A New Year

Happy 2010 to all! My resolution for the new year is to remember that change takes time-even as we work with urgency for an end to the gross injustice of homelessness and poverty in America. As we look ahead to the coming year, the Law Center is planning to focus on key initiatives that move us towards that goal:

Together with our coalition of national advocates, we're working for strong, specific, action-focused Federal Plan to End Homelessness. This follows up on the HEARTH Act, which we worked to get passed last year, and which requires the Administration to present the Plan this May. We're also working with the White House to make ending homelessness a national priority.

We'll strive to prevent more people from losing their homes, building on our victory last year with the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, which protects renters in foreclosed properties from being summarily evicted for no fault of their own. Banks are still violating this law, and we are working to make lenders accountable and to educate renters about their rights. We're also working to ensuring that new federal homelessness prevention funding is effectively used to prevent people at risk of eviction from becoming homeless, and ensuring domestic violence survivors are not evicted from their homes because of the actions of their abusers.

We're planning a new focus on vacant properties that can be converted into resource and service sites for homeless people, expanding on long-standing work.

We will work to protect homeless children's right to an education. We see this as critical not only for the well-being of those children, but also for the stability of their families. And it is a critical part of prevention: When children are denied education, the chance they will become homeless adults increases.

We expect to be in court this year, defending the rights of these children and the basic rights of homeless people not to be punished because they must live in public places. As the numbers of homeless people skyrocket, unfortunately laws that criminalize their presence are increasing as well.

In all this work, we will bring an important human rights focus, with some unique opportunities. We will follow up on the official visit of the UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing, which we co-organized, and on the report she is expected to issue later this year. Also this year, the U.S. will be reviewed for its compliance with human rights obligations, and we will work with our partners to ensure that the voices of poor and homeless people are heard, and to use the process to further our advocacy here at home.

2010 is looking to be a busy year but, with your help, we will press on in the battle to end homelessness in America!

With your support, the Law Center enjoyed tremendous success in 2009, winning new protections and fighting to uphold existing ones for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. Here is a small sample of our victories:

- Congress passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which increased federal resources to prevent homelessness and to house those already homeless, and required that the federal government develop a plan to end homelessness.

- The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act was passed into law, providing tenants of foreclosed properties unprecedented federal protections, including the right to 90-days notice prior to eviction or, in many cases, the right to stay in their home until the end of their lease.

- The D.C. and Maryland legislatures added homeless people as a protected class to their hate crime statutes.

- The city of Puyallup, WA ceased its harsh enforcement of anti-camping laws, declaring a Homeless Awareness Day and considering legislation to establish tent cities on Church property.

- The Law Center advocated to ensure that homeless children are continuing to receive the support they need to maintain their rights to a stable education. For example, the Law Center's litigation is helping ensure that homeless children in a Pittsburgh suburb are not illegally denied school enrollment because of their homelessness, and educators nationwide are learning about important federal protections.

Amidst the foreclosure crisis, the Law Center has been working diligently to ensure the rights of renters living in properties that are foreclosed. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act was enacted last May, after advocacy by the Law Center and others. This law affords renters the right to remain in the property for at least 90 days, and the right, in some circumstances, to remain in the property until the end of the renter's lease. The law also extends these protections to tenants in Section 8 housing.

The Law Center is actively working to educate advocates, renters, members of the lending community, and others about the protections provided by the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. We have also been urging the federal bank regulatory agencies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD to take steps to help ensure widespread implementation of the law. Further information, including sample letters for use by renters and advocates in cases involving potential violations of the act, is available here.

Working together with the District of Columbia Public Schools' Homeless Children & Youth Program, the Law Center provided legal and practical information on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to more than 60 school-based homeless liaisons at a training in December.

The education provisions of the McKinney-Vento Act require schools to ensure homeless students receive equal access to school. The schools must provide transportation to a homeless student's school of origin if it is in the student's best interest to continue there despite being temporarily housed in a different district. Alternately, they are required to immediately enroll the student in a new school, even if they do not have the required documentation.

