Tag Archives: Civil Rights

Using Privilege To Give Voice To The Vulnerable

Posted on January 31, 2013 by homelessnesslaw

Editor’s note: The author composed this piece in mid-January, on one of the coldest days of the month. With the wind chill, it’s about 15 degrees outside this morning.  This week is shaping up to be the coldest DC has … Continue reading →

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The Compassion Deficit: Sidewalk Bans and Criminalizing America’s Homeless

Posted on December 3, 2012 by homelessnesslaw

Over the last few years, policymakers across the country have cracked down on homeless Americans, introducing measures that make life an even greater struggle for some of our most vulnerable citizens.  These include laws that prohibit sleeping or storing belongings … Continue reading →

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First Read: Homeless Bill of Rights, Job Training for Homeless Vets, More

Posted on June 21, 2012 by homelessnesslaw

Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights Mother Jones has today’s first word on the civil rights of homeless people. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Law Center and the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, Governor Lincoln Chafee is … Continue reading →

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Time to Finish the Job

Posted on April 16, 2012 by homelessnesslaw

When I first came to Washington DC to organize a campaign for a federal response to homelessness, I never dreamt that, decades later, I’d still be fighting to end homelessness. In 1986, when I started going to Capitol Hill to … Continue reading →

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The Drifting Dark

Posted on February 2, 2012 by homelessnesslaw

“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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Rights, Domestic Violence, Housing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

From the Lunch Counters to the Dining Room Table

Posted on July 1, 2011 by homelessnesslaw

This week the New York Times caught on to a trend that’s sweeping the nation: as J.R. Fleming, co-founder of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign who spoke earlier this month at our National Forum on the Human Right to Housing put … Continue reading →

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Arrested for Feeding Homeless People

Posted on June 2, 2011 by homelessnesslaw

On June 1, three members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested for sharing food with hungry people in a park in downtown Orlando.  Such news is almost incomprehensible.  People arrested for helping out people in need. Unfortunately, as shocking … Continue reading →

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Denying The Right To Vote

Posted on May 25, 2011 by homelessnesslaw

Welcome to the 2012 election. In states across the country, Republican controlled legislatures are passing bills that would restrict the ability of homeless and low income Americans to vote. Rejecting an amendment to allow homeless persons to vote with an … Continue reading →

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Treated Like Trash

Posted on March 25, 2011 by homelessnesslaw

This week the Los Angeles Times published an article discussing the settlements of several hospitals that have dumped homeless patients at shelters or on the streets without following proper discharge procedures.  Other news articles in the past have explored the … Continue reading →

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When There’s No Alternative (Part II)

Posted on March 8, 2011 by homelessnesslaw

My father immigrated to this country as a refugee following World War II, believing, as many did, and continue to do, that the awful conditions he experienced in refugee camps would be left behind in the Old World. The poem … Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Rights, Human Rights | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments