With children returning to school, Congress back in session, and a number of NLCHP initiatives in the works, this coming fall presents both challenges and opportunities.

School has started and children who are homeless face the challenge of maintaining their school stability and sometimes even their access to school. Our annual guide to homeless children's education rights provides critical, step-by-step information on federal legal protections and how to enforce them.

Click here to read Educating Homeless Children & Youth: A Guide to Their Rights.

We're also working to strengthen these existing protections. At the end of July, Congress introduced the Homeless Education Improvement Act (H.R. 3205) which would:

• Increase funding for homeless children's education programs;
• Direct more resources towards helping them get transportation to school; and
• Improve their access to preschool.

Click here to help pass this piece of legislation.

Ensuring children's education is a major priority for NLCHP. It is critical to their well-being and an essential step to preventing future homelessness.

In July, a coalition of national advocacy organizations drafted a consensus statement outlining five fundamentals needed to end homelessness and created a list of ten steps that the federal government can take right now to help end and prevent homelessness.

High on our priority list this fall is defining the next steps in our collaborative work to push for Congress and the federal government to enact the Ten Steps to prevent and end homelessness.

Reauthorization of the HUD McKinney-Vento programs is a real possibility, and we are working with our allies to make it happen. We feel strongly that consensus is possible and essential. It's time to reauthorize this critical law - and to move on to the other parts of our Ten Steps agenda.

Click here to read the Ten Steps.

Human rights strategies can help advance this agenda, and building the movement for the human right to housing in the U.S. is a key NLCHP priority. This year, our annual National Forum on the Human Right to Housing will focus on the local campaigns currently underway in communities across the country. The discussion will help to define positive, proactive advocacy agendas that will make the human right to housing real here in the U.S.

While reframing U.S. policy to recognize - and implement - this basic right is a long term project, human rights strategies can make a concrete difference right now, while also creating the building blocks for that paradigm shift.

Please share your ideas. Your feedback is important to us. To endorse the Ten Steps to end homelessness, e-mail Laurel Weir.

Maria Foscarinis
Executive Director

This month, NLCHP released an updated version of Educating Homeless Children and Youth: The Guide to Their Rights.

The booklet provides a general overview of federal laws benefiting homeless students, including the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the Child Nutrition Act, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Educators, service providers, advocates, homeless families, and homeless youth have used previous versions of the publication as an introduction to the law.

Click here to read the booklet.

Copies can also be ordered via phone at 202-638-2535 or via e-mail at nlchp@nlchp.org.

Mark your calendars for the 19th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children & Youth (NAEHCY). The event is scheduled for November 10-13 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

Joy Moses, NLCHP's Children and Youth Staff Attorney, will be a featured speaker on several panels of this nation-wide gathering of educators, services providers, and advocates. This year's event, "Blazing Trails and Moving Mountains," includes a child welfare track that will allow participants to explore the educational challenges faced by foster and homeless children and how to advance solutions.

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.

In early September, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), which makes federal financial aid more accessible to homeless unaccompanied youth.

Federal law generally requires students to complete the Federal Application for Free Student Aid (FAFSA), which includes a section about parental income that must be completed and signed by a parent. For homeless unaccompanied youth, who no longer live with their parents, these requirements create a barrier to receiving financial aid and enrolling in higher education.

The College Cost Reduction Act amends the Higher Education Act and will address this problem by automatically allowing homeless unaccompanied youth to apply for aid as "independent students". As independent students, they will not have to produce a parental signature or information about parental income. Instead, verification of homeless status must be provided by a school district homeless liaison or a shelter provider.

The legislation will also help homeless and low-income students by increasing the maximum amount available through a Pell Grant - a federal program providing grants to low-income students.

In other news, the Committee on Education and Labor in the House of Representatives released draft legislation for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The draft legislation includes proposed changes to the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children & Youth program. The changes largely reflect recommendations proposed by NLCHP and the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) - including expanding access to preschool programs, preventing school fees and fines from disrupting enrollment and attendance, and improving coordination activities between educators and social services providers.

Congress is still in the early stages of this process - both houses must still officially introduce and consider legislation.

Click here for more information about NLCHP's legislative Action Alerts.

NLCHP will celebrate the annual World Habitat Day by hosting a training about housing and human rights on October 1, from 1-3pm EDT.

The training will be a free, teleconferenced introduction to human rights as they apply to housing issues. In keeping with the World Habitat Day theme, "A Safe City is a Just City," the training will cover various issues, including promoting affordable housing using a human rights-based framework and combating the criminalization of homelessness with human rights.

This training will serve as an introduction for people new to the concepts and as a refresher for those already familiar with them. It will also lay the basis for more advanced discussions at NLCHP's National Forum on the Human Right to Housing on November 5.

Click here to register for the October 1 training.

NLCHP would like to thank the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the US Human Rights Fund for their generous support of the Human Rights program.

NLCHP is conducting a training entitled, "Improving Housing and School Stability for Domestic Violence Survivors and Their Children" at locations in Maryland and Virginia in October. The training is designed to assist service providers, advocates, and attorneys who help families affected by domestic violence.

The training includes information about recent changes to the Violence Against Women Act that can protect survivors from eviction and increase their access to housing. In addition, it includes information about McKinney-Vento Act provisions that ensure that children can easily enroll in school and maintain school placements while protecting the privacy of the families.

The Maryland training will take place on Thursday, October 4, from 1-5pm at the University of Maryland Law School in Baltimore. This training is cosponsored by the Public Justice Center of Maryland, the UMD Student Health Law Organization, and the UMD Women's Bar Association.

