2024 Day of Action: Justice for Children and Incarcerated Marylanders

Join Fenix Youth Project Inc. during the 2024 Maryland General Assembly on February 19, as we advocate with fellow Marylanders in our state’s capital. This statewide grassroots lobbying depends on your leadership.

We are partnering with Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, Jews United for Justice, the Baltimore Algebra Project, the Maryland Second Look Coalition, ACLU Maryland. Racial Justice NOW!, Brotherly Love, Advanced Maryland, and more to push for equitable children’s rights policies this session. Together, we can lift up the humanity of all children and call for an end to racist mass incarceration in Maryland.

Recent released HUD data reveals a 16% increase in Families with children in homeless shelters, or were in a visibly unsheltered situation in the previous year. Unaccompanied youth – a 15% increase over the previous year. Available data indicate that youth experiencing homelessness face disproportionate levels of contact with juvenile justice systems. Recent estimates suggest that 46% of youth who have experienced homelessness have been held in juvenile detention centers at some point, relative to 15% of youth in the general population. A society is not successful if detention centers and prisons continue to be our largest form of public housing. 

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Statement of Fenix Youth Project Inc. In response to the introduction of SB744/HB814

Congressional Caucuses Send Letter to FHFA Urging Agency to Take “Bold Action” on Tenant Protections

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, along with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and the  Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – together known as the Tri-Caucus – sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson urging her agency to take “bold action…to require clear, strong, and enforceable protections for tenants living in Enterprise-backed properties.” The letter calls for FHFA to require and enforce six protections: anti-rent gouging protections, “good cause” eviction standards, source-of-income protections, habitability and accessibility requirements, rental registry participation requirements, and limits on artificial intelligence (AI) to curb rent spikes.

Led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the letter calls for bold action to implement renter protections for all households living in properties with Enterprise-backed mortgage. The letter recognizes the high cost of housing for America’s lowest-income and most marginalized renters, drawing a direct connection to racial inequities and homelessness. “In the worst cases, individuals and families are being forced into homelessness, living in tents, cars, or shelters,” the letter states. “The rent inflation crisis is an issue of racial and economic justice. Black, Hispanic, and Asian American renters are more likely to be severely cost burdened than white renters.” The letter urges FHFA to act in coordination with Congressional action. The letter continues: “In addition to the work that lies ahead for Congress, the FHFA must use every tool available to ensure stability and affordability for tenants. Given the broad reach of FHFA’s work, any tenant protections created by FHFA should cover a significant share of tenants across the nation and put America on a pathway towards stronger protections for all tenants.”

The letter was signed by chairs of each caucus: Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) representing the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA), representing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC); and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), representing the Congressional Black Caucus.

Read the letter to FHFA at: https://tinyurl.com/5y57ddn2