Home : Rights of the Poor

ACLU Says Current Welfare Reform Measure Ineffective, Calls for Civil Rights Protections, Better Poverty Elimination Efforts (09/10/2003)
WASHINGTON - As the Senate Finance Committee considers a key welfare reauthorization bill, the American Civil Liberties Union today reiterated its insistence that an effective welfare system must have poverty reduction as its highest priority. The ACLU also said that the welfare reform legislation would, in many cases, open doors in the states to significant violations of the core civil liberties of welfare recipients.

ACLU Joins Chorus Against Marriage Promotion in Welfare Reform; Says Policy Threatens Increased Spousal Abuse, Undercuts Privacy (07/17/2003)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today stood with a group of conservative libertarians, progressive advocates and lawmakers in calling for the removal of provisions in the Republican version of welfare reform legislation that authorize and allocate funds for marriage promotion schemes in the states.

ACLU Lawsuit Over Pittsburgh's Property Sweeps of Homeless Results in One of Nation's Most Protective Policies (05/13/2003)
PITTSBURGH -- Under a settlement reached in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of Pittsburgh's unsheltered homeless people by the American Civil Liberties Union, city officials have agreed to stop destroying homeless people's property and to provide advance notice of property sweeps.

ACLU Sues Pittsburgh Over Seizure and Destruction of Homeless People's Belongings (05/05/2003)
PITTSBURGH -- Acting on behalf of unsheltered homeless individuals here, the American Civil Liberties Union of Greater Pittsburgh today filed a federal civil rights class action lawsuit charging the city with depriving local homeless people of their due process rights when it seizes and destroys their personal property, including family photographs, medications and identification papers.

ACLU Decries Latest Blow to Equal Opportunity Programs; HUD Rule Change Would Discard Key Hiring Protections (03/07/2003)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today decried an obscure proposed policy change at the Department of Housing and Urban Development that would strip key equal opportunity protections from a $4 billion federal community development program.

Welfare Reform Must Aim to Eliminate Poverty and Protect Civil Rights; Current Legislation Not Up to Task, ACLU Says (02/13/2003)
WASHINGTON - Saying that an effective welfare system must have poverty reduction as its highest priority, the American Civil Liberties Union today warned Congress that welfare reform legislation set for consideration this afternoon in the House is not up to the task and would, in many cases, open doors in the states to significant violations of the core civil liberties of welfare recipients.

In Legal First, NJ Supreme Court to Consider Law Denying Aid to Children of Families on Welfare (01/21/2003)
TRENTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union will tomorrow urge the New Jersey Supreme Court to reject a state law that denies welfare benefits to children born into families already receiving welfare.

ACLU of WA Challenges Zoning Ordinance that Bars Community Services for Low-Income People (01/15/2003)
PASCO, WA-- The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today filed a lawsuit on behalf of a local nonprofit agency challenging a city zoning ordinance that prohibits community services for low-income residents from operating in the downtown area.

NYCLU Urges City Agency to Reject First-Ever Fingerprint Plan for Subsidized Housing Tenants (11/04/2002)
NEW YORK--In a letter sent today to the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York Civil Liberties Union urged the agency to reject a proposal to impose a fingerprint identification system for tenants at a subsidized housing complex.

Welfare Must Work at Eliminating Poverty, Protecting Civil Rights; ACLU Warns Senate Most Reform Schemes Not Up to Task (06/26/2002)
WASHINGTON - Saying that an effective welfare system must have poverty reduction as its highest priority, the American Civil Liberties Union today warned a Senate committee that most current reform plans are not up to the task and would, in many cases, encourage the ongoing state-level violation of welfare recipients' core civil liberties.

ACLU Highlights Steps Needed to Ensure Fair Housing Practices (06/25/2002)
WASHINGTON - Testifying before a joint meeting of two House subcommittees, the American Civil Liberties Union today highlighted a number of concrete steps that it says the Department of Housing and Urban Development should take to reestablish its leadership in promoting fair housing practices and combating urban segregation. 

ACLU Urges Congress to Prevent Unfair Eviction of Innocent Tenants, Domestic Violence Victims (06/18/2002)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today urged support in Congress for legislation to protect innocent tenants - including victims of domestic violence - from being unfairly evicted under a misguided policy that revokes eligibility for public housing tenants because of the wrongdoing of others.