Law Center Statement on 12% Increase in Homelessness   Point in Time results must drive housing investments, not despair  WASHINGTON, D.C. – (December 18, 2023) Last week, The US Department of Housing and Urban Development released the Annual Point in Time (PIT) Homeless count, showing a 70,650 person, or 12% increase in homelessness. Unfortunately, the PIT confirms what we have been saying for years: that the rent is too high for a growing number of Americans and that far too many people are just one missed paycheck or health crisis away from becoming homeless. It does [...]

Law Center Statement on Today’s United Nations Report Decrying Ongoing Human Rights Abuses Against Unhoused People WASHINGTON, D.C. – (November 3, 2023) Today, the United Nations Human Rights Committee highlighted serious and ongoing patterns of human rights abuses -- including those against people experiencing homelessness and poverty -- in the Concluding Observations from its recent convening that investigated the United States’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  The Concluding Observations devote an entire paragraph to the human rights abuses faced by people experiencing homelessness. It reads: The Committee is concerned about reports of an increase [...]

U.S. Receives Failing Grades on Human Right to Housing Report Card Limited Progress During Pandemic Offset By Inactions Since WASHINGTON, D.C. – On October 5th, 2023, the National Homelessness Law Center (Law Center), in partnership with the University of Miami Law School Human Rights Clinic, issued the Human Right to Housing Report Card 2023. The report card condemns the U.S.government's ongoing failure to stem the tide of homelessness by neglecting its responsibility to ensure adequate, affordable housing is available to all. The U.S. receives a failing grade in “affordability” and still has much room for [...]

Federal Police Use Violent Force Against Family Living in Park – Pattern of Violence Continues Forest Service Police Injured Disabled Family Members Washington, D.C. | August 23, 2023 - The National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) calls on the Biden-Harris administration to stop using federal police to respond to homelessness. In May of this year, undercover U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management police officers violently arrested Judy, Timber, and Brooks Roberts for living in a camper in the Payette National Forest north of Boise, Idaho. They were forced to live in the park after [...]