Poverty Law News

Poverty Law News is published weekly by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

Attorneys/Legal Services

Eligibility for Assistance
The Legal Services Corporation has published revised maximum income levels for individuals eligible for legal assistance. This final rule, effective January 30, 2008, updates the specified income levels to reflect the annual amendments to the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

Government

Federal Budget
On February 4, the Bush Administration will release its last budget. The Coalition on Human Needs will sponsor a free webinar on Friday, February 8, on the federal budget and key opportunities for advocacy for low-income people.

Health

Families Challenge Federal Government's Rejection of New York State's Proposed SCHIP Plan
The parents of five New York State children have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Bush Administration’s use of unpublished rules to reject of New York State’s proposed plan to provide discounted health insurance to children in moderate income families through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (“SCHIP”). If adopted, the State’s plan would have offered discounted health insurance to an additional 70,000 uninsured New York children. Plaintiffs are represented by the Community Service Society and the Empire Justice Center, as well as the National Health Law Program and the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

SCHIP Expenditures
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has published the latest state and national data on SCHIP spending for federal fiscal year 2007. Spending data are available by state share, federal share, and total expenditures. KCMU has also published data on monthly Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment.

Housing

Police Reports Legally Insufficient to Presence of Unauthorized Resident
The Eleventh Circuit has reversed the district court's ruling in this eviction action, finding that the hearing officers erred in relying on legally insufficient evidence to terminate plaintiff's Section 8 assistance. Defendant housing authority terminated plaintiff's subsidy based on the presence of an unauthorized resident. The court of appeals held that the housing authority bore the burden of persuasion at the informal administrative hearing and that police reports presented by the housing authority were legally insufficient.

Housing Affordability in Metropolitan Markets
Homes for Working Families has released Analyzing Affordability in Metropolitan Housing Markets: An Examination of Affordability for Middle-Income Households, a study conducted by Moody's Economy.com, in January 2008. This report provides the first quantitative analysis that has been conducted to determine the effects of the housing crisis by geographical area, income group and duration. The report focuses on home affordability for middle-income households - those earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of area median income - in light of recent developments in house prices, interest rates and mortgage markets.

Immigration

Drivers Licenses and Undocumented Immigrants
The National Immigration Law Center has published a fact sheet on why denying driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants harms public safety and makes communities less secure.

Taxation

Earned Income Tax Credit
The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury have launched a nationwide campaign to promote awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). More than 22.4 million taxpayers received more than $43.7 billion in EITC on their 2006 federal income tax returns. Nevertheless, the IRS estimates that approximately one in four eligible taxpayers fails to claim EITC.

Welfare

Summary of Final TANF Rule
Final rules promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services, to be published on February 5, 2008, implement changes to the Temporary Assistance Program for Needy Families (TANF) made by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The Center for Law and Social Policy has published a summary of the final rule as well as analysis of changes made from the interim final rule published in June 2006.