The National Law Center On Homelessness and Poverty - Accomplishments

Accomplishments

Major accomplishments by NLCHP include:

• Helping to spur passage of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which increased federal resources to prevent homelessness and to house those already homeless, and required that the federal government develop a plan to end homelessness.
• Helping to spur passage of 2009’s Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, which provided tenants of foreclosure properties with unprecedented federal protections, including the right to 90-days notice prior to eviction, or in many cases, the right to stay in their home until the end of their lease.
• Advocating for laws in D.C. and Maryland that add homeless people as a protected class to their hate crime statutes.
• Helping to plan a nationwide fact-finding mission for the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik, who met with poor and homeless persons and government officials in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. and other cities to assess the status of American homelessness. She concluded her trip by sharing her preliminary findings at NLCHP’s National Forum on Housing as a Human Right.
• Along with pro bono partner Goodwin Procter, successfully resolving a class action lawsuit on behalf of 2,000 children against the Long Island, New York school system, Suffolk County, and New York state, ensuring access to school and school services for those children.
• Advocating successfully for a federal law that makes surplus federal property available to homeless assistance organizations at no cost, and creating a tool kit and provides technical assistance to help local advocates apply for and obtain federal property. Federal agencies estimate that at least $100 million in surplus federal property has been made available to homeless assistance organizations to date.
• Successfully advocating against anti-camping laws in Puyallup, WA, where homeless persons were harassed and arrested for sleeping in public. As a result of NLCHP’s efforts, the Puyallup City Council declared a Homeless Awareness Day and is considering legislation to establish tent cities on Church property.