|
Dear Supporters and Endorsers of the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign,
Thank you so much for your continued support. We appreciate your partnership while we advocate on behalf of people experiencing homelessness.
We are invigorated and inspired by the legislative and legal victories achieved over the past few months on behalf of people experiencing homelessness, many of which are detailed in the updates below. At the same time, however, we must continue to shine light on and problematize the harmful trends we are seeing in think tanks, state legislatures, and governors' offices around the country. As is recapped in this newsletter, two harmful bills were recently introduced in Georgia and Arizona to divert American Rescue Plan funding away from housing programs and toward legalized encampments, while also requiring the relevant jurisdictions to enforce anti-camping bans and, in Georgia's case, allowing for the involuntary psychiatric commitment of unhoused indiviudals experiencing addiction or mental illness. Both bills originated from model legislation promoted by the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank based in Texas that vocally prioritizes short-term solutions to homelessness in lieu of permanent housing, and identifies personal failure and individual choice as causes of homelessness, rather than acknowledging the ways in which structural racism, classism, ableism, and systemic policy choices create and prolong homelessness.
The Law Center is among many advocates and activists who are concerned about the ethos promulgated by the Cicero Institute and the swift nature in which these viewpoints on homelessness are being adopted by governmental leaders and officials. Not only do these ideas and legislative proposals thwart progress in the fight to end homelessness and the criminalization thereof, but they also endorse and fuel a politics of violence toward and against our unhoused neighbors.
In early March, unhoused individuals in D.C. and New York City were targeted by what law enforcement identified as a potential serial killer. This kind of violence cannot be disentangled from the harmful rhetoric and policies that criminalize homelessness, thereby marking communities experiencing homelessness as undeserving as the same rights to health, safety, and dignity as the broader public. Policies like the one advanced by the Cicero Institute dehumanize and demonize people experiencing homelessness, making it easier for those in power to ignore the root causes of homelessness, institute policies that displace and criminalize people experiencing homelessness, and even coerce and force unhoused individuals into care against their wills, as we have seen in California.
The goal of the Housing Not Handcuffs campaign is to decriminalize homelessness, but that has to start with challenging the discourse on homelessness and its causes, and ending the propagation of rhetoric and politics that blame unhoused people for the circumstances under which they have found themselves. Our goal of ending the criminalization of homelessness cannot be achieved until we hold our leaders and elected officials accountable for the harmful myths they espouse about our unhoused neighbors, and until we interrogate the collective assumptions we have formed about homelessness.
As many of you, our supporters, are well aware, homelessness is caused by structural racism, classism, and ableism -- the remnants of a centuries-long history of enslavement, segregation, and discrimination that have been baked into housing, employment, welfare, healthcare, and education policies passed and enforced at all levels of government. These legacies will not be undone by blame games, increased law enforcement presence, coercion into care, or the deployment of the criminal legal infrastructure. Now, more than ever, our cause demands broad-scale coalition-building led by folks with lived experience; and coordinated efforts in the courts, in state legislatures and city councils, and on the ground to push for policies and practices that center dignity, autonomy, and housing over handcuffs.
|
|
|
|
Follow on social media
#HNH  
|
|
|
|
IN THIS ISSUE
Legislative Updates
|
| Litigation Updates |
| Federal Policy Updates |
|
|
| Announcements |
|
|
|
|
Legislative Updates
President Biden Signs Spending Bill for FY22 with Increased Funding for Housing Programs
On March 8, President Biden signed into law the FY22 Spending Bill, which includes $53.7 billion in funding to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This represents a $4 billion increase above FY21 funding levels for HUD programs, and will allow for renewal of all existing Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Rental Assistance Vouchers. The bill also provides $200 million to expand rental assistance to an additional 25,000 households, including individuals and families at risk of experiencing or currently experiencing homelessness. Read the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s full analysis of the FY22 Spending Bill here.
