September, 2021  SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— On October 12, 2021, the Law Center will host our 23rd McKinney-Vento Awards. These Awards, named after Reps. Stewart B. McKinney and Bruce F. Vento--and the 1987 legislation that bears their names--gives us an opportunity to honor leaders and changemakers fighting to end homelessness, to celebrate the successes that we have all shared over the past year, and to honor the power of federal legislation. This year, we are extraordinarily pleased to honor Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, [...]

August, 2021 SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— On July 31, 2021, the Federal Eviction Moratorium was allowed to expire, immediately allowing most evictions to proceed across the country. In anticipation of the moratorium's expiration, the National Coalition for Housing Justice, of which the Law Center is a member, released a joint letter encouraging the Biden administration, Congress, and state and local governments to take immediate action to prevent the onslaught of evictions that would soon follow. In response to the expiration of the eviction moratorium, Rep. Cori Bush (MO-01) criticized her [...]

July, 2021 SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— This past month was the hottest June ever recorded in U.S. history. For those living on the West coast, climate change has had drastic effects in recent years leading to extreme high temperatures, extensive droughts, and explosive forest fires. Many have lost their homes and their communities to these fires with no hope of returning and no place to go. Climate change has exacerbated an already painful housing shortage on the West coast by displacing entire communities. Residents who lose their homes to fires not only struggle with [...]

June, 2021 SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— This weekend marks Juneteenth, commemoration of the day–two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation–enslaved persons in Galveston, Texas were informed of its existence. Our country's legacy of racism continues to this day. Homelessness and the carceral system disproportionately affect Black and Brown persons and are systems of ongoing racial oppression. We are grateful for the work of our peer organizations, such as Denver Homeless Out Loud, which use their platforms to highlight the deep connection between the issue of homelessness and all forms of [...]

May, 2021 SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— The Law Center will periodically feature our close partnerships with other organizations and advocates in In Just Times. This month, we are featuring Mark Horvath, who founded Invisible People in 2008 after experiencing several periods of homelessness. Through one-on-one interviews, Mark shows the broader public what day-to-day life is actually like without a home. He seeks to portray that the reality of homelessness is much more complex than most assume. Homelessness is not only sleeping on a street corner; it [...]

April, 2021  SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— The National Homelessness Law Center team welcomes our newest member, Antonia Fasanelli, back to the Law Center as our Executive Director. As we embark on this journey, we look forward to growing as an organization and sharing this growth with you. Our growth will include a renewed commitment to become anti-racist.  We use this occasion to reflect on the role of the legal community and of nonprofits – including our own organization – in upholding attributes of white [...]

March, 2021  SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— This is my last message as Executive Director, as I prepare to step back from that role at the end of the month, almost 32 years after founding the Law Center, and to welcome Antonia Fasanelli as the Law Center's Executive Director. It’s a bittersweet moment as I look back on the extraordinary, high impact work we’ve accomplished—together—over this time. I can’t thank you enough for your support and commitment. Thanks to our amazing team, and your support and advocacy, [...]

February, 2021  SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— This Black History Month comes at a time when the disproportionate racial impact of homelessness on Black communities is finally getting attention. Black Americans make up 12% of the U.S. population, 26% of the poverty population, and over 40% of the homeless population. Their overrepresentation in poverty and homelessness is the legacy of slavery, the all-encompassing horrors of Jim Crow, intentional discrimination in housing, employment, education, and a criminal legal system that has caused the unjust mass incarceration of far [...]

January, 2021  SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— Here in the Nation’s Capital, I feel both fear and hope as we enter the new year. The siege on the Capitol brought into sharp relief the racism and hate that drive so many of the challenges we face—as a country and in our work at the Law Center. The failure of police response, especially compared to the overwhelming law enforcement presence at racial justice protests, made crystal clear the bigotry built into debates over “public safety.” And the [...]

October, 2020 SUBSCRIBE Dear Friends— Next month’s elections are critically important, and we have two goals for them: First, to make sure the needs and rights of homeless people are front and center, and second, to ensure that people experiencing homelessness can participate. This election is a pivotal for many reasons. Over the past few years, our advocacy for the human right to housing has been gaining momentum: Last year four presidential candidates explicitly called for it, and one of the current candidates has included [...]