment on Mayor Johnson’s response:
Wed 8 Feb 2012
The Law Center’s won a big victory in its ongoing legal battle with the Obama Administration. A federal court says the Administration has to turn over hundreds of documents in a case that may decide the future of an important homeless aid program.
We don’t think the Administration is complying with Title V of the McKinney-Vento Act, a law that lets homeless service providers access unused federal property for free. Not many people know about it, but Title V helps over 2.4 million homeless people each year. That’s a big impact for a program that flies under the radar.
This litigation is part of the Administration’s ongoing effort to scrap Title V and turn a profit on unused properties. It’s trying to push legislation through Congress, even as it provides no evidence it’s even complying with the current law.
In June, the Administration brought a motion to vacate a 22 year-old injunction governing how it runs Title V, saying it has an “unassailable record” of complying with the law. We asked to see some evidence to back it up, but remarkably, the Administration provided documents that were up to 100 percent redacted — literally blank. Here’s a sample.
For an Administration that says it’s committed to government transparency and ending homelessness, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.
In his ruling, Judge Royce C. Lamberth said it was “baffling” that the Administration thought the court would accept its claim of compliance “on nothing other than [its] own say-so. ”
Thankfully, the court knows what’s at stake too. Judge Lamberth remarked that this case “has real consequences for people who have fallen about as far down in the depths as one can in this country. ”
He hit the nail right on the head. Title V has no shortage of success stories.
Westwood Transitional Village in Los Angeles provides housing and supportive services to 150 women, children, and men. When families leave the program, they’re ready to live on their own for the rest of their lives. Bay Cove Human Services of South Weymouth’s award-winning substance abuse program has helped more than 10,000 homeless people recover from addiction since opening its doors in 1999.
This isn’t about injunctions and discovery m0tions and property suitability. This is about people living on the street while we’ve got empty buildings. The law is a tool with which we attack injustice; it’s a means to achieve a state of moral good.
If you want to find out how you can get involved in our advocacy to protect Title V, contact Jeremy Rosen, our policy director.
- Andy Beres, Development & Communications Coordinator
Tue 7 Feb 2012
In a CNN interview last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney assured a reporter that he is “not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” There’s so much wrong with that statement. The assumption that the government’s current programs to alleviate poverty are sufficient is a total myth.
As the discrepancy between housing costs and income continues to widen, more and more families and individuals are at risk of ending up on the street. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, over 1.5 million children are homeless each year. That’s clearly unacceptable.
Public housing is sometimes available, but the average wait for a Section 8 voucher is up to 35 months. That’s a long time, and it leaves many families on the street without shelter. It’s unclear how a presidential candidate could look at that information and conclude that the safety-net is adequate.
Over 15 percent of Americans – a stunning 45 million people – are living in poverty. That means, by his own admission, Romney is ignoring one in seven Americans. A high percentage of poor people are employed, but as Law Center Executive Director Maria Foscarinis points out: “Wages, especially for unskilled and less-skilled workers, haven’t kept pace with the cost of living, and it is not enough or barely enough to cover basic needs.” In 2012, the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four is $22,350; however, on average, a family needs at least twice that to meet the most basic needs. That leaves millions of families on the brink of homelessness each day.
Now more than ever, increased funding is needed to address the growing needs of homeless and poor people. Cutting government spending on programs that provide housing and food security would be disastrous in this economy. If presidential candidates are under the impression that this group of individuals is not of concern because of existing federal programs, they need to be educated about the realities of homelessness and poverty.
Let’s hope people realize their obligation to those less fortunate, and open their eyes to our country’s inequality.
What do you think? Leave a comment below to let us know.
- Megan Huber, Development & Communications Intern
Thu 2 Feb 2012
“I’ll be around. Somehow. I used to fall asleep thinking I wouldn’t wake up. Now I know better. Now I know, honey – it goes on and on and on.”
Last February, I wrote about a woman named “V.” She’s a homeless person who sat outside our K Street office for the better part of a year. I visited with her daily, and bought her lunch from time to time. She talked about the pain she was in, her addiction to alcohol, and the vicious love of her dead father. In between, she’d point out young women on the street and insist they were looking at me.
My visits weren’t noble. I can shamefully recall a few days when I took a different path to work because I didn’t have money for her. In shielding myself from her disappointment, I denied her the human contact she so dearly coveted.
I wrote before about a man she met at church. He was kind and gentle, giving her a place to stay while she got back on her feet. Her voice swelled with pride as she described looking for a job and scented shampoo. She was sober; there was such clarity to her thoughts.
But as the weeks passed, that clarity faded. The spark of life vanished from her eyes. There were bruises on her. She wouldn’t say where they came from, but I already knew. I pressed her for information about the man she was staying with.
Wed 1 Feb 2012
Too often in our society, homeless persons are devalued, ignored, and treated with much less respect than they deserve. They become accustomed to people walking by with only a disgusted glance in their direction. This lack of acknowledgment is dehumanizing.
Earlier this week, advocates in Rhode Island gathered to acknowledge and memorialize the lives of over 35 individuals who died homeless in the state in 2011. We commend Beneficent Church in Providence for the service they held and the time they dedicated to honor those our society failed. At the memorial, names were read aloud and thirty-five candles were lit for each person, as well as an extra for those who may have been neglected. It can be very difficult to track homeless deaths and oftentimes they are left without any memorial to mark the lives they led. The service in Rhode Island is an important reminder that, like all human beings, each and every homeless person is valuable and unique.
This memorial comes while cities across the country are enacting criminalization laws that sweep homeless persons out of public view, making it difficult for them to consistently access services from community groups.
These laws, which range from prohibiting loitering, begging, or camping/sleeping in public, have proven to be very costly. Numerous studies show that supportive housing and emergency shelter cost a lot less money than putting homeless persons in jail. But beyond the practical financial considerations, it is important that we provide homeless persons the respect they deserve as individuals and do what we can to improve their situations.
The service in Rhode Island is important, but we must work to prevent unnecessary deaths from ever happening in the first place. More must be done to acknowledge homeless persons in our society and provide them with the services they require.
- Megan Huber, Development & Communications Intern
Tue 31 Jan 2012
On Friday December 30, 2011, the United States Government issued its Fourth Periodic Report on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
The report, over 400 pages long, contains numerous references to human rights issues of interest to housing advocates, including: fair housing, foreclosures, public housing, racial, gender, and disability-based discrimination, domestic violence, and homelessness. To aid advocates in responding to the report, the Law Center has produced a summary of housing references.
Tue 31 Jan 2012
On January 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a letter to Congress with a number of recommendations to strengthen the housing market. Significantly, one of his key recommendations matches what the Law Center has already suggested.