Rep. Ilhan Omar Reintroduces Homes for All Act
On March 24, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) reintroduced the Homes for All Act, which would authorize construction of 12 million new public housing and private, permanently affordable rental units. The Act would also repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which prevents the federal government from investing in new public housing. Additionally, the Act seeks to create a Community Control and Anti-Displacement Fund within HUD to intervene for the purpose of protecting families from gentrification and displacement.
The Law Center worked with Rep. Omar's office on the bill and is an endorser.
Violence Against Women Act Reauthorized with Key Housing Provisions
In February, Congress reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as part of the FY22 spending bill. The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 will expand prevention efforts and protections for survivors of domestic violence by broadening and clarifying the legal definitions of domestic violence, providing guidance to legal providers working in domestic violence, and increasing access to resources in historically marginalized communities of survivors. Additionally, the Reauthorization increases survivors’ access to safe housing by enhancing implementation of VAWA’s original housing protections. The Reauthorization also amends the definition of homelessness under the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act programs. The amended definition is designed to better reflect the experiences of survivors of domestic violence experiencing homelessness. Read more of the National Task Force to End Sexual & Domestic Violence’s highlights from the VAWA Reauthorization Act here.
White House Announces State Model Legislation to Deflect People with Mental Illness and Addiction to Care
On March 3, 2022, the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released model legislation titled “Model Law Enforcement and Other First Responders Deflection Act.” The model legislation is intended to be a resource for states seeking to develop programs that “deflect” people experiencing mental health or other crises away from punitive interactions with law enforcement and other first responders by increasing public safety and public health partnerships. The White House stated that, “these approaches save lives and reduce the burden on first responders. This state model law would expand access to these programs across the country.” The announcement includes a link to a new report detailing how deflection programs “reduce stigma, provide better services for people with substance use disorder, mental health disorder, or co-occurring disorders, and save lives.”
While steering people away from the criminal legal system is in line with the goals of the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign, the model legislation relies heavily on law enforcement involvement, which may negate efforts to decriminalize mental health, particularly among unhoused individuals and communities that disproportionately experience mental health concerns and that are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement. The legislation is also potentially concerning amid campaigns across the country to allow for the involuntary psychiatric commitment of unhoused people with mental illnesses or facing similar crises. These types of measures only increase law enforcement contact with people experiencing homelessness, and do little to address the underlying causes of homelessness or the structural conditions that prevent unhoused communities from accessing health care and from self-determining their lives and futures. Read more from the White House and linked resources here.
FAFSA Simplification Act will go into effect for 2023-2024 Award Year
The FAFSA Simplification Act (enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and updated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022) will be reflected on FAFSA applications beginning October 1, 2022 so that changes reflected in the Act will be effective for the 2023-2024 financial aid award year. The Act was created to address burdens faced by unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness and youth in foster care attempting to obtain federal financial assistance for higher education. The Act will make it so that homeless and foster care status do not need to be redetermined every year and expands the eligibility and documentation requirements for foster youth and unhoused youth applying for financial aid. Read SchoolHouse Connection’s analysis of the Act here.
Conservative Texas Think Tank Cicero Institute Crafts Harmful Model Legislation to Divert American Rescue Plan Funds Away from Housing and Criminalize Homelessness; Georgia and Arizona State Legislatures Attempt to Pass State Versions
Recently, state legislators in Georgia introduced a harmful bill that would have redirected millions from funds under the American Rescue Plan that HUD intended for additional permanent housing units toward expanding legal encampments. The proposed Georgia legislation would have steered people experiencing homelessness into legal encampments, while also putting into place a statewide ban on camping and requiring communities to enforce the measure or risk losing all state housing funds. The legislation also included provisions that would have made it easier to involuntarily commit unhoused people into psychiatric care by placing them under legal conservatorships.
The bill was adapted from a piece of model legislation promoted by the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank out of Texas. A version of the model legislation is also moving through the state legislature in Arizona, where the proposed Senate Bill 1581 would also redirect $50 million in federal ARP funds to build encampments in the state, and would then institute and enforce camping bans in areas that choose to build encampments. Read more about the progress in Arizona here.
