NLCHP Partners with Homeless Person Advocacy Groups, Law Firm

Files Brief Supporting New York City Church's Outreach Program, Homeless Persons' Rights

Press Type: Press Release   Associated Program: Civil Rights

Released: 04/2002

Washington, DC - On March 15, 2002, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, The Partnership for the Homeless (NY) and the Urban Justice Center (NY) filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of the Plaintiffs/Appellees in Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church et al. v. The City of New York et al. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The brief focused on the importance of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church’s outreach to homeless persons and the rights of homeless people to be protected from arbitrary police actions, as well as their right to freedom of movement.

Since 1999, the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (Church) in New York City has permitted “Homeless Neighbors” to sleep on outdoor Church property during particular nighttime hours. In the course of this nighttime “Homeless Neighbors” program, Church members performed valuable outreach assistance. Although the City has been informed of the Church’s program since its inception, it was only in December 2001 that the City officials began nighttime raids—forcing homeless people off Church property and threatening them with arrest, according to a church official’s statements in court documents. This same official also stated that at the time, police officers gave no justification for threatening arrest, other than failure to obey a police officer.

In January, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction barring the City from dispersing or arresting homeless people sleeping on the Church’s staircases, but permitted the City to continue dispersing those sleeping along the Church’s sidewalks. Following the City’s appeal on this ruling, the Law Center and its collaborating partners filed their brief to support the Church and the homeless people it helps.

The brief filed by the Law Center and the two other homeless person advocacy groups, in support of the Church, analyzed these events from the perspective of the Homeless Neighbors that have been subjected to arbitrary dispersal at the hands of New York City police officers. The brief offers insights into the benefits of the outreach services the Church provides to New Yorkers, as well as legal arguments explaining why the City’s dispersal actions threaten the Homeless Neighbors’ constitutional rights to be protected from limitless discretion by police officers and unwarranted deprivation of a person’s right to freedom of movement.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty’s section of the amicus curiae brief was written with the pro bono assistance of Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP attorneys Timothy K. Armstrong and Candace N. Beck in collaboration with Law Center Executive Director Maria Foscarinis, Esq. No date for oral argument has been set at this time.