The Washington Legal Clinic For The Homeless

Community engagment and programatic leadership -The Legal Clinic is committed to ensuring that unhoused community members are aware of their rights, have The training and support needed to participate in The public discourse that impacts their lives, and The ability and space to develop their own advocacy goals. This year we hired an outreach specialist to assist The director of community engagement in our efforts to ensure The unhoused community is aware of their rights and The power of their voice.

Policy & advocacy -for policy and advocacy in 2023, The Legal Clinic worked to improve and increase funding for programs that clients rely on for shelter and housing. Through litigation; legislative, policy, budget and administrative advocacy; agency reform; and community education, The Legal Clinic attempted to improve programs and expand opportunities for clients and other low-income community members on issues such as The rights of people in encampments, access to emergency shelter, subsidized and affordable housing, miminizing barriers to housing access, and increasing The investment in permanent affordable housing and eviction prevention funding.

Legal services - for Legal services in 2023, The Legal Clinic held several weekly intake sessions with volunteer attorneys. Volunteer attorneys opened 138 Legal matters and staff attorneys opened 214 Legal matters. Overall, 104 cases were related to shelter issues (a number of which focused on securing access to shelter for families who had been unlawfully denied admission to this life-saving resource) and 141 cases involved housing issues (often related to short- and long-term housing subsidies). The remainder was a mix of issues concerning cash benefits and civil issues that included consumer matters, discrimination, disability rights, police conduct, identification, and more.