National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

"This is my first time here, and I am converted," said Robert Hornstein of the Southern Legal Council of Gainesville, Florida. Hornstein was attending the National Housing Law Project's Loose Association of Legal Service Housing Advocates and Clients (LALSHAC) Meeting held on May 23rd and 24th at the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The LALSHAC meeting provides low-income housing advocates and attorneys an opportunity to participate in one or more of several on-going working groups addressing a variety of substantive issues including the federal budget, rural housing and fair housing. More than 100 representatives from legal services field offices and other housing advocacy organizations, some of them client representatives, participated in the meeting. This year, NHLP provided a pre-meeting training on Saturday, May 22nd for those clients and advocates who wished to learn more about the widespread changes taking place in federal housing programs. The training focused on public housing, certificate and voucher programs, and the project-based Section 8 program, and helped lay the groundwork for more informed and meaningful participation during the LALSHAC Meeting.

NHLP has been coordinating and hosting the meeting for LALSHAC since 1977. LALSHAC had been formed earlier that same year with the recognition that client needs and concerns could best be addressed through coordinated advocacy targeted at HUD, USDA and Congress, as well as through a regular exchange of information on ongoing litigation and tenant issues. In the early days of the Carter administration, LALSHAC advanced extensive, successful advocacy with federal agencies and Congress. During the Reagan-Bush era, LALSHAC's advocacy with federal agencies tapered off as access to agency policymakers was lessened. LALSHAC continued its advocacy with Congress and focused more heavily on litigation strategies during this period. Not until Clinton's election in 1992 did LALSHAC's early active advocacy with federal agencies resume with full vigor. With the loss of Legal Services Corporation funding by NHLP in 1995, LALSHAC's coordinating body was restructured so that many responsibilities once held by NHLP staff were assumed by field advocates. With this successful transition, the LALSHAC meetings were reinstituted in 1997 after a brief hiatus.

This year's meeting proved to be one of the more dynamic and lively exchanges in recent memory. Clients and advocates participated in working group sessions on the public housing program, certificate and vouchers, multi-family housing, and fair housing. The sessions provided advocates with a forum to exchange information on the latest housing developments and an opportunity to engage with policymakers. In particular, clients and housing advocates participated in a dialogue with policymakers from HUD including Rod Solomon, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Programs and Legislative Initiatives. The discussion concerned the regulations HUD has issued implementing the recently enacted public housing legislation. The group also spoke with Elinor Bacon, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing Investments, concerning the HOPE VI Program, the application process, and its weak assurance of resident inclusiveness. Ken Zimmerman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement Programs with HUD's Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office, discussed the role of that office in HUD's rulemaking regarding the new housing legislation.

This year's plenaries addressed a range of issues including the implementation of the new public housing and voucher legislation, strategies to prevent the loss of project-based Section 8 housing, and local actions addressing the intersection of welfare and housing. Xavier Briggs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research, Evaluation and Monitoring with HUD's Policy Development and Research office, presented exegesis on methods of affirmatively furthering fair housing and civil rights laws. Gail Laster, General Counsel for HUD, and Professor Florence Wagman Roisman of the Indiana University School of Law provided the keynote speeches at Monday's luncheon. NHLP staff and LALSHAC members were particularly delighted and honored that Professor Roisman, a former NHLP staff member and litigator, joined us for this year's luncheon. Her speech provided younger legal services attorneys and housing advocates with an encouraging perspective on the gains made in federal housing programs over the last several decades. She also honored and reminded older legal services "lifers" of their accomplishments and successes in light of the challenges ahead.

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