UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing
National Town Hall Forum
November 8, 2009
Washington, DC

On November 8, 2009, ACLU clients and attorneys presented oral testimony to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Ms. Raquel Rolnick, during the National Town Hall Forum she held in Washington, DC at the conclusion of her 18-day official mission to the United States to investigate housing rights violations.  This was the first official visit to the U.S by a U.N. Special Rapporteur on Housing.  WRP Staff Attorney Sandra Park testified about the housing rights of domestic violence survivors.  Public housing residents Glenda Smith and Esther Sharps, two of the plaintiffs in the ACLU’s case, Sharps v. The Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, testified about discriminatory banning policies that tear families apart.