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| Update
The Ambiguities of Hypothermia Season – A Home Court Fellow Speaks Out
By Kate Gannon, Lane Evans Home Court Fellow at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Since starting my Home Court fellowship at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (WLCH) I find myself checking the weather and hoping for a very cold forecast. Usually at this time of year I am anxiously anticipating the arrival of spring and its ensuing warm weather, but not this year. Why? Because warm weather means no right to shelter in D.C. For the families I meet while conducting outreach at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center in Northeast, forecasts predicting temperatures below 32 degrees are… Read more…
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| Advocacy
“Where Do We Go When the Shelter Closes?”
By Julie Broas, Staff Attorney Every weekday at 10 a.m., Ana Portillo, a Case Manager with Catholic Charities, meets with a group of Latino men in a small conference room at the Sacred Heart Church in Columbia Heights. During the winter months, the conversation invariably focuses on survival strategies – how the men, most of whom are homeless, can secure a bed in the hypothermia shelter that opens at Sacred Heart when it’s freezing or, if they choose or are forced to sleep outside, how they can avoid being arrested for trespassing when the only sheltered spot is the doorway… Read more…
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| Advocacy
Mother Told to Leave DC or Give Kids Up – A Follow Up
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…
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| Update
A WLCH Post-Graduate Fellow Shares Her Reflections on Hypothermia Season
By Tashira Halyard, Washington Legal Clinic Post-Graduate Fellow February 18, 2011 Watching tears stream down the face of a 24-year-old woman with two young children, I see a reflection of myself. Maybe at one point our lives were interchangeable and only a few decisions caused our paths to diverge. She’s been kicked out of her friend’s house and has no where to go. She was told by a social worker at the family intake center that she would most likely not be placed in safe housing for the night. She gets angry when I describe to her DC’s hypothermia laws,… Read more…
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| Advocacy
Homeless Mom Given Tough Choice: Leave DC or Place Children in Foster Care
By Marta Beresin, Staff Attorney Last week a mother of three was given an ultimatum by the DC Child and Family Services Administration: get on a Greyhound bus for a shelter placement in another state or we’ll place your children in foster care. The alleged neglect or abuse? Being financially unable to afford to provide a home for her children. As a matter of law, the District had no basis for making such a threat. It is firmly established that parents have a Constitutional right to care for their children and that a parent’s inability to provide for a child… Read more…
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| Advocacy
DC Council Votes to Leave Families Out In the Cold, 9-4
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…
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| Advocacy
ACTION ALERT: Call or Email Your Councilmember on Monday, December 20, 2010, Tell Them to Vote “NO” on The Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2010 (B18-1059)
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…
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| Update
My Year Facing Homelessness: A Legal Clinic Client Tells His Story
*Check out Antonio Gibson on NPR talking about his experience with homelessness on Dec. 25, 2010* By Antonio Gibson, Former Legal Clinic Client Once a two parent household, myself and the mother of my children both had pretty substantial jobs. She would later be laid off from Bank of America in August, 2008. I then had no choice but to try to make my 1200.00 monthly income cover an eight hundred dollar rent along with other living expensive. After a year long effort I then found myself alone and facing eviction October, 2009. After unsuccessful attempts to contact organizations that… Read more…
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| Update
Rest In Peace Mary Ann Luby
By Patty Mullahy Fugere Dear Friends – It is with great sorrow that I write to inform you of the passing of our beloved colleague, Mary Ann Luby. She succumbed to cancer late last night after learning of the disease not even two weeks ago. As you might expect if you know Mary Ann at all, she was at peace on the final days of her earth journey. She remained restless, though, about the injustices around her and managed to prepare a “to do” list of work that must continue on in her absence. To honor all that she was… Read more…
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| Update
Giving Thanks
These are challenging times, to be sure. On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Fenty released his proposal to close a budget gap for the current fiscal year of over $185 million. As feared, his proposal includes cuts to some of our community’s most basic safety net programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) and the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP). These are programs that have helped many of our low- and no-income neighbors in the District to meet their families’ basic needs when they are unable to work; to maintain some stability in their lives as they… Read more…
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