In what may be the strongest signal yet that the Housing Authority of New Orleans is trying to turn over a new leaf, the agency announced on Wednesday that it has hired one of its most vocal critics, longtime legal-aid lawyer Laura Tuggle, as general counsel.

NHLP is seeking candidates to apply for 2011-2013 fellowships offered by Equal Justice Works, the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, and others. The application deadline is July 30, 2010.

On April 8, 2010, the California Court of Appeal issued a published opinion holding that California’s source of income discrimination law does not include Section 8 voucher holders. The court also held that under California fair housing law, an in-place tenant cannot receive an accommodation that would require her landlord to accept a voucher as a reasonable accommodation to her disability. The court’s analysis would preclude providing accommodations to any in-place tenant not at risk of losing their unit. NHLP, with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Brancart and Brancart, and McDermott Will & Emery LLP, filed a request with the California Supreme Court to depublish the portions of the opinion that deal with reasonable accommodation because they conflict with federal and state law.

Article: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sits on the highest court in the land but she was very down to earth Friday when she returned home to the Bruckner section of the Bronx. Sotomayor used to call the Bronxdale Houses, a public housing development, home. The development will now be called the "Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses." She was the guest of honor at the naming ceremony. NEW YORK (CBS) -- Jun 4, 2010 6:20 pm -- By JOSH LANDIS, CBS 2 HD News

NHLP has submitted a friend of the court brief in Guggenheim v. City of Goleta, a case challenging the constitutionality of the city’s mobilehome rent control ordinance. The case will be heard by the en banc Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in late June. A panel of the Court previously held that ordinance constitutes a taking. If left to stand, the ruling could provide a means for park owners everywhere to bring new challenges to rent ordinances.

At the request of the House Subcommittee On April 28, 2010, NHLP staff testified before the Subcommittee the Public Housing One-for-One Replacement and Tenant Protection Act, Discussion Draft, dated April 6, 2010.

The laws, rules and practices affecting the HUD housing programs are subject to ongoing change and revision. NHLP’s 2010 Supplement offers new information and the latest developments in the law on tenants’ rights under the HUD housing programs since publication of the 3rd Edition of NHLP’s HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights in 2004, also known as the “Green Book.”

HUD has announced that as part of its broader efforts to increase fair housing enforcement, applicants for its grants must abide by state and local fair housing laws the protect individuals from discrimination based on their source of income, sexual orientation, and gender identity. If an applicant does not abide by such fair housing laws, it will be denied funding, or risk losing funding. This is the first time that HUD has ever promulgated such a requirement.

Please support NHLP in our fundraising drive and make your generous gift now. With your help over the past year, we made a difference.

In late October, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing undertook an official visit to the U.S. to “examine the realization of the right to adequate housing, in particular in relation to subsidized housing programmes, the homeless situation and the foreclosure crisis.” She met with federal, state, and local government officials, non-profit organizations, and community members in six cities and on one Native American reservation. In her report published on February 12, 2010, the Special Rapporteur makes a number of recommendations. She urges Congress to increase funding for public housing and the Section 8 voucher program, extend PTFA beyond 2012, and pass legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of source of income. She also suggests that the government develop constructive alternatives to the criminalization of homelessness and reform policies that keep individuals out of subsidized housing on the basis of criminal activity.

Congressman Barney Frank (MA), Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, has introduced HR 4868, the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Act of 2010, on March 17, 2010. The bill, which has been under consideration for over 2 years, addresses the preservation of federally and state financed assisted housing, restoration of at risk housing due to deterioration, protection of residents and preservation of troubled properties at risk of foreclosure. A hearing on the bill was conducted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. The hearing is archived and can be viewed at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr_031710.shtml. Markup of the bill is expected before June and consideration by the Committee and the House is expected before the end of the year.

NHLP is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new initiative, Dialogues for Change: Engaging Residents of Federally Assisted Housing in HUD Policymaking. The initiative was a response to Secretary Donovan's welcome desire for meaningful input from residents as HUD formulates new policies.

During his keynote address at the Housing Justice Network conference on March 8th, Secretary Shaun Donovan offered his vision for what he called, “the single most important thing we do at HUD – and that is provide rental assistance to America’s most vulnerable families.” In his first major policy address on the subject, he outlined HUD’s proposed Transforming Rental Assistance Initiative (TRA).