Criminalization of Homelessness and Poverty: Local, State and National Resistance
Criminalization of homelessness takes many forms; it includes enactment of laws that punish unhoused people for doing things in public that every person has to do, unfairly enforcing other laws against unhoused people, threats of involuntary commitments, and punitive practices that disrupt or displace unhoused people from public spaces. Panelists will discuss the reality of local, state and national policies and what communities, advocates, lawyers, and policy makers can do to counter the rise in efforts to criminalize homelessness and poverty.
- Give attendees the current state of homelessness and help them understand what criminalization means on the local, state, and federal levels. Discuss constructive alternatives to criminalization and the various actions attendees can take to prevent the use of punitive civil and criminal legal approaches to punish people experiencing homelessness.
- Provide attendees with the criminalization landscape and emerging trends and tactics used by communities across the country, including the redirection of homelessness resources away from housing first and towards punitive policies.
- Help attendees understand the legal rights of people experiencing homelessness who are being criminalized and the disparate impacts on the basis of race, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and age.
- Discuss constructive alternatives to criminalization and the various actions attendees can take to prevent the use of punitive civil and criminal legal approaches to punish people experiencing homelessness.
Ramina Davidson
Vice President of Field Strategy & Innovation
National Low Income Housing Coalition
Ramina Davidson is the Vice President of Field Strategy & Innovation at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). In this role, she leads NLIHC's movement building efforts to achieve racially and socially equitable public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice.
Over the last decade, Ramina has combined organizing, legislative, and legal strategy with data and technology tools to achieve policy wins across the US for people experiencing homelessness and housing instability. Previous to her work at NLIHC, she led multi-disciplinary advocacy efforts at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law and the National Coalition for the Homeless. Prior to that, she designed a variety of metrics and data tools for the Built for Zero initiative at Community Solutions. Ramina holds a BS in mathematics from UCLA and a JD from Georgetown University. She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.
Michael Santos
Associate Director
RESULTS Educational Fund
Michael Santos is the Associate Director at RESULTS Educational Fund. He works with passionate grassroots advocates who use their voices to influence political decisions on critical federal housing policies that will bring an end to poverty. Prior to joining RESULTS, Michael was an eviction defense attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid. His prior work focused on advocating for homeless youth access to education through public education, impact litigation, and policy advocacy. Michael Santos has had a long history of working on the rights of low-income and underrepresented communities through the Department of Health and Human Services, the Clinton Foundation, and various non-profit organizations. He currently chairs the American Bar Associationâs Commission on Homelessness & Poverty. Michael graduated from Brown University with a double concentration in Biomedical Engineering and Ethnic Studies. He received his JD from University of Southern California Gould School of Law. He is admitted to the California, New York, and District of Columbia state bars. He is based in Washington, DC.
Tiffany Hickey
Staff Attorney, Equal Access and Housing
Disability Rights California (DRC)
Tiffany Hickey is a civil rights attorney specializing in housing justice and disability rights. With over a decade of experience serving low-income communities across California, she currently works as a Staff Attorney at Disability Rights California, where she provides legal advocacy and education to tenants with disabilities. Tiffanyâs career spans a decade of impactful roles in legal aid, where she worked on housing and public benefits and led efforts to improve language access and support immigrant communities. She holds a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and is a member of the California Bar. Tiffany received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2013.
Kirsten Anderson
Deputy Legal Director - Economic Justice
Southern Poverty Law Center
Kirsten Anderson is the Southern Poverty Law Centerâs deputy legal director for its Economic Justice legal team. She manages a dedicated team of attorneys and other legal professionals and is responsible for the overall vision, strategic planning and leadership of the SPLCâs economic justice work across the Deep South.
Anderson is an experienced civil rights litigator whose cases have set precedents advancing legal protections for people experiencing homelessness. She is a founding member of the national âHousing Not Handcuffsâ campaign committed to ending the criminalization of homelessness. She serves on the American Bar Association's Commission on Homelessness & Poverty.
Eric Tars
Senior Policy Director
National Homelessness Law Center
Eric Tars serves as the National Homelessness Law Centerâs Senior Policy Director, leading the development, oversight, and implementation of the Law Centerâs policy advocacy agenda to cultivate a society where every person can live with dignity and enjoy their basic human rights, including the right to affordable, quality, and safe housing. Eric helped spearhead the launch of the Law Centerâs national Housing Not Handcuffs campaign, has served as counsel of record in multiple precedent-setting cases, including Martin v. Boise in the 9th Circuit, and is frequently quoted in national and local media, including NPR, AP, New York Times, and Washington Post. Before coming to the Law Center, Eric was a Fellow with Global Rightsâ U.S. Racial Discrimination Program and consulted with Columbia University Law Schoolâs Human Rights Institute and the US Human Rights Network. Eric received his J.D. magna cum laude as a Global Law Scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received his B.A. magna cum laude in political science from Haverford College and studied international human rights in Vienna at the Institute for European Studies and at the University of Vienna.
Joy Johnson
Board Vice President
Legal Aid Justice Center
Components visible upon registration.