Gov. Newsom Proposes “CARE Court” Program in California to Allow for Involuntary and Coerced Treatment of People Experiencing Mental Illness, Addiction
Earlier this month, Governor Newsom proposed a policy framework for court-ordered treatment of unhoused individuals with severe mental illnesses and addiction disorders. The Newsom administration claims that the purpose of the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment program (CARE) Court program is to deliver mental health and substance disorder services to the most severely impaired Californians. However, Disability Rights California points out that “coerced treatment is not care, and a treatment plan issued under court order typically is not voluntary for the individual receiving treatment.” Furthermore, a significant number of the most at-risk individuals targeted by the proposed court program are from low-resource communities that were not consulted in the process of developing these policies.
Unfortunately, the California policy framework is only the latest in a string of attempts across the country to make it easier to involuntarily commit unhoused people and others experiencing addiction or mental illness into psychiatric care. Such measures defy the principles of autonomy, dignity, and self-determination that underlie the human right to housing and that serve as cornerstones of the Housing Not Handcuffs campaign.
The CARE Court proposal is currently being refined at the legislative stage. With such a short turn-around for the Health/Public Safety and Judiciary hearings, The Law Center urges advocates to join Disability Rights California and other allies in efforts to re-center the conversation around impacted individuals.
View the Disability Rights California’s (DRC) statement and town hall discussion on Governor Newsom's policy framework for CARE courts.
Right to Counsel for Tenants Facing Eviction Legislation Moves through New York State and St. Petersburg, Fla.
New York’s Statewide Right to Counsel legislation is moving through the state legislature as statewide eviction filings and judgments continue to climb. The advocacy in favor of the right to counsel for tenants facing eviction comes after New York City historically passed right to counsel legislation in 2021. As a result of NYC’s right to counsel, 85% of tenants accessing legal assistance through the city’s program were able to avoid eviction and keep their housing.
In March, St. Petersburg, Florida City Council member Richie Floyd introduced legislation that would guarantee a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction. The legislation, which is currently being considered by the City Council’s Youth and Family Services Committee, came after proposals to introduce rent control were rejected.
Litigation Updates
Langley v. San Luis Obispo Survives Motion to Dismiss
In September of 2021, California Rural Legal Assistance and the Public Interest Law Project brought suit on behalf of a group of unhoused San Luis Obispo residents against the City of San Luis Obispo in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The Complaint alleged that the City “has failed to ensure that there is available and adequate shelter for unhoused people before enforcing City ordinances that purport to regulate conduct, but which have been employed to criminalize being homelessness…” Specifically, the Complaint cited the City’s policies and practices of citing, fining, arresting, and threatening unsheltered individuals in public parks and open spaces in the city. The Complaint made Eighth Amendment and Fourth Amendment arguments, as well as arguments based on the California State Constitution.
In February, The Central District of California released an opinion denying the City’s motion to dismiss the Complaint. The court found that the organizational Plaintiff, Hope’s Village, did have standing to challenge the city’s policies because it sufficiently alleged that “the City’s criminalization of homeless people and efforts to remove them and their property from public space in the absence of adequate available shelter ‘frustrate [ ] [its] mission to build a sustainable community for unhoused persons.’” Moreover, the court found that the Plaintiffs sufficiently alleged an Eighth Amendment violation by showing that San Luis Obispo’s policies of criminalizing homelessness “effectively makes it a crime for homeless people to do what any human being is ‘biologically compelled’ to do – rest.” Citing Martin v. Boise, 920 F.3d 584, 617 (9th Cir. 2019). The court further stated that the Plaintiffs adequately raised an Eighth Amendment argument based on the excessive fines clause because “the conduct for which they face punishment is inseparable from their status as homeless individuals, and therefore, beyond what the City may constitutionally punish.”
