CIVIL RIGHTS

The civil rights of people experiencing homelessness are continually violated, whether it be by endangering their right to vote, by hate crimes committed against them, by denying children in homeless situations an equal right to education, and even by unjust laws making it illegal to be homeless. NCH is concerned about this illegal disenfranchisement of people experiencing homelessness, and the Civil Rights Project exists to protect the civil rights of people in homeless situations.

NEW: You Don't Need a Home to Vote! 2009-2010 Voting Rights Manual

NEWS

• April 17: New Hate Crime Bill Might Make Maryland a Pioneer (Washington Post Article)
  
  
• National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week will be held November 15-21, 2009.
• READ NCH's 2008 Public Policy Recommendation: Homeless Hate Crimes Legislation
  
  
• December 12: Vacant Homes Get New Life (USA Today) - Read how homeless advocates are turning foreclosures into shelters.
• November 5: Homeless not Voteless: NCH and other advocates help get out the vote.
• November 4: The New York Times reports on the murder of five victims, presumed to be homeless.
• NCH Public Policy Recommendations for the Bring America Home Act
  
• October 22: This TIME Magazine article asks: Violence Against the Homeless: Is it a Hate Crime?
• September 29: "Advocates Work For Right to Vote for Homeless," a piece on WAMU 88.5.
• Ending Violence by Putting a Face on Homelessness
  
  
• “We always said he wasn’t homeless. He was just away from home.”
  
  These are the words of a grieving father who lost his son to two murderous young adults. Norris Gaynor was beaten to death in January of 2006 for pure sport. But the culprits claim to be victims also; victims of boredom. Brian Hooks and Thomas Daugherty attacked three homeless individuals on that January night because they simply didn’t have anything better to do. Hook’s lawyer argued that Brian Hooks only wanted to “mess with some homeless men.” Two homeless men were seriously injured from the attacks that night. One man lost his life.
  
  
• New NCH ads are available on three different subjects (voting, criminalization, hate crimes). Please feel free to download and use in your newspaper. If you have any questions, please contact mstoops@nationalhomeless.org
  • voting
  • criminalization
  • hate crimes
    
    
    
• New NCH posters are now available! Click to download each in pdf format, and please contact us (mhustings@nationalhomeless.org) to order printed posters.

  
  hate crimes

  
  help

  
  kids

  
  voting

• August 13: NCH and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty invite organizations at all levels to stand with us in our effort to stop hate-motivated violence against homeless people.
  
  
• July 2: Where It's All About Goals: Homeless People Find Motivation in Soccer Tournament (an article in the Washington Post)
  
  
• June 18: Civil Rights Won for Alaska Homeless A new bill will protect the Homeless in Alaska from Hate Crimes thanks to the work of The Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness and NCH
  
  
• May 21: Photos of recent Homeless Challenge participants.
  
  
• April 29: Violent Crimes Against Homeless People on the Rise. Advocates fault lack of affordable housing,
  public attitudes.
  
  
• April 24: Violent Crimes Against Homeless on the Rise (save the date for a phone-in press conference on 2007's sharp rise in hate crimes and violent attacks against homeless people in America)
  
  
• April 23: Foreclosure to Homelessness: the Forgotten Victims of the Subprime Crisis
  
  
• April 11: National Coalition for the Homeless Targets the ‘Real Bums’ with New T-Shirt
  
  
• March 6: ABC’s “Primetime” raises awareness on “bum-bashing” through street experiment.

REPORTS

• National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week: Jan 09. Organizing Manual. Co-sponsored annually by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week will be held November 15-21, 2009.
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2007
• Feeding Intolerance: Cities Cracking Down on Groups Feeding Hungry, Says New Report released in November 2007.
  
• A new report on homeless deaths, "Dying Without Dignity."
  
