In this issue of Human Rights magazine, Professors Francine J. Lipman and James E. Williamson address in their article “Taxing Poor Kids” how recent tax code changes for child tax credits perversely harm our most vulnerable children, while creating a windfall for income-rich households, and how, with reform, we can stand up for children.
As Stephen M. Dane points out in our fair housing policy article, Congress passed the very important federal Fair Housing Act in 1968 with broad bipartisan support. Yet today, the responsible federal agency is taking actions to suspend, eviscerate, or eliminate laws to affirmatively promote fair housing that result in low-income families continuing to be trapped in high-poverty and racially segregated areas. In “Source of Income Discrimination in Housing,” Antonia K. Fasanelli and Philip Tegeler provide helpful strategies for advocating for source of income legislation in your home area and for your clients.
John Mathews II and Marina A. Torres skillfully point out in their “Criminal Justice Debt Problems” article that our criminal justice system physically brutalizes and imprisons people simply because they are poor. Their article crystalizes and advances the conversation of criminal justice reform and compels unified action by all human rights activists. We urgently must do better.
See also Malia Brink’s article, “ABA Bail Policy: Taking Steps to Achieve Reform,” for a critical update on legislative and judicial action subsequent to passage of ABA Resolution 112C (August 2017) on bail policy.
An aim of consumer protection is to provide transparency and fairness to enhance bargaining equality. To that end, the article “Roadmap to Economic Justice” addresses auto purchase and loan issues of discrimination, dealer markup, transparency, timely notice, and lack of data collection that treat the poor unfairly by forcing them to pay more for a critical consumer need.
Student articles by Alexandra Holden on solving hunger anti-poverty policies, not anti-hunger policies, and Rotem Litinski on the justiciability of economic rights provide useful perspectives and advance our thinking on economic justice.
Finally, please see Mathew Mecoli’s column highlighting the tireless, outstanding advocacy from the staff of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, its founder Maria Foscarinis, and legal director Eric Tars. Their impressive legal victories and advocacy over a 30-year period are an inspiration.