Click here to register for the Baltimore training.

The first Virginia training will take place on Tuesday, October 16, from 1-5pm at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

The final training will take place on Wednesday, October 17, from 1-5pm at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, VA, cosponsored by the GMU Association for Public Interest Law.

Registration for the Virginia trainings is not yet open. Keep checking the NLCHP website for more information.

NLCHP thanks The Waitt Family Foundation and the Freddie Mac Foundation for their support of the Domestic Violence Program.

This summer, Tulin Ozdeger, NLCHP Civil Rights Director, was appointed to the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.

The 13 members of the commission are typically appointed for a one-year term and then reappointed for up to three years.

According to the ABA, the commission is charged with:

• Encouraging and assisting in development of bar and law school pro bono programs that provide legal and other services to homeless and near-homeless people;
• Educating members of the bar and the public about legal and other problems of poor and homeless people and ways in which lawyers can assist in addressing them;
• Training lawyers to provide pro bono legal assistance to homeless and near-homeless people;
• Working with ABA entities on issues arising within their jurisdiction that affect poor and homeless people; and
• Working with state and federal executive branches and legislative bodies to address the problems of poor and homeless people.

To achieve its mission, the Commission sponsors and participates in training programs; provides technical assistance to attorneys and advocates; and meets with national, state, and local advocates for homeless people about promoting and developing pro bono programs and homeless courts. NLCHP founder and Executive Director Maria Foscarinis played a key role in the creation of the Commission.

As the NLCHP Civil Rights Director, Tulin works with advocates to challenge city practices that criminalize homelessness. She serves as counsel in litigation, files amicus briefs, and serves as a resource for attorneys pursuing litigation. Tulin also writes reports, articles, and other publications to provide legal guidance and information about the civil rights issues of homeless people.

Click here to learn more about the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.

NLCHP and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) recently met with U.S. Interagency Council for the Homeless (ICH) Executive Director Philip Mangano, Deputy Director Mary Ellen Hombs, and National Team Leader Michael German to discuss how the ICH and advocates can work together to combat the criminalization of homelessness and promote more constructive alternatives.

Mr. Mangano noted that the ICH has been informally advocating against punitive measures in cities' approaches to homelessness. But given the persistence of criminalization measures, noted by NLCHP and NCH, the ICH agreed to take more formal steps to advocate against criminalization measures. The ICH agreed to incorporate information about the negative consequences of criminalization measures and constructive alternatives to criminalization in its public education materials and events and to work with NLCHP, NCH, and other advocacy groups to identify communities that need particular work in this area.

NLCHP and NCH plan to continue to meet regularly with the ICH and hope other advocacy groups will join these meetings to help address broader issues related to homelessness.

This story was submitted by Adam Arms, Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) Legal Advisor and Partner with McKanna Bishop Joffe & Sullivan, LLP.

Earlier this year, a state court judge in Medford, Oregon, incarcerated three homeless people in order to secure their attendance as witnesses in a homicide case. Using Oregon's material witness statutes, the judge held them in custody for over two months.

Last month, after much negotiation, their court-appointed defense attorneys, with legal assistance from WRAP, arranged a release plan that their judge accepted.

Despite the fact that two of the homeless people lived in the community, promised to comply with all subpoenas, and had no history of intentionally failing to appear in court, the judge declared that they should be kept in jail indefinitely pending the defendant's trial. At no point were the homeless people charged with committing any crime themselves. They were held solely as witnesses.

The judge based his decision, in part, on his finding that they "were not forthcoming" with police and did not immediately report that a potential crime had been committed.

Homeless advocates say that some officers' threatening behavior and harassment causes homeless people to distrust police officers in general. In addition, advocates say that the judge focused on the witnesses' homeless status - or, rather, the inevitable consequences of being homeless - to render his decision.

Through its work on this case, WRAP discovered other instances across the nation of homeless people being held indefinitely as material witnesses. Wrap believes that this type of practice is "enemy-combatant"-type treatment, writ small, with little or questionable due process and indefinite incarceration without charge. WRAP will continue to monitor and contest this unconstitutional and inhumane treatment of homeless people.

NLCHP named the winners of this year's children's art contest for the 9th annual McKinney-Vento Awards Event. Six-year-old Christina will be awarded the top prize - a $50 gift card to Target, for her painting entitled "Grandma's House".

Christina said she drew her grandmother's house because she loves her so much and because "it's good to have houses to visit". Christina's painting will be used in promotional materials for the McKinney-Vento Awards to help raise awareness of NLCHP's work and of the issues of homelessness and poverty.

Traivion, 9, and James, 10, were named runners-up. Traivion created a 3-D abstract self-portrait and James created a drawing of himself and a swimming pool. James said he drew the swimming pool because he believes swimming is a great way for kids to have fun and get exercise. Both were awarded $25 gift cards to Target.

All of the submissions from this year's contest, and some from previous years, will be on display at the McKinney-Vento Awards Event on October 24.

NLCHP hosts the McKinney-Vento Event each year to recognize individuals and law firms that have advanced solutions to homelessness and poverty. These awards also pay tribute to two outstanding national leaders, Stewart B. McKinney and Bruce F. Vento, who were the primary sponsors of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. This landmark legislation is the first - and still only - major federal legislation providing government assistance to homeless Americans to help them become self sufficient.

Click here for more information about the 2007 McKinney-Vento Awards ceremony.

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