Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of being at a lunch hosted in honor of NLCHP by Francoise Mallias, the wife of the Ambassador to Greece, at their residence. It was a wonderful event, but what stood out most to me were Mrs. Mallias' eloquent remarks at the start of the lunch. She spoke about how she and her family first arrived in the US some 20 years ago, and she was at a loss to explain to her children why people were sleeping in the streets.

America's standing in the world is indeed compromised by our country's failure to address the most basic survival needs of its people. It doesn't have to be. At various points in our history we've come close to endorsing the right to housing-during the era of FDR and the New Deal, with US leadership in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 ("an adequate standard of living...including the right to housing" for all), with the aspirations stated in the Housing Act of 1949 (a decent home for every American), and in the 1960s and 70s with the Supreme Court's recognition that distinctions based on poverty have no place in our democracy and, indeed, compromise it.

As advocates, we're working to lay out a bold agenda to end and prevent homelessness. We know it's possible. Ending the most desperate form of poverty-homelessness-is surely something a country as rich as ours can do.

If you haven't already, please endorse the Five Fundamentals to end and prevent homelessness drafted and endorsed by national advocates working together to end homelessness.

To read the full statement, click here.

To endorse it, click here.

Maria Foscarinis
Executive Director

After a three-week tour of the U.S. with a number of stops with housing and homelessness advocates coordinated by NLCHP, U.N. Special Rapporteur, Mr. Doudou Diène stated that he had witnessed the resegregation of America. He commented that he could visibly see two maps of the U.S.: "The map of social and economic marginalization is tightly coinciding with the ethnic map. The communities most marginalized socially, economically and politically are the historically discriminated minorities." He concluded that this disturbing trend calls for immediate rectification.

One of Mr. Diène's recommendations was to revisit current legislation: "A great emphasis should be put in revisiting the legislation...on the linkage between racism and poverty. As long as those marginalized economically and socially are minorities, domestic policies remain inadequate."

NLCHP partners from St. Stephen's Human Services in Minneapolis attended public hearings with the Special Rapporteur in Chicago where they shared information about an ordinance criminalizing "lurking," which affects African American and Native American homeless persons at almost 10 times the rate of white persons. The Minneapolis City Council is currently considering a repeal of the bill due to this discriminatory impact, and the Special Rapporteur hopes to be able to cite the effort as a positive example of how communities should address race in America.

Mr. Diène's comments came at the end of his three-week tour of the United States, stopping in Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Omaha and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

His final stop was in Washington, D.C. where NLCHP helped organize a public hearing with other local advocacy organizations at the Thurgood Marshall Charter School in Anacostia. Nearly 100 victims of racial discrimination attended and voiced their experiences, concerns and recommendations for solutions.

Mr. Diène will share a draft of his report with NLCHP, other organizations and the government over the summer, and issue his final report to the Human Rights Council in the fall.

For video footage of the Special Rapporteur and some victims testimonies visit: http://youtube.com/NLCHP

On June 6, a $2.35 million dollar class-action settlement was reached between a class of hundreds of homeless Fresno residents and the City of Fresno and the California Department of Transportation. The court had previously determined that Fresno's practice of immediately seizing and destroying the personal possessions of homeless residents violates their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Funds from the multi-million dollar settlement will go to individual plaintiffs whose belongings were destroyed in the illegal sweeps, as well as into an account to provide housing and medical care to the approximately 225 class members.

The case was filed in October 2006 by American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) and the law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP.on behalf of homeless people whose personal property, including essential medications, family photographs and vital documents had been confiscated by police and City workers. The court issued a temporary restraining order against the City of Fresno in October; in December 2006, the court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the City from continuing to seize and destroy the property of homeless people.

NLCHP filed an affidavit in the Fresno case, providing examples of other cities' protocols that ensure homeless persons' rights are properly respected and that connect homeless persons with outreach workers and services.

During oral argument on April 25, 2008, Judge Wanger declared that "the practice of announce, strike, seize [and] destroy immediately is against the law." NLCHP applauds Judge Wanger's decision.

In April, NLCHP's Income & Benefits Program began a project to determine the barriers to participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). CACFP is a federal nutrition program that subsidizes the cost of providing meals to low-income children in day care centers and those living in homeless and domestic violence shelters. However, the program is underutilized. In 2007, a total of 388 shelters through out the country participated in the program. During the same time period there were six states that had no shelters participating and ten states that had only one shelter participating in the program.

In order to identify barriers to participation in the program, NCLHP is conducting a national survey of emergency, transitional and domestic violence shelters that serve children. In our study thus far, we have identified that domestic violence shelters are particularly underutilizing this valuable program.

Access to food is essential to the success of homeless children. Poor nutrition due to lack of access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate food is common among homeless children and families and can lead to long-term, negative health outcomes such as growth deficiencies, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Federal nutrition programs such as CACFP can provide a critical resource for shelters and housing programs that are trying to help homeless families provide nutritious meals to their children.