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2006
  
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2005
• A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities. A Report by The National Coalition for the Homeless and The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, January 2006.
• National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Organizing Manual: Jan 06. Organizing Manual for National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day, December 21, 2006. A Manual for planning local events to memorialize those who have died while homeless.
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2004
• "Illegal to be Homeless" report 2004: the report targets escalating civil rights abuses against homeless people and identifies the 20 "meanest" cities in the country.
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2003
• Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2002

Archived news ITEMS:

• November 2: Homeless Shelters: A Feeble Response to Homelessness by Betty Reid Mandell (an article in NewPolitics)
• October 4: Statement for the Record of Barbara Anderson (NCH board member) before the
  Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, at a hearing on The Reauthorization of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. [pdf file]
• October 4: NCH's comment on the Reed Community Partnership to End Homelessness Act (CPEHA, S. 1518).
• August 27: Legislative Action Alert: Weigh-In On HUD McKinney-Vento Reauthorization.
• August 16: Open Invitation to Presidential Candidates: Be Homeless!
• July 30: "Hating the Homeless: Attacks on Homeless Rise Across Nation," an article about NCH's hate crimes work from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• July 30: A briefing was held on July 10th regarding violence against homeless people. The briefing
  was cosponsored with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, along with
  the office of Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.
• July 20: NCH Calls on Congress to “Bring America Home” at National Event Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.
• July 15: I, President of the U.S., and How I Ended Poverty. A True Story of the Future. (This is part 2 of the article Lessons from a Candidate Who Sought to End Poverty).
• June 11: In order to curtail the devastating impact that tobacco use has on the homeless community, the National Coalition for Homeless, in partnership with The Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM) and The National Network on Tobacco Prevention and Poverty (NNTPP) are pleased to announce The National Survey on Tobacco Prevention at Homeless Service Agencies. The results of this survey will help guide further research and funding to this issue. Please click here to take the survey.
• June 10: "Home is Where the Heart Is: A look at the relationship between homeless pet guardians
  and the animals they cherish," from Chicagoland Tails.
• May 27: Lessons from a Candidate Who Sought to End Poverty (Part I)
• May 20: "Dumped on Skid Row," a story on May 20th's 60 Minutes. Hospitals put homeless patients in a van or a taxi and drop them on the city’s Skid Row, sometimes dressed in only a flimsy gown, even if they're not healthy enough to fend for themselves.
• May 17: NCH mentioned in New York Times article "Gay Youths Find Place to Call Home in Specialty Shelters."
• May 9: Legislation Introduced to Make Attacks on Homeless a Hate Crime.
• April 27: House Passes Representative Taylor’s "Assault Or Battery On Homeless Persons" Legislation.
• April 26: NCH gets a "Wag of the Finger" from Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report. (Note: this is a large file.)
• March 18: New report on "couch-homeless," precariously housed people.
• February 20: NEW Hate Crimes Report released: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes And Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness, 2006
• Please click here to read the NCH hate crimes report reference in the Onion, "Teen-On-Homeless Violence Increases."
• Please click here to read the CNN story "Teen 'sport killings' of homeless on the rise"
• February 5: New report reveals epidemic of homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. More than 500,000 LGBT youth in the United States at risk of homelessness this winter. To find out more, click here.
• December 25: Opie and Anthony: Exploiters of the Homeless
• October 19: "A vile teen fad: beating the homeless" story in the Christian Science Monitor discusses hate crimes against people in homeless situations.
• On Sunday, October 1, CBS 60 Minutes with Ed Bradley did a story on teen violence against homeless people. The National Coalition for the Homeless’ longstanding work on this issue is featured in this broadcast. Guests included: Ed Bradley, Host; Jeffrey Spurgeon, 19, along with four other teens, killed Michael Roberts in May of 2005 in Holly Hill, Florida; Brian Levin, criminologist, California State University and an expert on hate crimes; and Ryan McPherson, a creator of the Bumfights videos series. Please click here for more info.
• September 10: Homeless employees file suit to stop abuses of minimum wage laws.

For more information contact, Michael Stoops, Executive Director, 202.462.4822, ext. 234; mstoops@nationalhomeless.org.