The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

Today we are seeing the needs of military families being raised to level of national importance. First Lady Michelle Obama, along with Dr. Jill Biden, has made improving the lives of military families her signature issue, and this is reflected in a proposed expansion in funding for military support programs in the president’s 2011 budget. Improving the focus on military family issues is welcome, as the burdens placed on the men and women of our armed forces have increased throughout the past decade, where active-duty servicemembers have become accustomed to frequent and lengthy deployments overseas. This trend has imposed great challenges on our military families, which may not end upon the servicemember’s discharge into our already-sizable veteran population. These include, unfortunately, a full range of legal issues, many of which are unique to those currently and formerly serving in the armed forces.

As these legal needs have grown, they have been met with many local, state, and national initiatives enabling attorneys to step forward to deliver much-needed legal help to active-duty sevicemembers and veterans. And where military culture had historically adopted a “we take care of our own” attitude when it came to providing legal services to its members, the military legal assistance establishment is now grateful for the support of and collaboration with the private bar to act as a “force multiplier” to extend the range of services and legal counsel available to servicemembers, often delivered at a reduced cost or free-of-charge by the civilian attorneys.

There is much that a private bar attorney can to do aid our current and former servicemembers. Many military families encounter civil legal needs, such as:

• landlord/tenant matters, including deposit recovery problems related to Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA) lease terminations;
• family law issues, especially child custody disputes arising around overseas deployment;
• credit and lending problems, which can include payday loans, auto sales contracts, and interest rate reductions under the SCRA;
• employment issues, particularly for National Guard members and Reservists needing to enforce reemployment rights;
• guardianship needs, or estate matters on behalf of families of deceased servicemembers; and
• securing vitally-needed benefits for veterans from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In the fall of 2009, the Shriver Center published a special issue of Clearinghouse Review featuring articles written by military and civilian attorneys on these and other topics affecting veterans, servicemembers, and their families. This issue of the Review is an important tool supporting work done to expand access to justice for current and former military members, and it is available online for subscribers; nonsubscribers may purchase individual articles, or order the entire special issue. Any military legal assistance attorney may have free access to the issue through the American Bar Association Military Pro Bono Project website. Attorneys, whether in legal aid, pro bono, or private practice, can do much to help military families, and this issue of the Review illuminates how such assistance can be provided.

For more discussion on these issues and the important role that can be played by members of the civilian bar, please join our Shriver Center Dialogue on Accessing Justice: Military Veterans, Servicemembers, and Their Families, Friday, February 26, 2010, at DLA Piper 203 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60601, at 8:15 a.m. Presenters will include advocates working to meet the legal needs of this important population. We hope you will join us to find out how you can get involved with giving back to those who have sacrificed so much for us.
 

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Federal and state governments are overwhelmed solving the unprecedented combination of problems caused by the distressed economy, health care reform, and crises in state and federal budgets. Even the experts cannot easily answer the complicated and overlapping questions raised by these difficulties. These same problems intensify the hardships of people already struggling in poverty. They lead to more people going hungry, and losing their jobs or homes.

Clearinghouse Review editors are looking to lighten the load of advocates whose hands are full helping struggling families and seeking social and economic justice for their client communities. For 2010, we plan to publish articles that will assist advocates in solving client problems related to income, jobs, housing, budget crises, and racial justice. Here are a few examples.

Pursuant to the settlement of a nationwide class action, the income of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities may be increased by more than $500 million in retroactive social security benefits.  Attorneys from the National Senior Citizens Law Center  describe the settlement in a recent Clearinghouse Review article. This article is part of a major outreach effort to ensure that eligible clients receive the benefits that they were illegally denied under the Social Security Administration’s “fleeing felon” policy. 

As foreclosures continue and more people lose their homes, advocates across the country are experimenting with different ways to help their clients. In two recent articles, one resourceful author makes the case for a right to counsel in foreclosure actions. In another article, authors from California approach advocacy from a different angle. They recommend that advocates explore the importance of “frames”--the stories and explanations embedded in our thought patterns about the way society and the world work--in how they communicate about the issues that matter to their clients and in their advocacy. Giving specific examples of what language to use and what to avoid, they present the theory and application of framing as an advocacy tool, in particular in race equity advocacy.

