The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) released a report today, Homes Not Handcuffs, tracking a growing trend in U.S. cities - the criminalization of homelessness. The report, available here, focuses on specific city measures from 2007 and 2008 that have targeted homeless persons, such as laws that make it illegal to sleep, eat, or sit in public spaces. The report includes information about 273 cities nationwide. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category
According to new report: Berkeley, LA, and SF in “Top 10 Meanest Cities” for criminalizing homelessness
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Help save 100s of families from homelessness in Oregon, Washington and around the US
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
The following organizations are calling on President Obama, HUD Secretary Donovan, and Congress to provide housing authorities with an immediate infusion of funding in the current fiscal year, to ensure that every current Section 8 tenant is able to keep their voucher.
Oregon ON, Washington State Low-Income Housing Alliance, Street Roots, Real Change, Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity, Columbia River Business Alliance, Sisters Of The Road, Rural Organizing Project, Tillamook County Citizens for Human Dignity, Columbia Pacific Alliance for Social Justice, Latinos Unidos para un Futuro Mejor, Western Regional Advocacy Project, National Coalition for the Homeless, Rev. Chuck Currie, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, LA Community Action Network, San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness/Street Sheet, Building Opportunities for Self Suffiency, International Network of Street Papers, Free United Homeless Coalition, CHAM Deliverance Ministry of San Jose, Oregon Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.
Click HERE to send a letter to the President, HUD and Congress today! (more…)
Stop the Eviction of 285 Families and Individuals in Columbia County, Oregon
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
On July 1st, 285 families and individuals in the Northwest part of Oregon will be turned out of their homes.
Columbia County, where most of those evictions will take place, has an unemployment rate of 15.4%. As the economic crisis deepens, it becomes clear that what we need is more support for our neighbors that have been hardest hit, not less. We need a way to ensure a basic standard of living for everybody in our community, and that includes the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.
But how will we afford it in this economy? The Oregon Center for Public Policy has just released a fact sheet that shows us that it is necessary to raise more revenue in order to avoid even more cuts. House Bills 2649 and 3405 , coming before the legislature very soon, will allow us to avoid some cuts by raising taxes on the most wealthy and on corporations. (Call your representatives now to support these bills!)
But one cut – for HUD-subsidized housing assistance in northwest Oregon – seems to have already been implemented. Last week, Rural Organizing Project (ROP) got a call from Mike Cook of Tillamook County. Mike works with the NeahCasa community housing trust out of Manzanita, Oregon, and called to inform us that dozens of his clients had started to come in with distressing letters from the NW Housing Authority, informing them that their housing assistance would end on July 1st. (more…)
Congress Passes HEARTH Act; President to Sign Bill Today
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Yesterday, Congress passed S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 and Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009.
S. 896 also includes the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which reauthorizes the HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act programs and amends HUD’s definition of homelessness. (more…)
Senate Passes HEARTH Act: Definition Debate Continues
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Today, the US Senate approved the HEARTH Act (S. 808), which would re-write the federal law governing HUD’s homeless assistance grant programs. We remain very concerned about the definition of homelessness contained in HEARTH. It excludes too many vulnerable children, youth, and families in need of HUD housing assistance; it would be overly complex to administer at the local level; and it was developed well before the recent recession-driven spike in family and youth homelessness. It is not a “compromise” definition, as evidenced by the broad array of housing, children, youth, education, and legal organizations who do not support it. Those of us involved directly in negotiations consistently objected to provisions harmful to child and youth development, including requirements for multiple moves and other arbitrary restrictions imposed on those in motel and doubled-up situations. (more…)