The Court also found that Plaintiffs validly stated a claim under the Fourth Amendment based on the City’s seizure of property, and a state-created danger claim based on the city’s sweeps that “force homeless people to live exposed to the elements, without protection from cold, wind, and rain, jeopardizing their physical and mental health.” Lastly, the court found that Plaintiffs sufficiently alleged Americans with Disabilities claims based on the city’s practices and policies that discriminate against people with mental and physical disabilities “because such people are likely to suffer aggravated effects from the City’s sweeps and property seizures, and because the City fails to provide reasonable accommodations based on disabilities.”
Philadelphia Property Owner Brings Suit Against Councilmember to Sell Affordable Housing Development
A property owner in Philadelphia brought suit early this month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, asserting that his constitutionally protected right to sell the affordable housing complex he owns was abridged by recently-passed legislation to preserve the building. University City Townhomes, a 70 unit affordable housing site in Philadelphia, was put up for sale after the property owner declined to renew its affordable housing contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In response to protests by University City Townhomes residents and affordable housing advocates in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Council passed legislation in early March to amend the city’s zoning maps in order to preserve the building by establishing a temporary demolition moratorium. Among other constitutional claims, the Complaint, filed on March 14, alleges that the legislation violates the property owner’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the Takings Clause.
Sweeps Case in Hawai’i State Court Survives Motion to Dismiss
Back in September, the County of Maui conducted a sweep of public lands where unhoused residents were living. The ACLU of Hawai'i brought suit against the County in state court on behalf of individuals who lost personal property during the sweep, alleging violations of the individuals’ due process rights under the state and federal constitutions as well as violations of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures and the state constitutional equivalent. Earlier this month, the circuit court of the second circuit for the State of Hawai’i released an opinion finding that constitutional due process did require a contested case hearing before the County conducted the sweep, and therefore denied the Defendants’ motion to dismiss the case as to the named plaintiffs who were deprived of their personal property during the sweep.
Federal Policy Updates
|
|
FEMA Extends COVID-19 Response Cost Reimbursement for Non-Congregate Shelter Through July 1, 2022
On March 1, President Biden announced that FEMA will continue to financially support COVID-19 response work, including provision of non-congregate shelter for people experiencing homelessness, through July 1, 2022. President Biden had previously approved FEMA to provide cost-sharing on COVID-19 responses through April 1, 2022. Advocates should continue to encourage local and state leaders to take advantage of this funding, particularly if governmental entities are attempting to initiate encampment sweeps and/or pushing people experiencing homelessness into congregate shelter settings.
Department of Education Approves all States’ Plans Under American Rescue Plan- Homeless Children and Youth Fund
The American Rescue Plan included $800 million for the Homeless Children and Youth Fund, which was earmarked to identify students experiencing homelessness to connect them with supports and services that allow them to fully participate in school and school activities. As of March 1, the Department of Education had approved plans from all states. Some states were particularly innovative in their approaches, including Tennessee which will develop a McKinney-Vento data dashboard to visualize all data on students experiencing homelessness in one location. Additionally, New Mexico will create a statewide pilot project to improve identification services for children and youth experiencing homelessness, and Oregon will use a portion of its funding to reengage students who have recently lost their access to housing as a result of the 2020 wildfires.
HUD Releases Annual Homelessness Assessment Report
In February, HUD released its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, which provides estimates of homelessness, demographic breakdowns, and service use patterns. Among other key findings, the Report found that on a single night in 2021, 326,000 people experienced sheltered homelessness. Of those, 60% were individuals and 40% were people in families with children. Additionally, the share of emergency shelter beds for people experiencing sheltered homelessness located in non-congregate settings increased by 134% between 2020 and 2021. While the information contained in this Report is some of the only national data available on the state of homelessness, it should be noted that all of the information encompassed in the Report is based on the Point-in-Time (PIT) count, which is unlikely to offer a comprehensive analysis of the full scope of homelessness in the nation. Additionally, citing COVID-19 barriers, 40% of communities did not conduct full counts of unsheltered homelessness in 2021.
