Un caso de Oregón que pronto será visto por la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos podría tener una gran repercusión en la forma en que las ciudades tratan a las personas sin hogar. Los argumentos a favor de 'Johnson versus Grants Pass' están programados para el 22 de abril. Se trata de una orden de la ciudad de Grants Pass que prohíbe a las personas dormir en público, incluida la prohibición del uso de mantas y almohadas.

Loren Naldoza trabaja en el Oregon Food Bank, y presentó un escrito con otras 15 organizaciones del estado en apoyo a los demandantes. Dice que la falta de vivienda no es una elección de estilo de vida.

"Es un estado involuntario porque ha habido sistemas o crisis (como nuestra crisis de vivienda, por el costo de vida o crisis personales) que están impactando a personas en todo el estado, que convergen y dificultan que la gente tenga una vivienda estable," asegura Naldoza.

El Tribunal del 9º Distrito dictaminó a favor de los demandantes que la ley de Grants Pass viola la Octava Enmienda contra castigos crueles e inusuales. Los partidarios de la ley de Grants Pass dicen que debe permitirse a las ciudades decidir sus propias políticas y no al gobierno federal.

Naldoza afirma que criminalizar a las personas sin hogar no es una herramienta eficaz y sólo crearía más hambre y pobreza. Dice que las personas que salen del sistema de justicia penal se enfrentan a muchas dificultades diferentes.

"Lo que se obtiene al final son antecedentes penales," dice Naldoza, "lo que hace mas difícil para las personas que han estado sin hogar encontrar un lugar seguro, estable o accesible al que llamar hogar. Y también es difícil conseguir un empleo remunerado, especialmente si el empleo requiere una verificación de antecedentes o licencia."

Naldoza afirma que hay formas más eficaces de abordar esta crisis.

"En lo que realmente necesitamos invertir es en atención, compasión, tratamiento y otros recursos que la gente necesita para salir de su experiencia de quedarse sin hogar," concluye Naldoza.

As Virginia evictions rise, one group is helping low-income renters fight back.

Before the pandemic, evictions peaked at 16,000 in January 2020. An eviction moratorium kept renters housed during part of the pandemic but evictions are growing again.

Phil Storey, director of the Eviction Defense Center at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said his office helps people navigate housing court.

"We wanted to provide not just information about things they can bring up to the judge to try and affect what happens but also some tools that'll help them do that without having to act as if they were experienced lawyers," Storey explained.

He added eviction laws are better for tenants, although they still give landlords an advantage. Affordable housing significantly declined in the state leaving many people unable to afford housing. The Eviction Defense Center operates on two websites. English speakers can use FightMyEviction.org and Spanish speakers can use NoDesalojo.org.

While the Eviction Defense Center is still relatively new, Storey is looking for ways to improve and build on it. He added they want to learn from the users taking advantage of the tools being offered.

"Obviously, we'll be able to go sort of peek behind the curtain and see which paths people are following through the information," Storey noted. "If some of them end up as dead ends or if people end up backing out of the decision tree, or things like that. We'll learn things about how to make that all better."

New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing.

In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing built by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 515 program. Rural housing organizations asked for $25 million but are grateful the state is taking action.

Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York, said another bill the Legislature should pass makes the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program permanent.

"Basically what that does is provide grants to low- to moderate-income people to replace their mobile homes that are dilapidated and unsafe," Borges explained.

He would also like to see administration fees increase for nonprofits taking part in the Access to Home Program, which provides accessibility modification for low- to moderate-income residents. Reports showed it got requests totaling $12 million but only got enough funding for $1 million in improvements. The Senate is poised to pass both bills, leaving the Assembly as the final hurdle.

However, the budget was not perfect for rural housing. Borges said one shortcoming of the 2025 budget were cuts to the RESTORE program, which provides emergency repairs for low-to-moderate-income seniors. He said New York should take action now to continue improving rural housing preservation and development.

"We need a comprehensive housing initiative that looks at the obstacles to building and renovating, repairing housing in rural communities," Borges contended. "The three main obstacles to that are local capacity, infrastructure and targeted programs for rural housing."

He added rural areas do not often have the same resources and capacity as urban communities. Because rural housing is in short supply because of the aging housing stock, there have been stark population declines from rural New York communities.

Orange County's Supreme Court reversed a decision letting the city of Newburgh implement state tenant protections.

The city declared a housing emergency in 2023 when a study showed a vacancy rate less than 4%. The lawsuit overturning the protections found that the study was flawed, leading the court to invalidate it.

Daniel Atonna, political coordinator for the group For the Many, said this leaves tenants in a precarious position.

"This rips away protections for tenants in over 730 apartments in the city of Newburgh," he said, "at a time when tenants all across the Hudson Valley, all across New York, are facing difficult conditions as landlords are trying to evict them and raise their rent."

The petitioner's attorney said if unchecked, the city's actions would have made drastic changes to the rental market without legal basis.

This ruling also keeps Newburgh from setting up a rent guidelines board to decide whether rent-stabilized tenants' rents should stay the same, increase or decrease. Atonna said he hopes the city redoes the survey and implements these protections.

Atonna thinks Newburgh should opt into the newly passed Good Cause Eviction protections. This could better protect tenants, although some housing advocates feel these protections are ineffective. He said many residents support having tenant protections.

"Because it's meant stabilization for the community, right? It means a strong community where their neighbors aren't getting uprooted and evicted every couple of years," he said. "So, this was something that was going to be good for everyone."

A 2021 survey found 77% of Newburgh residents would leave the city because of high rents. It also found that people spend more than 30% of their income on rent.


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