Melanie Williams and her three children were homeless when they moved into the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative (TIHDI), a program located on a former military base in San Francisco Bay. Thanks to the opportunity the program offered, and her own initiative and hard work, Ms. Williams is no longer homelessand she is now a tireless advocate for others.

NLCHP honored Ms. Williams at our recent dinner (see article below) and we take special pride in her achievement. Over a decade ago, NLCHP advocated successfully for the federal law that requires the redevelopment of closed bases to include consideration of the needs of homeless community members. We also helped TIHDI navigate the complicated legal process to acquire the property.

Using national resources such as surplus property to meet urgent national needs is one component of what must be a larger national plan to end and prevent homelessness. Existing federal law can help meet current needs by including homeless populations in any plans to redevelop base properties.

Over 200 bases are currently slated to close, and they can help meet the needs of homeless Americans. But, just as with TIHDI, providers need help and legal expertise is essential. Thats why NLCHP is launching an outreach campaign with special tools and resources for local advocates. We are also calling on the private bar to help us in this effort.

This is just one of many ways that law and policy reform can make a crucial difference in peoples lives. Please contact our Policy Director, Laurel Weir, at lweir@nlchp.org to learn more about how you can get involved, either as a service provider or as a pro bono lawyer.

On October 3, NLCHP held the 8th Annual McKinney- Vento Awards Ceremony at the Hotel Monaco in Washington, D.C. The night celebrated organizations and leaders who have made a significant impact in the lives of homeless people. The event also raised over $150,000 for the work of the Law Center, shattering last years all-time record by over $30,000!

McCormack Baron Salazar received the Stewart B. McKinney Award for their leadership in making affordable housing available and for creating innovative housing solutions for homeless people and the HIV/AIDS community. Melanie Williams was this years Personal Achievement Award winner. She was homeless when she moved into TIHDI, a redeveloped military property. Since then, she has established support networks and advocated for community-wide services that assist others. For more information on Freddie Mac, this years Bruce F. Vento Award winner, and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, this years Pro Bono Counsel Award winner, please see the articles below.

Over 160 people attended the ceremony this year. Special guests included: Mistress of Ceremonies Susan Kidd (anchor of Washington, D.C.'s News4 at 5), Susan Vento, wife of the late Congressman Bruce F. Vento, and past Personal Achievement Award winners Brandon Haynes and Angela Ward, who is also a current NLCHP Board member.

Event Sponsors ($25,000 and above)
Freddie Mac
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

Leadership Circle ($15,000 - $24,999)
McCormack Baron Salazar/Sun America

This years Bruce F. Vento award went to mortgage investor Freddie Mac for marshalling all of its resources to help lenders get families back into homes and communities on the path of recovery following last years terrible trio of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

After Katrina struck, Freddie Mac declared a suspension of mortgage payments - in some areas for as long as a year - and a parallel moratorium on foreclosure actions. The company also gave its servicers unprecedented authority to approve workouts to help more borrowers avoid foreclosure.

To fuel the recovery process, the company purchased $1 billion worth of mortgage bonds from state and local housing authorities across the Gulf Coast that is expected to help as many as 10,000 borrowers and provide a substantial injection of below-market rate mortgage money into local rebuilding efforts. It also relaxed some of its underwriting criteria to make it easier for disaster area borrowers to get mortgage credit.

On the ground, Freddie Mac dispatched the HomeHelp Express, a bus manned by credit counselors and packed with wireless laptops so families could get important information about recovery programs.

Whats more, Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation worked to make a difference by donating $10 million  in addition to $840,000 contributed by employees through a Foundation matching program -- to dozens of nonprofits meeting the immediate and long-term needs of thousands of affected children and their families.

But, the defining moment for some 800 employees came in mid-November when they joined Habitat for Humanity on the National Mall and built 51 homes in seven days for storm victims. When we presented a mother and her twin daughters with keys to their new home, the adage about it taking a village never seemed more real, said Susan Gates, the companys vice president of public policy.

After Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast leaving an estimated 1.5 million Americans homeless, more than two dozen Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP lawyers devoted more than 8,000 hours to the class action suit, McWaters v. FEMA, requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide shelter to more than 150,000 people at risk of losing their temporary housing. NLCHP acted as co-counsel in the suit.

For their tireless efforts to ensure that FEMA provides adequate aid for those entitled to it, LEAP Chairman, Ed McNicholas, presented Schulte Roth & Zabel with the 2006 Pro Bono Counsel Award at the 8th Annual McKinney-Vento Awards Ceremony.

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast many of us felt a deep sense of frustration, said Daniel Greenberg, Pro Bono Special Counsel at Schulte Roth & Zabel. Many people donated money, but we realized that the power of litigation could do much more.

Schulte Roth & Zabel is a major New York-based law firm that provides legal counsel to clients in a wide variety of industries. Currently, the firm represents more than half of the worlds 100 largest hedge funds. While the firm is a private law firm serving for- profit enterprises, it has a strong commitment to public interest work. The hours Schulte Roth & Zabels attorneys devote to pro bono clients are treated the same as billable time in consideration of bonuses and other matters.

The practice of law is and should be a profession and not a business, Greenberg said. Lawyers have a monopoly on the practice of law and they need to use their skills with people who cant afford them.

NLCHP applauds Schulte Roth & Zabel for playing a crucial role in helping address the effects of Hurricane Katrina on low-income families and for its steadfast commitment to public interest work.

The firm, as a whole, embraced the work [on McWaters v. FEMA], Greenberg explained. Everyone from support staff to partners was sending e-mails that said Im so proud of what were doing.

Last month, NLCHP held the Third National Forum on the Human Right to Housing and the first Rally on the Right to Housing. Both events garnered wide interest and national press coverage, energizing local and national housing rights activists.

The September 21 Forum in Washington, D.C. was part of a global celebration of World Habitat Day, and drew over 100 participants from over 75 organizations nationwide. The event, co-sponsored by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and hosted by the Human Rights Clinic and Human Rights Law Society of The George Washington University Law School, introduced participants to the human rights framework and how to apply it in the United States. The days outcomes included plans for possible litigation in international courts, a human rights resource guide, and greater collaboration through the Housing Caucus of the U.S. Human Rights Network.

The Rally, held on the eve of the Forum, was organized in conjunction with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and the National Association of HUD Tenants. Residents of public housing and emergency shelters spoke about the importance of housing as a human right in their own lives and asked Congress to protect that right by increasing funding for affordable housing. The event was part of the International Days of Housing Rights Action coordinated by the Habitat International Coalition.

Click here for Forum Materials.

Click here to listen to NLCHP Human Rights Attorney Eric Tars on National Public Radios News & Notes.

NLCHP thanks the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the US Human Rights Fund for their support of the Human Rights Program.

Although several promising bills were introduced during this session, Congress failed to act on most before recessing for the November elections. Almost all appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2007 have yet to be passed, leaving vital programs to be funded through continuing resolutions that sustain last years funding levels without adjusting for inflation.

Significant legislation that failed to reach final passage included legislation to create new funding for affordable housing as well as legislation to overhaul federal disaster relief and recovery assistance. There were a few bright spots in the legislative session: four provisions sought by NLCHP and other advocates to improve federal disaster assistance were passed as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations bill. Additionally, Congress reauthorized the HOPE VI program and the Mark-to-Market program, which helps prevent conversion of Section 8 rental housing into non-affordable housing.

Congress is expected to return for a lame duck session later this year to finish appropriations bills and a few authorization bills considered a priority by Congressional leadership. Congress will then adjourn until the new Congress reconvenes in January.

Organizations in 22 states and the District of Columbia held over 40 non-partisan voter registration events throughout the week of September 24 as part of the second National Homeless and Low Income Voter Registration Week.

The Week was cosponsored by NLCHP, the National Coalition for the Homeless, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council as part of a campaign to increase homeless and low-income voter participation. The Week was aimed at registering, educating, and mobilizing the often disenfranchised and underrepresented low income and homeless population of the United States.

