1. American Bar Association Policy Positions and
   White Papers on Homelessness and Poverty

Policy drafted by the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and adopted by the ABA House of Delegates:

• Principles for Veterans Treatment Courts (February 2010)
• Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (February 2010)
• Decriminalization of Homelessness (February 2007)
• Principles for Homeless Courts (August 2006)
• Expanding the Federal Definition of Homelessness (August 2006)
• Uninterrupted Educational Access and Stability for Homeless Children and Youth Final Recommendations
• Section 8 Low-Income Housing Voucher Recommendation (2003)
• Homeless Court Program (2003)
• Anti-Predatory Lending (2002)
• Digital Divide (2001)
• Due Process for TANF Recipients (2001)
• Native American Children and Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (2001)
• Access to Mail Delivery for People Who Are Homeless (August 2005)
• Affordable Housing Trust Fund (February 2005)

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ABA Advocacy

• Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011
• Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011 – HR 32
  

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Commission White Papers

No Such Place As "Away:" Why Banishment Is A Wrong Turn on the Path to Better and Safer Cities
(February 2010) 

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In the last decade the American Bar Association has taken policy positions on many issues related to homelessness and poverty:

• Affordable Housing (1995)
• Community Reinvestment (Midyear Meeting, 1990)
• Discrimination by race, national origin, or gender (Annual Meeting, 1995)
• Due process rights of public housing tenants (Annual Meeting, 1990)
• Earned Income Tax Credit (1996)
• Environmental Justice (1993)
• Federal Benefit Programs (1997)
• Free Legal Representation for Low-Income Persons (Annual Meeting, 1994)
• Funding for Legal Service Programs (1995)
• Homelessness Prevention (1995)
• Indigent Defense (1998)
• Medicaid Eligibility and Asset Transfers (1998)
• Needle Exchange Programs (1997)
• Public Benefits for Legal Immigrants (1997)
• Public Housing (1992)
• Social Security Outreach (Annual Meeting, 1991)
• Voting Rights for the Homeless (1993)
• Welfare Family Cap (1995)
• Welfare Funding (1992)

For more information or for a copy of any of the resolutions in the list above, contact Amy Horton- Newell at homeless@americanbar.org.

* Each of these policy positions was approved by the ABA House of Delegates. For a master list of current ABA policy by topic, visit ABA Governmental Affairs Office .