Sunday, July 22, marked the 20th Anniversary of the enactment of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act - the first, and only, coordinated federal response to address homelessness in the United States.

It is a bittersweet anniversary. The Act was a major accomplishment - a bipartisan effort that created critical new programs that have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people over the past twenty years. McKinney-Vento funded programs have helped homeless children attend public schools, provided health care for homeless Americans, made job training available for homeless veterans, and given millions of people shelter or housing.

But the anniversary is also a bitter one. The Act was never intended to be the federal government's sole response to homelessness. The Act created emergency measures designed to bring urgent relief to those already on the street. Those measures were intended as first step to address the problem to be followed by comprehensive policies that would prevent homelessness and provide long-term solutions. But the measures providing prevention and long-term solutions were never enacted and, as a result, homelessness remains a crisis in the United States.

Last week, sixteen national organizations came together to recognize the 20th anniversary and to call on the Congress to make good its 20 year-old promise to end homelessness. We delivered a bittersweet chocolate bar to every senator and representative to honor the bittersweet anniversary.

Several Members of Congress joined us-including key leaders on housing. Just as important, almost all the members of our coalition of national groups attended. We built a solid foundation for action, but we need to remain united for it to move forward.

To read the ten steps we are calling on Congress to take RIGHT NOW and a list of sponsoring organizations go to www.McKinney20th.org or www.nlchp.org. To get involved, contact NLCHP Policy Director Laurel Weir.

Maria Foscarinis Executive Director

Click here to read a story about the 20th Anniversary in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Click here to listen to a story about the 20th Anniversay on NPR's Marketplace.

Click here to read a story about the 20th Anniversary in the Hartford Courant.

Click here to read a story about the 20th Anniversary in the Connecticut Post.

Each year, the federal government disposes of vacant buildings and land it no longer needs. Thanks to the work of NLCHP, surplus military property is free to nonprofits for uses that assist homeless persons.

NLCHP created a toolkit called Utilizing the Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act to help nonprofits learn how to take advantage of the law.

This toolkit provides an overview of the law (including eligible uses), the application process, and timing. It also discusses how to find available property, make a successful application, address Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) opposition, and provides tips for effective negotiations.

Click here to read Utilizing the Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act.

For more information, please contact Laurel Weir.

NLCHP would like to thank Fannie Mae for its generous support of the Housing Program.

This article was submitted by Greater Boston Legal Services

On January 10, an Act Relative to Housing Discrimination Against Victims of Domestic Violence, Rape, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (S.B. 755) was introduced in the Massachusetts State Senate. Similar bills were unsuccessfully introduced in previous years, but advocates are hopeful that the present bill will be passed.

If passed, S.B. 755 would add victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, and stalking to the list of those protected against housing discrimination. It would also enable victims to break a lease early without penalty if they provide sufficient documentation of the abuse or violence.

Additionally, property owners would be prohibited from evicting tenants because of their status as victims. They would also be required to change the locks of tenants under credible threat of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, or stalking.

At a public hearing in May, survivors and advocates from groups such as the Victims' Rights Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Boston Legal Services, and Jane Doe testified that victims frequently must choose between homelessness and continued abuse. "[Abuse victims] end up homeless and hopeless," said Laurie Holmes, executive director of shelter HarborCOV.

Nancy Ryan, from the ACLU, said landlords often seek to evict victims of domestic and sexual violence on the grounds that some women "enjoy abuse" or that battered women are "untrustworthy."

Another supporter said the bill might have saved the life of her sister, a Massachusetts resident who was killed by her abuser a few years ago.

Similar legislation has been passed in 21 states and the District of Columbia and is currently pending in at least two others. NLCHP helped pass the DC bill last year, and is working with Massachusetts advocates to help in their efforts. The bill shares a central provision of the federal Violence Against Women Act, prohibiting property owners from refusing to rent to or renew leases of victims.

The bill has been sent to the Joint Committee on Housing for review. Supporters will continue to work for its passage. For information on how you can get involved in supporting the legislation, please contact Barbara Zimbel or Linda Garcia.