At the training, Law Center attorneys reviewed the basics of the McKinney-Vento law and then helped liaisons apply it through a series of guided scenarios. Liaisons also shared amongst themselves a wide variety of practical information, such as Web sites where students could receive free winter coats or other school supplies.

The Law Center will continue to work with DC Public Schools to improve homeless students' access to school in the coming year.

The Law Center thanks the Freddie Mac Foundation for support of its DC homeless education project.

NLCHP, together with a broad group of DC housing advocates, hosted the second meeting of the DC Right to Housing Campaign in December.

After the campaign's first meeting this summer, a steering committee drafted the group's Statement of Principles and worked to develop a multi-year plan of action designed to make the human right to housing a reality in the District of Columbia. The over 60 advocates in attendance approved the Statement of Principles and the plan of action and organized working groups on policy, outreach, and education in order to press forward in coming weeks and months to implement the plan. The campaign will both work on its own initiatives and provide support for its members' other efforts to win protections for the right to housing.

A current priority for campaign members is passage of DC Bill 18-104, the Tenants' Access to Justice Act. This bill, if passed, would allow tenants to affirmatively sue their landlord in landlord-tenant court to enforce housing code violations. Currently, when a landlord refuses to make necessary housing repairs, a tenant's best recourse is to withhold rent and hope to be sued for eviction. This is very risky and does not necessarily lead to repairs. Passage of this bill would be an important first step in ensuring habitability for residents, one of the key elements of the human right to housing.

For more information about the DC Right to Housing Campaign, contact Human Rights Program Director Eric Tars.

The Law Center thanks the Cafritz Foundation, the US Human Rights Fund, and the Butler Foundation for support of its DC human rights work.

Congress has completed its agricultural appropriations for FY 2010. There are several provisions within the bill for rural housing development. A synopsis of this information can be found here.

Tonya Bullock, her children, and her mother had nowhere to turn. When Ms. Bullock's mother lost her job, and the lease to the home they rented was not renewed, the family didn't have enough money to find a new place. In April 2006, they landed in a Baltimore County homeless shelter.

Ms. Bullock had taken steps to speak with her son's school about their impending entry into the shelter, but the Homeless Education Liaison did not return her calls. Likewise, her attempts to contact the school directly about accommodating her son's special needs went unanswered. The solutions the school offered would have further disrupted her son's life and were in violation of the law.

During her stay at the shelter, Ms. Bullock attended a presentation by attorneys from the Public Justice Center and learned about her son's rights under the McKinney-Vento Act. She and other homeless parents joined together in a lawsuit against the school system, assisted by the Law Center. In June 2008, the suit was settled, and Ms. Bullock's son received reliable transportation to his school.

Today, Ms. Bullock and her children enjoy stable housing. She has been employed by the State of Maryland for eight years and is currently furthering her knowledge of Computer Information Systems through a program at the University of Maryland.

In 2008, Ms. Bullock was honored by the Law Center with the Personal Achievement Award, which recognizes the accomplishments and service of a person who has experienced homelessness. She became involved with the Law Center because she feels an obligation to advocate for homeless citizens, and to encourage them as they strive toward better living. She has been an active Board Member since October 2009 and serves on the Strategic Planning Committee.

The Law Center is happy to have Ms. Bullock's energy and insights, and looks forward to working with her to effect positive change in the lives of homeless and poor persons.

Monta Touma is Vice President, Associate General Counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. In that capacity, she analyzes and advises on complex market transactions and insolvency-related issues, and is involved in strategic decision-making on policies with respect to credit risk mitigation. She also serves as a member of the Women's Leadership Subcommittee of Goldman Sachs' Legal & Internal Audit/Executive Office Division.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ms. Touma was a Senior Associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she worked on myriad issues related to bankruptcy & restructuring and capital markets in the firm's New York and London offices.

A 1999 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, she served as an Articles Editor and Editorial Board Member for the Virginia Journal of International Law. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Georgetown University, where she graduated cum laude in 1995.

The Law Center is pleased to welcome Ms. Touma to its Board, and is eager to apply her talents to the fight to end homelessness.

NLCHP is a 501(c)(3) organization. Contact us at (202) 638-2535 or email us at nlchp@nlchp.org

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