Census data confirms that low-income voters register and vote at lower rates than higher-income citizens. While 82% of people with incomes of over $75,000 were registered to vote in 2000 and 75% of those registered actually voted, just 59% of people with incomes between $10,000 and $14,999 were registered, and only 44% of those registered actually voted.

The Week included a variety of events. In New Mexico, service providers held voter registration drives in several homeless shelters. California housing advocates held voter registration trainings and engaged in extensive outreach to educate low- income residents on a proposition that could raise $2.9 billion for affordable housing. A public housing authority in South Carolina held a voter training event and set up a registration booth for the week.

In September, students enrolled in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) returned to school eager to learn. Among them were a significant number of homeless children who will benefit from the citys renewed commitment to the federal McKinney- Vento Education of Homeless Children & Youth Program. In efforts to bring DCPS in line with federal standards, the district submitted a program plan to the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year. The plan was subsequently approved and the city moved forward with its implementation plans.

The school board drafted new regulations that will improve school access and stability and ensure careful review of disputes between schools and students. These changes evidence marked improvements in the delivery of services in the nations capital, said Joy Moses, NLCHP staff attorney. Advocates applaud the changes!

NLCHP and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless are providing technical assistance to DCPS as it begins to implement several best practices such as asking every student about their living situations at the time of enrollment, appointing a homeless liaison in every school building, training relevant staff members (principals, school registrars, and school homeless liaisons), and providing homeless students with back packs and other school supplies.

The District of Columbia Council recently held a public hearing on local legislation that outlaws housing discrimination against domestic violence survivors. The measure also provides survivors with a defense against an eviction in housing court and permits survivors to flee abuse without financial penalty.

The first of its kind in the District, the successful hearing was the result of the advocacy, education, and outreach over the past three years of the D.C. Working Group on Domestic Violence and Housing, convened by NLCHPs Domestic Violence Program.

The Council should take this opportunity to be on the front lines in addressing these issues nationally, said NLCHP Domestic Violence Staff Attorney Naomi Stern, who also leads the D.C. Working Group. Currently, at least 27 jurisdictions have laws or pending measures that address domestic violence and housing; of these, 10 include specific housing discrimination protections for domestic violence victims. Victims in D.C. shouldnt have to flee the jurisdiction in order to gain stronger legal protections elsewhere.

Councilmember Jim Graham, who chairs the committee, has taken strong leadership on the measure and expects the Council to vote by the end of this session. Councilmember and Mayoral candidate Adrian Fenty co-introduced the measure; Councilmember Kathy Patterson co- sponsored it.

Read NLCHPs analysis of similar laws and measures in other jurisdictions.

Read an article on housing and domestic violence in D.C. that appeared in Street Sense.

NLCHPs D.C. Working Group is supported in part by a generous grant from the Trellis Fund.

Each year, NLCHP staff and friends participate in the Fannie Mae Foundation Help the Homeless Walkathon. The event helps raise awareness and funds for Washington metropolitan area organizations working to prevent and end homelessness.

The 19th Annual Help the Homeless Walkathon will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2006 on the National Mall in Washington, DC (rain or shine).

Contact Amy Warnick at awarnick@nlchp.org for more information.

Make a Donation
Click on the "General Donation" button located on our Help the Homeless Walkathon website!

Join Team National Law Center
Please visit our Help the Homeless Walkathon website and join our team! The preregistration fee is $15 for youth and $25 for adults.

Become a Sponsoring Partner
Law firms, businesses, civic organizations and groups of people that give $1,500 or more can partner with NLCHP in the walkathon. The Fannie Mae Foundation will match their gift by 20% and place their name on all the walkathon promotional materials. This includes the website, press-kits, banners, and the t-shirts that all the participants wear. Its a great way to support NLCHP while gaining greater visibility in the community!

This new report from NLCHP and the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) describes measures addressing domestic violence that three large public housing agencies (PHAs) around the country have adopted as a result of collaboration with local advocates and service providers.

The report concludes with recommendations that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implement the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in a timely manner and that Congress provide and increase funding for public housing programs, including the new VAWA 2005 pilot housing grant program.

Visit our website at www.nlchp.org! Contact us at (202) 638-2535 or email us at network@nlchp.org