Renters' Rights are Human Rights

This month, the Law Center released a new report on the status of renters in foreclosed properties. In a 50-state survey, we review the flurry of state activity since enactment of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act last year, the ground breaking new law for which we and others advocated. We also review important steps by federal regulators to make sure that lenders-and their agents--actually comply with the law.

This is no small task and, to date, compliance is uneven at best. The Law Center and our partners are collecting data documenting noncompliance -- tenants being pushed out of their homes by lenders or their agents as a result of foreclosure actions taken against the owner -- with blatant disregard for their rights. We are using these stories to further our advocacy to enforce the law and, hopefully, to extend it. We hope to launch a larger violations database project in the coming months.

This work may sound technical, but it is critically important to the tenants who might otherwise have become homeless. It is part of our campaign to further the human right to housing here in the U.S. The impact of the foreclosure crisis on low-income people is one of the issues we are raising with the United Nations, which is conducting a review of U.S. compliance with human rights treaties. This is part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process in which the UN reviews a wide spectrum of human rights issues. As you'll read below, housing is the number one issue being raised.

Thanks to our many partners for raising the profile of these crucial issues-and for moving the work forward for housing rights here at home.

The long-anticipated Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness will be released Tuesday, June 22.

According to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, who has been responsible for the plan's creation, the plan will be officially revealed at the White House at 9:00 a.m. EDT. You can watch the announcement live online at www.whitehouse.gov/live.

In February 2009, the Law Center partnered with the National Low Income Housing Coalition to release Without Just Cause: A 50-State Review of the (Lack of) Rights of Tenants in Foreclosure. This report highlighted the various ways in which tenants' rights were being violated across the country. Many were being forced out of their homes with little or no notice because, through no fault of their own, their homes were in foreclosure.

Thanks in part to Without Just Cause , President Obama passed the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) in May 2009. The PTFA mandated that renters must be notified at least 90 days prior to eviction. In some cases, tenants have the right to remain in their homes for the entire length of their lease.

Additionally, since the release of the report, states are stepping up to better protect tenants' rights. 16 states have enacted new renters' rights laws, and 21 states have proposed legislation pending. Seeing this kind of policy change on the state level is encouraging, as the PTFA will expire in 2012 unless it is renewed. However, despite the protections, violations of renters' rights continue to occur.

Last week the Law Center released an update to Without Just Cause entitled Staying Home: The Rights of Renters Living in Foreclosed Properties. Staying Home assesses implementation and compliance issues with the PTFA to date. The report offers a state-by-state review of renters' rights laws passed since the release of Without Just Cause. Federal and state regulators must work harder to curb these trends, exercising their oversight of banks and, when appropriate, litigating to ensure compliance with the law.

To read the full report, click here.

In 2009, Congress passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH Act). HEARTH completely re-wrote the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) portion of the McKinney-Vento Act - the federal law that addresses homeless assistance programs at HUD and other federal agencies.

One contentious issue during the legislative debate over HEARTH was the HUD definition of homelessness. The Law Center and others proposed that HUD's definition of homelessness be aligned with the more realistic definition currently being used by the U.S. Department of Education. Making this change would have meant broadening the HUD definition to include most people who have lost their housing involuntarily and are temporarily living doubled up or in motels.

Congress did not go quite this far, but enacted language that expands the HUD definition of homelessness in modest but important ways.

On Monday, June 21, the Law Center will submit comments to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on the agency's draft proposal for implementing HUD's newly expanded definition, which will be used to determine eligibility for HUD's homeless assistance programs - including emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and supportive services. The Law Center's comments will focus not on the merits of the legislative changes, but on HUD's proposed regulation for implementing the new law.

Many of the definition provisions are complex, and Congress left many terms undefined. HUD must simplify legislative language and define a series of nebulous terms, so that advocates, policymakers, and service providers can clearly understand who is eligible for HUD homeless assistance and who is not. Unfortunately, the proposed regulation seems to move in the opposite direction, imposing limitations not found in the statute and defining terms narrowly.

