#f68a33

Decriminalizing Transportation and Movement: A Vision for Antiracist Approaches to Safety

March 2024

Advancing Racial and Health Justice Through a Right to Counsel for Tenants: A Primer for the Public Health Field

Overview

This primer reviews what right to counsel laws are, how they advance racial and health justice, and ways public health practitioners can support right to counsel efforts.

A safe and stable home is the foundation for a healthy life, yet this cornerstone of good health remains out of reach for many. New local and state laws that guarantee a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction (“RTC” or “right to counsel”) offer a promising opportunity to address this challenge and related racial and health disparities.

This primer starts by reviewing what right to counsel laws are and how they can advance racial and health justice. In short, establishing a right to counsel can help more households remain stably housed — particularly low-income households and those disproportionately impacted by historical and ongoing discriminatory policies and practices.

It follows with steps public health practitioners can take to enhance the potential of right to counsel efforts to advance racial and health justice, including:

  • Support policy development
  • Make the public health case for right to counsel as a health issue
  • Support community leadership
  • Establish cross-sector partnerships to address challenges related to housing stability, housing quality, and health
  • Strengthen community outreach and referral networks
  • Train stakeholders on the connections between housing, health, and equity

This resource was developed by ChangeLab Solutions, Human Impact Partners, the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, PolicyLink, and Results for America,  in partnership with the American Public Health Association and the de Beaumont Foundation as part of the Healing Through Policy initiative. 

August 2023

Building for the All! Anti-Displacement Standards for Equitable Housing Futures

Overview

This memo offers equity standards and policy interventions that support active anti-displacement strategies as a critical pillar of both equitable housing policy and place-based development. These standards and policy interventions account for existing market pressures currently exacerbating gentrification and displacement, and offer opportunities to leverage federal and local policy interventions to not only prevent and mitigate these pressures but also proactively stabilize and build housing opportunities for people who are most marginalized in the housing market and most at risk of displacement. These standards and policy priorities have been built to acknowledge the unique legal pressures facing government-led equity efforts and to present proactive and principled ways in which public expenditures can and should seek to remedy past harms and advance spatial equity.

Pages