A Challenge to Candidates for Public Office to Pledge to End Homelessness
July 18, 2008

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, together with the National Coalition for the Homeless, the National AIDS Housing Coalition, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Center on Family Homelessness, and the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness, is launching a campaign to ask candidates for all levels of public office to endorse the Five Fundamentals to Prevent and End Homelessness. The groups have developed a toolkit for state and local advocates, service providers, and all interested persons to use to educate candidates for local, state, or national office about the types of policies needed to address homelessness. The Toolkit may be downloaded here. Please note that the toolkit or pledge should not be used to endorse any particular candidate or party, but rather to educate potential policy makers about the causes of and solutions to homelessness.

Back to School

September 29, 2008
In October 2007, Lawyers for Equal Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the law firm of Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing, with technical assistance from NLCHP, filed a class action lawsuit, Kaleuati v. Tonda, on behalf of all homeless children in Hawaii seeking to ensure access to education. Following class certification and a temporary injunction in February 2008, the state entered into serious settlement discussions, resulting in a settlement signed in August 2008.

Notable features of the settlement include:

• $185,000 in attorneys fees
• Dedicated personnel in each school district and at each school to help homeless parents and train all school personnel who have contact with youth on identifying homeless youth
• Requirement to inquire of all parents withdrawing or transferring children if the withdrawal is due to loss of permanent housing due to economic hardship
• Community outreach including annual advertising in mainstream newspapers and multi-lingual brochures
• Development of automatic prompting in computer programs to inquire as to homeless status
• A dedicated bus making stops at frequently used homeless congregation areas
• Compensatory education where the school fails to transport a homeless child
  NLCHP has included links to the court documents on its new wiki-website, officially launching later this month, as a resource to other lawyers seeking to protect the rights of homeless students. 

NLCHP has included links to the court documents in the Education Litigation Documents section of the wiki.

See additional coverage of the outcomes here.

October 06, 2008
On September 26, 2008 a federal district court judge found that an Orlando law restricting sharing food in public parks violated the rights of two groups who share food with homeless individuals.  The court ruled that Orlando law violated plaintiffs' rights to free speech and to exercise one's religious beliefs under the First Amendment.  Orlando Food Not Bombs and First Vagabonds Church, represented by the ACLU, challenged the ordinance.  NLCHP filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs.

The ordinance at issue required groups sharing food with 25 or more people in public parks to obtain permits and limited groups to only two such food sharing events per year.  Penalties for violating the ordinance included a fine of up to $500 and/or imprisonment up to 60 days.  Earlier this year, a Food Not Bombs member was arrested for violating the ordinance, but ultimately was acquitted.

"This decision is a victory for food providers and homeless persons alike," said Tulin Ozdeger, NLCHP Civil Rights Director.  "Hopefully, cities will reconsider restricting food providers and try to find a better approach to homelessness than just punishing those trying to help."

Genesee County (Flint, MI) Sheriff Follows Dart's Lead

On October 21, 2008, USA Today reported that increasing homelessness is partly caused by the foreclosure crisis.

An October 28, 2008, article in the Mercury News of the Silicon Valley quotes Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover as saying, "We're finding our homeless population is changing because of what is happening in foreclosures...."

AP reported on October 29, 2008, that a federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their addresses.

On October 27, 2008, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the Georgia Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a provision of Georgia's sex-offender registry law, one of the toughest in the nation, that made it a crime if a sex offender were homeless and could not register a specific street or route address at the local sheriff's office.

On October 28, 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Contra Costa Supervisor Federal Glover who said that, "We have a lot of people that have done well for years that are now finding themselves homeless because they've been foreclosed on."