Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (LASP)’s Post

Legal Aid operating at the highest level to make systemic change.

HAPPENING TODAY! Listen live to oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court Monday, April 22 at 10 a.m.: https://lnkd.in/dsPxVZYm. They are also scheduled live for C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN 1. https://lnkd.in/eUsNWiYs. WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson on Monday, April 22, 2024. The case relates, in part, to the Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Grants Pass v. Johnson highlights the issue of unaffordable housing and its consequences, including increased homelessness and encampments in residential areas. Southeastern Pennsylvania also struggles with housing unaffordability and has seen increased numbers of unhoused people in recent years. This prompted LASP and Community Justice Project advocates to obtain an injunction in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Better Days Ahead Outreach Inc. v. Borough of Pottstown, 2023 U.S. Dist., preventing the type of criminalization at issue in Grants Pass. 🔶 To learn more about the issue locally, watch the recording from the April 4 webinar hosted by the Bucks-Mont Collaborative, “The Criminalization of Homelessness and How to Help the Unhoused: A Presentation & Discussion with Legal Aid of Southeastern PA, Community Justice Project and Access Services.” https://lnkd.in/eDtnqcrf Legal advocates explain the current issues around the criminalization of homelessness, including new developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and how they may impact people locally. The presentation also covers common legal issues experienced by unhoused people, how CJP, LASP and Access Services can help, and opportunities for collaboration. 🔷 LASP article with links to the Supreme Court docket and more: https://lnkd.in/eYyq_rSB 🔷 WHYY story: "A Supreme Court case could have major implications for homelessness in Philly region: Some legal scholars believe the Supreme Court’s decision could have far-reaching consequences beyond the issue of homelessness" | https://lnkd.in/ePNF3PPZ

This week, the Legal Clinic joined hundreds of advocates, impacted community members, providers and others at a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the Court heard oral arguments in Johnson v. Grants Pass - this case involves a city ordinance in Grants Pass, OR that allows citations and jail time for repeat offenses for sleeping or camping in public, as defined by merely resting with a blanket or pillow. According to National Homelessness Law Center over 1,000 orgs and public leaders have filed 40+ amicus briefs (amici) in support of Gloria Johnson and homeless rights. The Legal Clinic signed onto an amicus brief authored by the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and National Low Income Housing Coalition. This brief focused on structural causes of homelessness, and the far more effective choices that cities and states have if they truly want to reduce or end homelessness. We believe that cities have a choice when their residents have no homes—they can react with punishment and cruelty, or they can provide housing and services (if needed) to permanently end their residents’ homelessness. #HousingIsJustice https://lnkd.in/eSZ57TWt

Exciting news! A research study conducted about the work I did at Open Door Legal is now available as a working paper on the SSRN website. The preliminary results reveal a remarkable 5.38% decrease in homelessness rates among individuals who received free legal services. Kudos to Adrian Tirtanadi and his research team for conducting this impactful study! #civiljustice #socialimpact #accesstojustice #OpenDoorLegal

Proud to be one of the 57 social scientists who filed an amicus brief with Public Justice in support of the rights of people experiencing homelessness in the April 22 #JohnsonVGrantsPass Supreme Court case. Criminalizing homelessness is not only cruel and harmful, it goes against everything we know about how to resolve homelessness AND make communities safer for everyone. The fact that #SCOTUS is even hearing this case is a result of powerful stakeholders who are using people's concern about the crisis of homelessness to push false solutions that make people sicker, poorer, and, frankly, more likely to die. And these ordinances ultimately protect the interests of corporations and right-wing politicians, not everyday people who want to see fewer people living outside. We need solutions that work. I am so sad that the energy of my colleagues in research, advocacy, policy, and activism to end homelessness through quality affordable housing, tenant rights, and supportive services has to be drained by this distraction. But right now - it's vital that individuals and organizations (including universities) stand up and make it clear: criminalizing people for using a blanket, pillow, or cardboard box to sleep when there's nowhere else for them to go is not only harmful and unconstitutional - it is bad policy that will get the nation nowhere except deeper into its modern crisis of homelessness. #HousingNotHandcuffs #HousingisaHumanRight