The following are some specific concerns that will be raised in the Law Center's comments: · The regulation would impose burdensome verification requirements not required by the law. · The regulation would make homeless children, youth, and families stay without housing for too long before being deemed eligible for homeless assistance. · The regulation does not adequately address the needs of homeless youth living on their own. · The regulation does not adequately protect victims of domestic violence or their families and people living in conditions that endanger their life or safety.

A copy of the Law Center's comments will be posted on its website and available in the next issue of In Just Times. For additional information, contact Policy Director Jeremy Rosen.

As reported in previous issues of In Just Times, over the past few months, the U.S. government has been holding consultations all across the country to prepare for their participation in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at the UN Human Rights Council. The Law Center has been coordinating housing groups all across the country to participate in these consultations, ensuring both grassroots and technical expert voices on housing issues have been heard.

On May 26, at a training on the UPR process in Washington, DC, David Sullivan, Attorney-Adviser at the U.S. State Department, was asked what human rights issue he thought was most urgent based on the consultations held to date. His answer:

"Housing. We have heard more about housing than you would believe in these sessions. If I had to pick the number one issue brought to the U.S. it would be housing."

This is a huge credit to all the organizing the Law Center and the local organizers at each of these consultations has been doing. In a review that covers every human rights issue, over a time period that includes human rights violations covering Guantanamo, racial profiling, immigration, Prop 8, and a economic crisis not seen since the Depression, the number one human rights issue the government is hearing about is housing.

NLCHP will continue to press for attention to housing issues throughout the process, culminating in the review of the U.S. on November 5 by the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Click here for more information on the process.

Last month, Florida became the fourth jurisdiction in the United States to add homeless people as a protected class to its hate crimes statute. In prior years, Maine, Maryland, and the District of Columbia have all added homeless people as a protected class to their hate crimes statutes. Each of these statutes imposes enhanced penalties upon perpetrators who attack a person because he or she is homeless. Other states, such as Rhode Island and Ohio are considering similar measures, while California is considering a bill that would allow homeless victims to sue their attackers for additional damages.

This growing effort to provide protection for homeless individuals has been spurred by the increasing number of attacks against them over the past decade. In its 2008 hate crimes report, the National Coalition for the Homeless documented 106 attacks against homeless people, 27 of which resulted in death. The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty has worked closely with the National Coalition for the Homeless on the state and federal level to bring attention to the issue and provide protection for homeless people.

The attacks that have been documented have been truly horrendous, including homeless people being set on fire. The steps that states are taking to include homeless people as a protected class are critical because they serve as countermeasures to the constant assaults on homeless people. When state legislators pass these laws they are sending a message to the public that homeless people are not second class citizens, and attacks against them will not be tolerated. The Law Center continues to advocate for both an increase in hate crimes protections and an increase in constructive alternatives to laws that criminalize homelessness.

The Law Center will host its annual LEAP Reception on July 6, 2010, from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin LLP.

A panel of law firm partners will discuss the value of pro bono work from 4:30 to 5:30. A reception featuring a brief keynote address by incoming DC Bar President Ronald S. Flagg will follow from 5:30 to 7:00.

The event will offer an opportunity for all legal professionals to become more acquainted with the Law Center's mission and the pro bono work needed to end homelessness through the power of the law. Lawyers from LEAP partner firms and firm summer associates are especially encouraged to attend and learn more about the Law Center's recent work. LEAP member firms will also be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the Law Center and its mission.

Lawyers' Executive Advisory Partners (LEAP) is a national philanthropic effort of the legal community to help homeless and poor Americans achieve self-sufficiency. LEAP members work to prevent and end homelessness by providing the Law Center with financial support as well as pro bono legal services. The members form a network of key influential leaders that realize significant positive social change.

For more information about the event, contact Development Associate Jessica Libbey.

For more information about LEAP membership, contact Development & Communications Director Whitney Gent.

Have you checked out the Homelessness Law Blog yet?

Recent postings include commentaries on St. Petersburg, Florida's new anti-solicitation law, educational disruptions for homeless students and more.

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

Please visit our website at http://www.nlchp.org