We are interested in your feedback on these article topics and your ideas for other topics we might cover this year. I invite you to connect with us by:

• commenting on this blog;
  
• signing up for one of our occasional readers' conference calls (look for dates in the free Clearinghouse Review News enewsletter);
  
• participating in our discussion group on Facebook;
  
• filling out the online readers' survey for the most recent issue of the Review.

Through Clearinghouse Review we hope to offer innovative and effective legal strategies in representing low-income people and their communities. The more we hear and learn from you, the better we are able to plan content that is meaningful and relevant to your practice.
 

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Earlier this week President Obama announced his budget proposal for the coming year. These are precarious times with conflicting demands. Most economists agree that more government spending is needed to help speed the end of the recession and bring down unemployment. But there is also mounting concern that that federal deficit is getting too large, which weighs against added longer term spending. The President’s proposal walks the tightrope between these concerns and promotes both the short term “jobs” goal and the longer term deficit-reduction goal.  It contains important policy and spending priorities and deserves support.

Help for states and working families

The President proposes to extend the life of crucial enhanced payments to states under Medicaid, the state fiscal stabilization program, and the TANF Emergency Contingency funds. These three funding streams created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus law have helped states patch their budgets, save and create jobs, and protect health coverage. It is important that as much of this relief as possible be included in the immediate “jobs” proposal (some call it a “second stimulus”) being debated for passage in Congress in the next weeks, rather than waiting for the next federal fiscal year.

Improve revenues overall while protecting middle-class tax relief

The budget proposal allows the Bush-era tax credits for the wealthy to expire as scheduled, and it closes a number of tax loopholes. It also makes permanent the improved middle-class tax relief that was put in place by ARRA through the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

Targeted discretionary spending freeze, but program increases

The discretionary spending freeze got the most press. It is a “global” freeze, in that the overall number is frozen, but within that number there are important priorities. Some programs actually get increases, while less effective programs will be cut. Child care would get a $1.6 billion per year increase. Housing Choice vouchers (Section 8) would get a $1.3 billion increase, enough to fully fund renewal of all 2.1 million current vouchers. Pell Grants would increase by over $7 billion and would be taken out of the “discretionary” category altogether.  And Head Start would increase by $1 billion.

Assumes passage of health reform

By making financial decisions that assume that health reform measures are in place, the budget proposal corroborates the frequent statements of the President and others that the Administration intends to complete the health care reform process.

The budget proposal walks the difficult line between short-term stimulus and long-term deficit reduction, while setting important priorities for low- and middle-income working families. 

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As millions lose their jobs, homes, and health insurance during this recession, they look to Congress to come through and help them in their time of need. But does it? Are the representatives in Washington really looking out for the interests of the people who were laid off by a plant closing, lost their health insurance, or face crushing debt as a result of a medical emergency? The 2009 Poverty Scorecard grades the performance of each member of Congress on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2009.

The Shriver Center's Poverty Scorecard compiles Congress's votes on 20 bills that have the most significant impact on the 40 million Americans living in poverty. The issues covered include economic recovery, health care, asset-building, housing, and climate change. The Scorecard shows that Congress did more to fight poverty in 2009 than in the two preceding years, and passed major anti-poverty initiatives that were signed into law by President Obama. But despite successes like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Congress could have done much more--only 7 of 17 poverty-related bills made it through both chambers and were signed into law. Paradoxically, representatives from many states with the highest poverty rates had the poorest voting records in fighting poverty.

The Scorecard's purpose is to hold U.S. Senators and Representatives accountable for either advancing or derailing efforts to ensure equal opportunity for all Americans. Our nation's political leadership must take even more aggressive action to address the many complex structural causes of poverty, by adopting the right priorities, enacting needed laws, and adequately funding essential programs, so that the current devastating trend will be reversed and there will be decent living standards in every region of the country.

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