If you are a service provider and would like to contribute to the survey, please go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=L4OqTHevVHoMTqg9v_2fXwfA_3d_3d All survey responses will be kept confidential. The deadline for completing the survey is July 7, 2008.

In addition, NLCHP will be conducting a free webinar entitled "Accessing Federal Nutrition Programs to Assist Children in Shelter". During this session we will discuss our research findings on the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Experts from the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service and the Food Research and Action Center will provide information on how domestic violence and emergency shelters can better access this vital safety net program. You can register for the webinar here.

If you have any questions about the survey or would like more information about the CAFCP, please contact Isha Plynton by email or phone (202-638-2535).

Last week, Congress passed the Farm Bill, which reauthorizes the food stamp program and several other key nutrition assistance programs. President Bush vetoed the bill but Congress overrode the veto.

Last week, the Senate began consideration of H.R. 3221. Among other provisions, the bill would authorize an Affordable Housing Fund to create housing for low-income persons. Advocates have been pushing hard for the creation of the Fund as a first step towards the creation of the National Housing Trust Fund.

In the House, Appropriations subcommittees began consideration of federal funding bills for the 2009 Fiscal Year, including funding for health, education, and labor programs. While the bills will include increases for several McKinney-Vento programs, the outlook for those increases is uncertain, as Appropriators are unlikely to send most bills to the President this year.

As he did in last year's funding cycle, President Bush again has threatened to veto appropriations bills that provide more funding for agencies than he requested or that cut funding of the President's priorities. As a result, Congressional appropriators have announced they do not intend to send most appropriations bills - with the possible exceptions of appropriations for the Department of Defense and the Departments of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs - to the President for consideration. Congressional Appropriations Committees will vote on the appropriations bills, but will not try to pass the bills out of the House and Senate to send to the President.

Instead, Congress is expected to pass a Continuing Resolution that will fund federal programs at their Fiscal Year 2008 levels. The Continuing Resolution will likely last through December and possibly extend to April 2009. Once a new President has been elected, Congress will work to try to pass final appropriations for Fiscal Year 2009, possibly in the form of an omnibus appropriations bill. Appropriators are expected to use the bills being passed out of Committee this month as the basis for the final legislation, so NLCHP is pressing now for increases in homeless assistance and other social safety net programs.

Earlier this month, the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee passed its Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations bill and included $200 million for the McKinney-Vento Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFS) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That amount is approximately $50 million more than the Fiscal Year 2008 level. The EFS Program provides funding for emergency food assistance and emergency shelter, as well as eviction prevention.

Last week, the Appropriations Subcommittee took up the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill. The bill would provide over $7 billion more in funding than FY08 levels. Community health centers would receive an increase of $100 million.

For more information, contact Laurel Weir at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

NLCHP is proud to announce that Blank Rome, LLP joined LEAP in June 2008. Pro bono service is encouraged and supported across the firm, through training and mentoring and a culture that recognizes the importance of ensuring that everyone has equal access to legal representation. Blank Rome has an active pro bono committee and has adopted a formal pro bono policy that encourages each of its lawyers and paralegals to undertake at least 60 hours of pro bono service every year.

The firm's pro bono work includes staffing legal clinics at a drop-in center for homeless veterans, representing clients seeking political asylum, and creating awareness of the importance of protecting the privacy rights of child victims of sexual abuse.

NLCHP looks forward to building a relationship with Blank Rome, LLP.

NLCHP Executive Director, Maria Foscarinis, is pleased to be taking on the role of Vice-Chair of the US Human Rights Network Board of Directors. Maria has served on the Board since 2004. The USHRN builds organizational capacity and skills at the grassroots level to help advocates utilize human rights framework and build a human rights movement in the US. Presently, the Network is governed by a Board of Directors composed of leading human rights organizers, lawyers, policy analysts, educators, researchers and scholars. The leadership also includes individuals directly affected by human rights violations. The Board of Directors meets regularly to identify the ongoing needs and functions of the network and its members.

Over the next year, NLCHP will be hosting a series of audio trainings on all of our programs, leading up to a National Conference in early 2009.

In July:

Voting Rights This audio training will cover some of the common barriers to voting for people experiencing homelessness and ways to overcome those barriers. We will also discuss ways service providers and advocates can foster greater voter registration and participation. NLCHP and NCH will be co-presenting. July 8, 2008 2:00-3:00 EST

Accessing Federal Nutrition Programs to Assist Children in Shelter During this session we will discuss our research findings on the Child and Adult Care Food Program. We will also provide information on how domestic violence and emergency shelters can better access this vital safety net program. July 31, 2008 2:00-3:00 EST

Register for upcoming trainings here - Stay tuned for a full schedule and details!

NLCHP has launched a survey to gather data from those who provide direct service to victims of domestic violence. The goal of this survey is to acquire data on cases in which victims of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking are being denied or evicted from Public or Section 8 housing. As this information is not available from the government or other organizations, this survey will be an important tool in aiding the work of NLCHP. NLCHP encourages all service providers who have clients who are domestic violence victims to take the survey. Please email survey@nlchp.org to get information about accessing the survey.

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