1. How to Make Human Rights Real
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How to Make Human Rights Real
Homelessness & Beyond

2. Human Rights to Human Reality
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Human Rights to Human Reality
At the close of 2014, we got the three human rights treaty monitoring bodies that oversee U.S. human rights treaty implementation to call for more action on criminalization of homelessness, including specific recommendations to create federal funding incentives to discourage the practice and in 2015 the UPR made a recommendation on the point. That’s impressive. But the real breakthrough is that through our advocacy with the DOJ, USICH and HUD, those recommendations are being put into practices. The DOJ filed a brief in one of our cases, calling out the human suffering of homeless persons criminalized for simply sleeping outside as cruel and unusual punishment. USICH actively addresses criminalization as a human rights violation and created new guidance on tent cities opposing forced evictions. And HUD used the power of the purse to penalize communities that criminalize. All of this is covered in our Human Rights to Human Reality report. So I’m going to go really quickly through those steps, but they’re all in this manual on our website.

3. 1. Vision Your Work as Human Rights Work
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1. Vision Your Work as Human Rights Work
Research
Analyze
Apply
Photo credit:

4. 2. Lay Your Base nlchp.org Build the movement Use partners
Incorporate government officials
Focus on concrete outcomes

5. 3. Use the Standards nlchp.org Default to human rights.
Where you achieve success, document it, share it, build on it.

6. 4. Use the Mechanisms Internationally
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4. Use the Mechanisms Internationally
Focus
Be Creative
Participate

7. 5. Use the Mechanisms Domestically
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5. Use the Mechanisms Domestically
Use the Rapporteurs
Use fully, and go beyond, the Reviews
Be Opportunistic

8. 6. Build Complementary Standards
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6. Build Complementary Standards
Association resolutions
Local resolutions

9. 7. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up
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7. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up
Don’t wait – make your own opportunities!

10. 8. Document Your Success to Make More Success
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8. Document Your Success to Make More Success
Make your own echo chamber.
Make your own media.

11. 9. Make the Rights Real nlchp.org Map yourself to victory
Look at Administrative action especially

12. 9. Make the Rights Real nlchp.org Map yourself to victory
Look at Administrative action especially
– as I said there is now a whole page of the USICH website dedicated to human rights.

13. HUD web page
And a HUD webpage citing human rights obligations

14. DOJ Brief
And a DOJ brief in our case citing the human consequences of criminalization

15. DOJ COPS Newsletter
And a few weeks ago the DOJ put out a newsletter to 6,500 law enforcement officers across the country talking about our human rights commitments

16. HUD NOFA
Competition for HUD funding is so fierce that “half a point or a point can make a difference between being funded or not funded”
-HUD Dep. Sec. Ann Oliva, Think Progress, Aug. 18, 2015
And in its funding application released in September, HUD told communities for the first time that prevention and reduction of criminalization of homelessness is worth up to 2 points on their applications, and those points will matter.
Outreach. Up to 2 points to CoCs that demonstrate recipients have implemented specific strategies that prevent criminalization of homelessness….Applicants must describe how they are reducing criminalization of homelessness …

17. Make Rights a Reality
Competition for HUD funding is so fiercethat “half a point or a point can make a difference between being funded or not funded”
-HUD Dep. Sec. Ann Oliva, Think Progress, Aug. 18, 2015
And all of these things are making a difference in the lives of people across the country. Homeless people are sleeping safer tonight because of our human rights work at the international level, and at the federal level.
We have changed the baseline of the conversation at the federal level on the issue of criminalization where human rights is now part of that conversation, and while it’s a small thing, it actually changes everything.
Outreach. Up to 2 points to CoCs that demonstrate recipients have implemented specific strategies that prevent criminalization of homelessness….Applicants must describe how they are reducing criminalization of homelessness …

18. Constructive Alternative Policies
Laws that remove barriers to housing access
Eviction record sealing and expungement
Prohibit discrimination based on criminal records
Laws that protect security of tenure
“Just Cause” eviction policies
Protections of tenants in foreclosed properties
To sustainably end the criminalization of homelessness, we must also promote constructive alternative policies that work to prevent and end homelessness.
It is important to promote laws that reduce homelessness by removing barriers to housing access. For example, policies that allow renters to seal and expunge their eviction histories, such as exists in California when an eviction action is ultimately dismissed or the tenant wins, can be critical to those tenants’ ability to secure future rental housing. Similarly, laws that limit a landlord’s ability to deny housing based on a rental applicant’s criminal history can promote access to housing. Recognizing this, HUD
recently released new guidelines for public housing providers, prohibiting landlords from using arrest records to reject rental applicants.
Once in housing, it is important that policies are in place to prevent unfair evictions. A growing number of cities have enacted “just cause” eviction laws, that limit the circumstances under which a landlord may lawfully evict a tenant. Under such a law, for example, it may be permissible to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent or damage to the unit, but a landlord would not be permitted to evict a tenant due to foreclosure on the rental property.
Laws that protect the housing stability of renters in foreclosed properties have also increased in recent years, primarily at the state level. These laws, many modeled on the now expired federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, frequently provide for the survival of a renter’s lease agreement post-foreclosure and a minimum period of notice to vacate. Such laws, by protecting renters’ security of tenure, promote housing stability and reduce the risk of homelessness.

19. 10. Hold Government Accountable
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10. Hold Government Accountable

20. Human Rights to Human Reality
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Human Rights to Human Reality
So as I said, all of this is in our report, and you can use it to help your communities make human rights into human reality.

21. Eric Tars etars@nlchp.org 202-638-2535 x.120 www.nlchp.org
Contact Information
Eric Tars x.120