Legal Updates

Franklin Shelter plaintiffs return to the US District Court for the District of Columbia for a hearing at 9:00am on October 8, 2010.  Plaintiffs have requested a lift of the Stay on the proceedings in order to proceed with hearings on pending allegations of violations of the Fair Housing Act, the American with Disabilities Act, the DC Human Rights Act as a result of the closing of Franklin Shelter, reflecting a systematic displacement of the poor and the most vulnerable from the most affluent parts of DC (e.g. Ward 2) to the poorest wards in DC (Wards 5, 7, 8).  The displacement of the homeless is proceeding with rapid speed, despite the imminent replacement Fenty with Gray.  No public shelters exist in Ward 2, 3, or 4, and the only remaining public shelter in Ward 1 will close soon. 

Plaintiffs have submitted evidence of growing harm, and hope to proceed with hearings on the merits in the near future.