Law Foundation's Favorites of 2018 — Health

The Law Foundation's "Favorites of 2018" continues this week with our health-related favorites. You can help us continue to use the law as a tool for change by making a gift to the Law Foundation today. Your end-of-year support is greatly appreciated and will help increase access to justice for our most vulnerable communities in Silicon Valley.

Learn more about the health-related issues affecting our clients and community by checking out the list below. Also, click here to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates from the Law Foundation straight to your inbox (including lists like these)!

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55 Steps

Based on a true story, this film explores an uphill legal fight for a patient's rights that led to Riese v. St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Care Center. In this case, brought in the name of Eleanor Riese by the California ACLU, the California State Court of Appeals declared that patients in involuntary mental health treatment have the right to exercise informed consent in most cases regarding the use of antipsychotic drugs. This case still governs the hearings conducted by the Law Foundation's Patients' Rights Unit and established a legal standard for determining capacity to refuse psychiatric medications that are used nationally and around the world. Featuring an award-winning cast, including Helena Bonham Carter and Hilary Swank, this film tells an inspiring and heartfelt story of friendship and combating mistreatment. Watch here.

Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act - Immigration Enforcement

 Comedian and host of the Netflix show "Patriot Act," Hasan Minhaj analyzes and contextualizes United States' xenophobic immigration policies by exploring the history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other issues that contribute to the current anti-immigrant climate, shown most recently through the example of the Central American caravan. Using data from The Marshall Project, Minhaj uses facts and humor to demonstrate how U.S. immigration policies are broken. As one of several co-counsel representing immigrant minors in the Flores Settlement Agreement, the Law Foundation helps ensure the standards that govern length of time and conditions in which migrant children can be held at federal detention facilities are enforced. Watch here.

"UNAIDS Report: 9 Million Are Likely HIV Positive And Don't Know It"- NPR

 This year's theme for World AIDS Day, on December 1, was "Know your HIV status." A new report from UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS) found that about 9.4 million people are likely HIV-positive and don't know it. The UNAIDS also just launched a global partnership to eliminate HIV-related stigma, which continues to be widespread around the world. People living with HIV experience discrimination based on their gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and immigration status. Our Health Program provides services to people living with HIV to ensure that discrimination like this doesn't undermine their rights, including access to health, work, and a stable income. Read here.

RACE EQUITY SPOTLIGHT

"So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo

Race and racism can be difficult topics to talk about if they're not part of someone's daily life experience, but this book is for everyone. Oluo takes an accessible and approachable avenue to address the most sensitive and charged issues in the United States regarding racial disparities and oppression by being straightforward and funny. From white privilege to police brutality, this New York Times bestseller breaks down the systems of power, how they work to perpetuate and uphold racial oppression, and how each of us can do our part to help dismantle them. Read this review from the National Book Review.

San Jose City Council Supports Ordinance Limiting Section 8 Housing Discrimination

On Tuesday, December 11, San Jose City Council voted to support a number of tenant protections that will improve the lives of low-income and working-class families in their search for affordable housing. The Law Foundation Housing Team and attorneys have been diligently following these issues and advocating strongly on behalf of our most vulnerable communities. A number of our attorneys represented the Law Foundation at the City Council meeting and spoke in support of the following protections that passed:

1. Prohibiting Source of Income Discrimination – Direct San Jose Housing Department Staff to bring back an ordinance preventing landlords from refusing to accept subsidies, such as Section 8 vouchers. Read more.

2. Commercial Linkage Fee - This would require a study related to what fees are viable on commercial development that could be used for affordable housing.

3. Added protections to the Tenant Protection Ordinance that include protections for domestic violence survivors, requiring notices about rent assistance, requiring postings related to immigration status, and allowing a person not convicted of a crime to move back in with family.

SJ Needs Housing Protections Against Income-Based Discrimination

San Jose is one of the most competitive housing markets in the U.S., which makes it difficult for families and individuals struggling to make ends meet to find safe and affordable housing. One way that low-income families find housing is through voucher program, such as the Section 8 program, where low-income tenants pay roughly 30 percent of their income toward rent and the remaining is paid by a government agency. The ultimate goal is to eliminate concentrations of poverty and provide low-income households with access to higher opportunity areas.

The voucher program helps families and individuals by offering a method of upward mobility that has been suppressed historically by racist housing policies and works to undo the damage of segregation. Where a family lives greatly determines their quality of life. Higher-opportunity neighborhoods have better access to nutritious foods, better schools, are more accessible to higher paying jobs, and have access to parks, libraries, and community centers.

The goal of eliminating poverty and creating opportunity can’t be fulfilled if landlords are allowed to discriminate against voucher holders, turning away tenants explicitly based on their source of income. In San Jose, many voucher holders aren't able to find housing. Many landlords flat out refuse to rent to a voucher holder, oftentimes based on stereotypes. By passing an ordinance prohibiting source of income discrimination, San Jose can ensure low-income families can find a place to live and pursue upward mobility.

In Santa Clara County, Section 8 vouchers are the most common form of subsidized housing, with about 17,000 participants. In San Jose specifically, participants are 84 percent people of color, 50 percent live with a disability, and 13 percent are families with children.

On Tuesday, December 11, San Jose City Council is voting on a list of additional tenant protections, including an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on source of income, requiring landlords to consider anyone with a voucher just as they would any other tenant. Landlords would also be prohibited from using advertisements that specifically exclude tenants who have vouchers. Additionally, landlords would not be allowed to impose different terms and conditions on voucher participants, such as asking for higher rent amounts.

While landlords would still be able to consider legitimate reasons for not accepting a tenant, such as credit history or history of evictions, the ordinance would make it so that income-based discrimination is not allowed by law. This would help many families who face rejection after rejection, hung up phone calls from landlords, and missed appointments – all while their living situation remains in limbo.

A number of states have passed Source of Income Discrimination Protections including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont. And cities in California have joined as well with San Francisco, East Palo Alto, Santa Monica, Corte Madera all enacting protections prohibiting discrimination based on source of income. Studies have shown that voucher holders living in communities with source of income ordinances are more likely to find housing.

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley attorneys have been advocating for increased tenant protections, including a source of income anti-discrimination ordinance, because at the core of our work is a belief that safe and affordable housing is a right.