Maria was on vacation while this issue of In Just Times was prepared. Here, Policy Director Jeremy Rosen offers his thoughts on federal surplus property programs.

Title V of the McKinney-Vento Act allows homeless service providers to receive federal surplus property, at no cost, to provide housing or supportive services to homeless people. Over more than 20 years, property valued at more than $100 million has been transferred through Title V - property now being used to provide housing and services to hundreds of thousands of people, with millions more served through food banks.

The Law Center helped write Title V, sued the federal government to enforce compliance with the law, and has worked tirelessly over the past two decades to ensure that the important rights conferred by the statute are not eroded. But we also recognize that the Title V program could be improved.

That's why we're working to propose and enact an important set of program reforms, based on feedback we received from a recent round of surveys. To simplify administration of the program, we're willing to eliminate a significant number of properties from its scope - such as properties located in areas that service providers can't access due to national security concerns or contaminated Department of Energy nuclear facilities.

And in return for our support of this change, HUD would ensure that providers were better informed about available properties, HHS would simplify the application process, and GSA would do more to ensure that properties are transferred smoothly. Permanent housing for people leaving homelessness would be added as an eligible use for Title V properties, and providers would have access to 5% of the proceeds from other sold federal properties to help them pay for construction or rehabilitation on Title V properties they receive.

The legislative process is complicated, but we're hoping that Congress and our federal agency partners can come together with us on a bill that supports the goals of Opening Doors, the new federal plan to end homelessness, by making the Title V program work better for its most important beneficiaries - homeless Americans.

The National Forum on the Human Right to Housing will be held October 13-14 at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington DC. The forum, held annually by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, is a gathering of homeless and housing advocates for training, information sharing, and strategizing.

A few of the forum's goals are to:
1. Encourage advocacy using pertinent human rights standards in the effort to end homelessness in America.
2. Enable advocacy partners to share best practices and local goals, and think about how these fit into the national agenda.
3. Follow up on one year after the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing's official visit.
4. Discuss the opportunities offered by the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review of the U.S.

To register for the Forum, please click here to provide your information. The Forum registration fee this year is $55. To remit your registration payment, please donate online or mail a check to the Law Center noting "Forum Registration" in the memo. The Law Center is unable to accept same-day registrations/payments for the Forum - please register in advance.

Contact Whitney Gent at 202-638-2535 with questions.

On Tuesday, September 14, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. EDT, the Law Center will host a free webinar entitled "VAWA and Housing: Past, Present and Future" on the evolution of the Violence Against Women Act's housing protections for domestic violence survivors.

Speakers will address the social and legislative history behind the introduction of these protections, their efficacy in combating discrimination against survivors, and how their strengths and limitations have shaped goals for the Act's pending reauthorization. Participants will gain an understanding of the existing terms of the Act and the gap between statutory language and implementation, as well as an appreciation for the potential for VAWA reauthorization to serve as a vehicle for enhanced enforcement.

A window into the advocacy efforts of a national coalition of legal professionals, the event will feature speakers from a range of organizational backgrounds: Rachel Natelson of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty; Sandra Park of the American Civil Liberties Union; Meliah Schultzman of the National Housing Law Project; and Kate Walz of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Click here to register for the webinar. Contact Rachel Natelson with questions.

For almost 100 years, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has treated injured military personnel on its 113-acre campus in northwest Washington, D.C. But in just over a year, the medical facilities will transition to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland as part of a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.

For the neighborhood surrounding Walter Reed, this transition provides an unprecedented opportunity for thoughtful community-building. The laws governing BRAC mandate that a range of needs, including those of the homeless population, must be considered. Several homeless service providers, including non-profits and branches of D.C. government, recently applied to receive a portion of the campus to serve the needs of the homeless, with a specific emphasis on serving homeless veterans. These proposals are competing with other non-profit groups, including charter schools and a private hospital, to receive part of the land free of charge. A final decision will be made by late October.

The Law Center worked to publicize the property's availability and provided interested non-profits with an application toolkit. It encourages the Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) leading the BRAC transition to use a portion of the Walter Reed campus to provide homeless services. It is only fitting that a place that has so long served as a center of healing continue to serve the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly homeless veterans.

For more information, contact Housing Attorney Geraldine Doetzer.

With the start of a new school year on the horizon, the Law Center has already seen an increase in calls from parents and school personnel seeking technical assistance regarding the McKinney-Vento Act's education provisions. While this federal law requires school districts to provide educational continuity for homeless students through enrollment, transportation, and other services, compliance remains uneven, particularly with districts under mounting pressure to cut spending.

Among the issues recently brought to the Law Center's attention are failures to enroll and transport "unaccompanied youth" who have left their parents' homes, unwillingness to fund transportation to school from outside districts, and refusal to extend McKinney Vento protections to students living in transitional housing. Since the services mandated by the Act can be costly to implement, districts are often reluctant to uphold their obligations to homeless students.

The Homelessness Law Wiki offers a number of helpful resources to those seeking information about McKinney-Vento education law, including a section for frequently asked questions.

Additionally, the Law Center welcomes pro bono assistance with McKinney Vento cases. Past collaborations on these issues have resulted in significant victories on behalf of students. For more information on the Act or on related pro bono opportunities, please contact Rachel Natelson.

On July 21, 2010 President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, sweeping legislation that covers a broad range of financial and housing policy issues. The Act contains several key provisions of importance to homeless and low income Americans.

The law extends the expiration date for the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) from the end of 2012 to the end of 2014. PTFA ensures that tenants living in foreclosed properties can remain in their housing for as long as possible after the property owner / landlord is foreclosed upon and a new party takes ownership of the property. The Law Center hopes to make PTFA permanent, but is extremely pleased in the short term to see it extended.

The law also clarifies an ambiguous provision of PTFA, explaining that the date of a "notice of foreclosure" means the date on which title to a property is transferred by a court order or through a non-judicial foreclosure process. Since only tenants who signed a bona fide lease can use PTFA to remain in their homes, it was important to clarify that earlier notices did not invalidate their original lease agreements or exempt them from protection under federal law. The Law Center anticipates that this provision will help keep tenants in their homes for longer periods of time, but will continue to monitor implementation of the law, to ensure that it is being vigorously enforced.

To read about additional housing-related provisions of the law, click here.

Mark your calendar for the Law Center's 12th annual McKinney-Vento Award reception and dinner on October 14, 2010 at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington D.C.

Award recipients include best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, and Dechert LLP. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan will deliver a keynote address.

For more information, click here.

To buy tickets or for sponsorship opportunities, contact Whitney Gent.

The Law Center is tremendously grateful for the assistance of summer interns Lisa Coleman, An Duong, Brittany Libbey, Joanna Parnes, Kieran Paul, Robert Sanderman, and Susan Zhu.

It is currently seeking interns for the fall semester. Application information can be found here.

For those unable to participate in the July 29 webinar on food-sharing prohibitions affecting people experiencing homelessness, the Law Center will host a second webinar in late September. Details forthcoming.

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