Category: Advocacy

By Daniel Michelson-Horowitz, Lane Evans Home Court Fellow at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless My name is Daniel Michelson-Horowitz, and I am a Lane Evans Home Court Fellow. As a first-year law student at Georgetown, I am working with WLCH Executive Director Patty Mullahy Fugere to build a coalition of non-profits, social services agencies and community members who are concerned that the current budget crisis will mean severe cuts to the health, education, housing, and food security programs on which our city’s neediest residents depend. Together, we have formed Invest in DC, a diverse coalition that is encouraging Mayor… Read more…

Protect D.C. shelters from being shut down! Take Mayor Gray’s budget priority survey to show you want him to protect vital safety net services. On survey question #3, mark “human services” as a “5.” On question #4, please rank it a “5” to indicate you support revenue enhancements. Thanks for helping Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless & for supporting your neighbors! Read more…

Readers responded strongly to our recent blog post about a mother, who was a D.C. resident, being told to choose between leaving the District or giving up her children. We received some media attention for this post. One of the stories is by Jason Cherkis of the Washington City Paper, who followed up with a great article. At this point, the mother finally reached out to the Legal Clinic. While at Virginia Williams, and in front of Broas, a Child and Family Services Agency social worker delivered the bizarre ultimatum: Give up your kids or take a bus out of… Read more…

Please call (311) or email (Fenty.mpd@dc.gov) the Mayor and ask him to protect DC families by vetoing this bill before he leaves office! In a shockingly callous and short-sighted move, the DC Council passed the Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2010 (B18-1059) at Tuesday’s legislative session, with Councilmembers Cheh, Graham, Mendelson, and Thomas strongly opposing the harmful measure. B18-1059, introduced by Councilmember Tommy Wells, purports to prioritize DC residents for shelter services by requiring proof of DC residency before a family can access emergency shelter even during hypothermia season. In reality, the bill adds yet another bureaucratic hurdle in… Read more…

Background: B18-1059 was introduced by Councilmember Tommy Wells. After holding a hearing at which the public voiced unanimous opposition to this legislation, the bill was very close to being tabled (the vote was 6-6), but unfortunately failed and passed on first vote. The second vote on the bill will take place this coming Tuesday, December 21st . With your help, we are confident we can defeat this harmful legislation. WHY: B18-1059 would do two things that threaten the lives and well-beings of our homeless residents: 1) It would require families who are homeless to prove they are District residents before… Read more…

Bill 18-1059, the Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2010 (HSRA), introduced by Council member Tommy Wells, presents a number of serious problems for at-risk District residents (including vulnerable children), for providers of homeless services, and for the DC government itself. The bill puts the lives of DC residents at risk, is administratively and financially cumbersome, and opens the District to potential legal trouble. Additionally, the proposed law would reduce homeless services while increasing cost of administration. What Bill 18-1059 does: • Requires verification of DC residency before one can access emergency shelter or almost any other homeless service, including… Read more…

By Scott McNeilly, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney The Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) voted on Tuesday to approve the Winter Plan for 2010-2011.  The Winter Plan describes how the District will implement the severe weather provisions of the Homeless Services Reform Act –how individuals and families can exercise their right to shelter on freezing nights and the steps the District will take to prevent weather-related deaths and injuries.  The Plan was developed by the ICH’s Operations and Logistics Committee through a process that involved lots of meetings and hearings and consequently lots of community input.  (I… Read more…

The DC Interagency Council on Homelessness is holding a special meeting on Tuesday, October 26th at 9:30am, to vote on the Winter Plan for the upcoming hypothermia season. The meeting will be held at MPD Regional Operations Command (ROC) 801 Shepherd St NW. With regard to meeting the needs of families this winter, the current version of the Plan relies upon outplacing families into housing at a quick enough pace to free up capacity in the shelters. Already the District has been unable to keep up the anticipated pace, and there is no back-up plan identified. We urge concerned community… Read more…