HUD Investigation Finds that Texas General Land Office Discriminated Against People of Color in Dissemination of Disaster Relief Funding
In early March, HUD announced its findings from an investigation initiated in June 2021 into the Texas General Land Office’s design and operation of its disaster relief program following Hurricane Harvey. After allocating funds to Texas, HUD required that at least 50% of the total funds be used to benefit the most impacted and distressed areas. The HUD investigation found that the method the Texas General Land Office used to designate the most impacted and distressed areas diverted funds from projects that would have assisted residents with the greatest needs, disproportionately disadvantaging residents of color.
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Welcomes New Executive Director
In February, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) welcomed Jeff Olivet as its new Executive Director. Olivet will replace interim Executive Director Anthony Love, who will return to his role as Senior Advisor and Director of Community Engagement for the Veterans Health Administration’s Homeless Programs. With more than 25 years of experience working on housing and homelessness, Olivet plans to use his tenure at USICH to reframe homelessness as a public health crisis, amplify voices of those with lived experiences of homelessness, eliminate racial disparities in homelessness and related services, and scale housing and supportive services.
|
|
|
|
Criminalization of Homelessness Case Summaries 2022 Report and Webinar Available Online
On March 10, The Law Center released its Litigation Manual Supplement, which includes summaries for more than 280 cases litigating the criminalization of homelessness. Among other findings, the Supplement concluded based on an analysis of the cases summarized that litigators have obtained favorable results in 60% of cases challenging panhandling bans, 60% of cases challenging camping bans and encampment sweeps, 77% of cases challenging loitering and vagrancy bans, and 66% of cases challenging food sharing bans. A Webinar featuring litigators who successfully challenged camping bans is available here.
Law Center, True Colors United Release State Index on Youth Homelessness 2021
On March 16, the Law Center and True Colors United released the 2021 State Index on Youth Homelessness. Authored by Brandy Ryan and Gabriela Sevilla of the Law Center and Aleya Jones and Dylan Waguespack of True Colors United, the State Index reviews states’ efforts to end youth homelessness by scoring how each state works to prevent and end youth homelessness through its laws and policies, systems, and environment. See where your state ranks and how you can leverage the 2021 State Index to enact change in your community.
United Nations Special Rapporteur Releases Report on Spatial Segregation
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing released an advisory report finding that spatial segregation is “a major obstacle to enjoying the right to adequate housing” and, in particular, problematizes the global “proliferation of informal settlements in the peripheries of cities, where low income and racial, casteist, ethnic, migrant, internally displaced, refugee and other minority populations are often concentrated.” The report notes that forced eviction and displacement due to gentrification and social policies exacerbate spatial segregation and prevent displaced individuals and communities from accessing adequate housing and other fundamental human rights.
NLIHC Hosts 2022 Virtual Housing Policy Forum
On March 22 and 23, the National Low Income Housing Coalition hosted its annual Policy Forum on achieving housing justice. The two-day forum featured discussions on racial equity in housing and current efforts to expand affordable housing and strengthen renter protections in federal legislation. Speakers included Representative Cori Brush (D-MO), Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY), HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA). View the full forum schedule here.
NLIHC Releases Advocates’ Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy
Stay Up to Date!
HNH Campaign / Organizational Resources
This one pager provides an overview of the HNH Campaign and outlines concrete ways for people to get involved. It also includes a fact sheet on the criminalization of homelessness. This tool is useful to share with people who are already familiar with homelessness issues and are looking for more information about the HNH Campaign. Additional resources can be found here.
Resources, news, and initiatives by the Law Center regarding Coronavirus can be found at our Coronavirus hub.
Campaign Branding
We encourage campaign endorsers to link relevant events to the national Housing Not Handcuffs campaign. Please see the guidelines for branding your materials here.
|
| |
|
|
This newsletter was designed, drafted, and distributed by the
National Homelessness Law Center
on behalf of the Housing Not Handcuffs Campaign
|
|
|
| |
; |
|
| |
| |
|
