Solving Homelessness
Wendie Kellington, the principal attorney at the Kellington Law Group, P.C., has received national recognition for her insights regarding the issue of homelessness. It's a growing problem across the United States.
Wendie observed in a Keynote address to the American Bar Association's 2018 Land Use Institute meeting in Detroit, Mich., that society has developed land use rules that accommodate nearly every human need: from traditional residential, commercial and industrial land needs to dog parks and bicycle lanes. Yet, there remains no place for the hundreds of thousands of homeless people throughout the United States, some of whom are chronically homeless.
Local government laws that “sweep and tow” are expensive, wholly ineffectual, and mostly unlawful, as many different federal decisions on this topic make clear. Sweep and tow programs also are frustrating to the governing and the governed because they merely ensure the problem shifts to somewhere else where the homeless also cannot lawfully be. Conventional, public or low-income housing is not the answer as it cannot and has not housed the homeless.
Solutions are out there, but they require thinking differently. The Kellington Law Group has the experience and expertise to assist communities to amend their land use rules and building code regulations to make it possible to create a coordinated policy program that includes rules allowing lawful homeless communities where the homeless can live safely and inexpensively. She also has experience and expertise to assist religious institutions to achieve the goals of their homeless and poverty ministries.
If you want to learn more, please contact us by following the link below.
Articles and Opinions
The following documents have been authored by Wendie Kellington or reflect her work in land-use cases. They are provided as examples only, and do not constitute legal advice.
American Bar Association
34th Annual Land Use Institute
April 2020