NLCHP would like to thank the Freddie Mac Foundation and the Waitt Family Foundation for their support of the Domestic Violence Program.

On July 10, homeless advocates briefed Congressional staff on the growing trend of violence committed against homeless people. Over the past eight years there have been 614 recorded violent acts against homeless individuals in 200 cities across the country.

"Hate crimes and violence against homeless people in the United States has become an epidemic," said Robert Nasdor, NLCHP Legal Director. "Over the past several years, we have seen brutal and very disturbing attacks against homeless persons."

Between 1999 and 2005 there were 82 homicides classified as hate crimes under the current federal hate crimes statute. During that same period there were 169 deaths as a result of violent attacks against homeless people.

Some of the attacks include homeless people being beaten with tire irons, baseball bats, and golf clubs. Others include homeless people being set on fire and homeless women being raped.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson sponsored the briefing in conjunction with NLCHP and the National Coalition for the Homeless. Johnson recently introduced the "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Enforcement Act of 2007" and the "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act of 2007" to protect homeless people from violent attacks.

The "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Enforcement Act of 2007" would add homeless people to the list of protected classes under one of the federal hate crimes statutes. The "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act of 2007" would include hate crimes against homeless people in the statistics collected by the FBI.

Co-sponsors of the "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Enforcement Act of 2007" include Representatives John Lewis, Dennis Kucinich, Bobby Rush, Raul Grijalava, Robert Wexler, and William Jefferson. Co-sponsors of the "Hate Crimes Against the Homeless Statistics Act of 2007" include Representatives John Lewis, Dennis Kucinich, Bobby Rush, Raul Grijalava, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Robert Wexler.

NLCHP is seeking information and participation in a Housing and Homelessness Working Group. The working group is a coordinated effort to hold the United States accountable for the racially discriminatory impact of government policy. Please join NLCHP for a conference call on Wednesday, July 25, at 3:00 pm to coordinate this work.

Set the record straight.

This April, the U.S. released a report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (see IJT, May 2007). Well documented racial disparities in homelessness are not mentioned in the report despite being the focus of a recommendation from the U.N. Human Rights Committee last year. The report also glosses over and abstracts many of the racially discriminatory impacts of housing in the U.S.

In an example of an egregious distortion, the government states: "Recognizing the overlap between race and poverty in the U.S., many commentators conclude nonetheless that the post-Katrina issues were the result of poverty (i.e., the inability of many of the poor to evacuate) rather than racial discrimination per se."

Advocates in the working group will correct this record by producing a report and testifying before the CERD. For example, they might point out that the majority of renters in the Gulf Coast region were African American and, due to their status as renters, they are ineligible for most federal aid. Or, they could describe how the shuttering of virtually undamaged public housing units with the aim to raze them for mixed-income dwellings is preventing the return of many residents.

What YOU can do

This is what the world will know about racial discrimination in the U.S. unless housing and homeless advocates correct the U.S. report's statements. There are many ways to get involved, from contributing stories of current campaigns, to providing statistical information, to educating your community about the reporting process.

NLCHP is leading the Housing and Homelessness Working Group in a coordinated campaign to ensure that the full story is told. NLCHP has already produced a preliminary analysis of housing issues included in the CERD report.

The working group will hold an organizing conference call on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 3:00 EDT. For call-in information, register here.

Click here for additional information about shadow reporting

On October 1, NLCHP is conducting an audio training on the human right to housing. The training will introduce domestic advocates to the tools of the international human rights framework and discuss successful strategies for using these tools. The training will explore the application of human rights principles to fair housing, adequate housing, and the criminalization of homeless people.

In addition, NLCHP will be hosting its annual National Forum on Housing and Human Rights on Monday, November 5, 2007. This year, we will be bringing the Forum to you via videoconference at 5 locations across the country: Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, New Orleans, and Washington, DC, thanks to the logistical support of our friends as Holland+Knight.

Please save the two dates, and check back at our website for more information in the months to come!

NLCHP also thanks the US Human Rights Fund and Mertz Gilmore Foundation for their support of the Human Rights Program.