QUICK ACTION ALERTY: Witness Slips Needed TODAY to Support Community Safety through Stable Homes Act Support House Bill 5432, sponsored by Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz. The House Housing Committee will vote on HB 5432 TOMORROW MORNING: Wednesday, April 3 at 10:00 a.m. Prior to the hearing, please demonstrate your support by filing a witness slip as a PROPONENT of HB 5432 at https://bit.ly/HB5432YES. Background: Many local governments have enacted so-called “crime-free housing and nuisance property” ordinances (CFNOs) with the misguided belief that they are effective at fighting crime and keeping communities safer. Rather, CFNOs result in unfair penalties and evictions of tenants based on alleged criminal or nuisance activity, leading to instability and homelessness, which compromises public safety. CFNOs frequently exclude people of color from housing and endanger our community’s most vulnerable members. This includes survivors of domestic violence and people with disabilities, whose calls for emergency services or the police can lead to eviction rather than the assistance needed. These ordinances often violate fair housing and other civil rights laws. The Community Safety through Stable Homes Act, once implemented, will prevent discrimination, help people contact police without fear, and focus on better responses to crime while also keeping families in their homes. The bill protects civil rights and prevents homelessness by prohibiting local governments and public housing authorities from: 1. Forcing or encouraging landlords to evict tenants based on alleged criminal or nuisance behavior. 2. Classifying any law enforcement or emergency contact as nuisance behavior, including service calls from people seeking police assistance. 3. Requiring or encouraging landlords to use criminal background checks, preventing discrimination based on arrest and conviction records. 4. Requiring or encouraging landlords to evict entire households when one family member has an interaction with law enforcement or is convicted of a crime, protecting family unity and ensuring children are protected from homelessness.

Access to cohesive services in regional areas can be a significant challenge, with programs and resources often spread out or hard to find. The Seymour Community Directory, an initiative managed by the SEED Project (an initiative of the Brotherhood of St Laurence), is tackling this issue by creating a one-stop resource that brings together a wide range of community services and programs for the Seymour region. This user-friendly directory is designed to streamline access to support, whether it's related to health, wellbeing, education, or social services, making it easier for individuals and families to find the right resources when they need them most. It represents a step forward in building stronger, more connected regional communities. At Medson Legal, we are proud to partner with the SEED Project by offering a 30-minute legal consultation service through referrals from the Seymour Community Directory Program. This collaboration allows us to provide crucial legal support to individuals navigating family law, family violence, victims of crime, and wills and estates issues. Our team is committed to improving service accessibility for both local and remote clients. The Seymour Community Directory is a key example of how collaboration and innovation can improve service delivery in regional areas, fostering more cohesive and connected communities. 

“…As we enter an election cycle where public health and housing are central concerns, policymakers may benefit from understanding that legal representation can be a health intervention. We need a system where access to justice is prioritized as highly as access to healthcare because in many cases, they are one and the same. It’s time we treat access to legal representation as an essential part of our public health infrastructure.”.

Open Door Legal prevented one person from becoming homeless every 2.4 days. That’s one of the findings shared by Micah Park in an article today in the Chronicle. https://lnkd.in/gPxY4ywJ As co-author of a recent study and San Francisco native, Micah has been able to deeply investigate our homelessness response systems. She mentions how prevention is the most cost-effective way to address homelessness and how the importance of legal services has been missed due to flawed data collection. As part of the study, Micah interviewed one of our former clients, an elderly woman whose landlord changed her locks and put all her property on the curb (among other actions and without ever filing an eviction), all so they could move in a relative. The client said that without legal services, she’s sure she would be on the streets today. And as shared in a recent Forbes article, each homeless individual costs over $83,000 per year in health and police services. https://lnkd.in/euBr9z3F Compared to that, the cost of prevention is minimal. Legal services are also especially effective: 46% of at-risk individuals who received legal representation were prevented from becoming homeless when compared to a control group. It’s not just housing law, either. Domestic violence (affecting 1 in 16 women each year), wage theft (affecting 1 in 6 minimum wage workers each year), and other legal issues can all cause homelessness. From the article: “The United States is the only developed nation in the world without universal access to legal aid, which helps explain why we continue to experience a record high homelessness population.” Open Door Legal is only one organization. But I believe that together, we can create a system that ensures universal access to timely and effective legal assistance and catch everyone currently falling through the cracks. If we do, we can dramatically reduce homelessness. And if we don’t, the devastating consequences will be seen on our streets every day.

Read about our recent housing report, created in collaboration with NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service's Furman Center, in this latest post from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Explore how "partnerships between the criminal justice and #housing sectors can help disrupt the reinforcing relationship between housing insecurity, homelessness, and criminal #justice involvement." ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/eHUFgvZk