At the end of June, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved modest increases for the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program ($66.9 million, a $5 million increase) and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Programs ($122.9 million, a $20 million increase). These increases would cover inflation while helping the programs recover from the recent years' budget cuts and static funding.

The Senate's numbers are similar to those under consideration in the House of Representatives: $66.9 million for McKinney-Vento and $112.9 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs.

Both the House and the Senate are working towards the passage of their respective final appropriations bills while momentum builds around a potential presidential veto of funding increases for vital domestic programs. Advocacy efforts are targeting members of the Republican Caucus, which has been successful in building support among its members for sustaining potential presidential vetoes.

In other news, the Senate passed its version of new Head Start legislation at the end of June. The legislation will now be reconciled with a previous bill passed by the House of Representatives. Both versions of the legislation include provisions that would be helpful to pre-school aged homeless children who benefit from the school readiness programs that Head Start provides.

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would ensure that homeless children are identified and prioritized for enrollment and they would foster improved collaborations between Head Start and homeless education personnel.

NLCHP would like to thank the Freddie Mac Foundation, the Paige Family Foundation, and our anonymous donor for their generous support of the Children & Youth Program.

As reported in the April issue of In Just Times, on June 13, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction in the case Diane Ridgely et al. v. FEMA et al. A coalition of public interest groups and two law firms filed the lawsuit in April challenging FEMA's failure to provide due process protections in terminating victims of Hurricane Katrina from its Continuing Rental Housing Assistance (Section 408) program and in attempting to recover assistance paid to Hurricane victims that FEMA later determined to be overpayments.

Judge Berrigan's order temporarily prohibited FEMA from terminating rental assistance to individuals and from attempting to recoup payments made to them without providing certain due process protections. These protections include a requirement to provide an adequate explanation of the reason(s) FEMA decided why a person is no longer eligible for rental assistance, or should have to repay assistance received, and to refrain from terminating people from assistance until they have had an opportunity to appeal FEMA's determination of ineligibility.

On June 27, FEMA filed a motion in U.S. District Court asking Judge Berrigan to reconsider her order issuing a preliminary injunction, or to suspend the part of the order pertaining to provision of Section 408 continuing rental assistance. In addition, on July 2, FEMA also filed an emergency motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in which it asked that court to issue a temporary stay of Judge Berrigan's preliminary injunction order.

On July 3, the Court of Appeals granted the defendants' motion for a temporary stay and requested a response from the plaintiffs this week. The plaintiffs in the case oppose a stay of the injunction, and this issue will be litigated in the coming weeks.

Each year, NLCHP selects an individual who has experienced homelessness to receive the Personal Achievement Award to recognize his or her accomplishments and service to those still experiencing homelessness. This person will be recognized for his or her personal achievement as a formerly homeless person at the 2007 McKinney-Vento Awards Dinner.

We would like your help in finding out Personal Achievement Award winner this year.

Here are the criteria for the award:

Encountered difficulties in obtaining services or benefits that would allow him/her to get an education, training, or pursue other goals that would ultimately lead to employment and/or stable housing. It can also include efforts that helped his/her family be more secure and stable, such as access to childcare or education or services - that had a significant effect on the family as a whole.

Overcame barriers to obtaining services or benefits with the help of a local service provider that, ideally, included guidance from NLCHP.

Has a success story to tell and is willing to speak in front of an audience at the McKinney-Vento event.

If you would like to nominate an individual for the award, please e-mail Amy Warnick detailing how they meet the above criteria.

LEAP is a national legal community philanthropic effort to help homeless and poor American achieve self-sufficiency. LEAP members provide financial support and pro bono legal services to help NLCHP prevent and end homelessness.

NLCHP would like to thank our current LEAP member firms:

Baker & Hostetler LLP; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; Goodwin Procter LLP; Hogan & Hartson LLP; Jenner & Block LLP; Jones Day; King & Spalding LLP; Morrison & Foerster Foundation; O'Melveny & Myers LLP; Sidley Austin LLP; Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; and WilmerHale

Visit our website at www.nlchp.org! Contact us at (202) 638-2535 or email us at network@nlchp.org