• Moved Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to join us in developing and executing a historic block-by-block count of vacant buildings and lots in Manhattan--quantifying privately- and publicly-owned underutilized property for the very first time in NYC.
• Partnered with City Council Member Tony Avella to draft and push for “Housing, Not Warehousing!” legislation to develop housing for the homeless out of empty and underutilized property;
  Built a “Housing, Not Warehousing” Campaign with broad support among communities of faith, academics, social justice organizations, service providers, and public policymakers.
• Held major academic forums at Columbia University and the CUNY Grad Center, where sociologists, urban planners, faith leaders, and homeless people strategized and shared ideas around crafting housing policy that works for all New Yorkers.
• Moved the Implementation Task Force of the Mayors 5 Year Plan to End Homelessness to recommend adoption of our Homeless Housing and Jobs Platform as part of an overall strategy to end street homelessness – a radical shift from primary reliance on supportive housing based on the assumption that the vast majority of homeless New Yorkers have disabling mental health or substance abuse disorders;
• Won a place for homeless people in the NYC Continuum of Care planning process, which determines how $84 million of HUD funding for services and housing is allocated every year. Two of our housing leaders have been elected to represent segments of the homeless population on the Steering Committee, and 75% of the seats on the consumer committee are held by current or former Picture the Homeless members.

Potters Field

• Won the right to hold interfaith services on Potters Field six times per year
• Won the right to hold a memorial for our Co Founder Lewis Haggins buried in Potters Field
• Moved faith leaders of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist faiths to found Interfaith Friends of Potters Field in support of Picture the Homeless
• Held two major events at Union Theological Seminary to educate faith leaders about issues related to Potters Field including lack of dignity in burials of the homeless and poor and the lack of body identification procedures resulting in homeless and poor New Yorkers unnecessarily buried as John or Jane Doe.

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Civil Rights

• Won a major victory against the NYPD in federal court resulting in a the issuance of a groundbreaking policy directive against selective enforcement of the law by Homeless Outreach Unit and Transit Police and created the first legal clinic for homeless people to address Quality of Life tickets and police harassment in partnership with NYC Police Watch;
  
• Forced the NYC Department of Corrections to allow interfaith services for homeless and poor New Yorkers buried in Potters Field 6 times per year – which had previously been off limits for friends and extended families of New Yorkers buried in mass graves;
  
• Won the support of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Coalition for the Homeless and Union Theological Seminary to develop a legal defense clinic for homeless people being ticketed for Quality of Life offenses
  
• Begun collaboration with the Urban Justice Center to analyze data from over 200 in depth surveys conducted by civil rights committee members of homeless New Yorkers experience with policing entities. We anticipate that a major civil rights report will be released in late 2005 or early 2006
  
• Expanded our civic participation and homeless voting rights project, hiring 7 leaders who have collectively designed and are delivering workshops in shelters and soup kitchens;
  
• Held an action in support of the free speech rights of panhandlers around Yankee Stadium resulting in a decrease in harassment by police from the local precinct;
  
• Will begin later this month working with the newly formed city wide anti police brutality collective that includes groups working in the LGBT and racial justice communities;
  
• Provided Know Your Rights Trainings at Queers for Economic Justice

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Economic Justice/Canners

• Issued a report on the violations of canners rights under New York State Bottle Law
  
• Held a major action to educate the public about canners rights, mobilizing canners and resulting in gaining institutional support for our campaign from the Office of the Attorney General
  
• Successfully pressured the NYS Attorney General to prosecute supermarkets who violate the rights of canners cash in 240 - $12.00 work of cans or bottles at 5 cent each, leading to policy changes at all major NYC supermarket chains;

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Shelter

• Moved the city to replace its completely replace its flawed “Housing Stability Plus” subsidy for homeless families.
  
• Contributed to the rolling back of proposed Section 8 cuts by convening representatives from 27 NYC groups that work on housing and homelessness to carry out an action agenda;
  
• Moved the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) begin holding monthly meetings, and include the participation of homeless New Yorkers, to monitor problems in the implementation of the Housing Stability Plus (HSP) program which is now the primary mechanism for homeless shelter residents to move into housing.
  
• Pressured the Deputy Commissioner of DHS to come to our offices twice to meet with nearly 100 homeless individuals and families to respond to their questions regarding HSP.
  
• Moved DHS to request that the State of New York expand those eligible for HSP to include homeless shelter residents not currently on welfare but still eligible as low income, including persons receiving SSI, unemployment or in low wage jobs who can’t afford market rent
  
• Exposed substandard housing being offered to shelter residents through a press conference where families told the real story about HSP

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Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU)

• Won improvements in abusive physical conditions in the EAU and shelter system: repair of air conditioning units, and water fountains in the EAU, ultimately resulting in the closing of the EAU and creation of the PATH program;
  
• Won the Samuel P. Peabody Award for Community Activism for our work to close the EAU and improve access to shelter for homeless families;
• Continued to monitor problems in eligibility determination, cleanliness and food at the EAU
  
• Pressured DHS to hold an information session for families in the EAU to educate them about recent legal decisions that impact their access to shelter and new applications procedures for shelter.

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Media Project/Public Education

• Obtained a monthly time slot on Manhattan Neighborhood Network and have so far aired videos filmed, edited and produced by members of our Media Project;
• Launched our website to be launched October 1, 2005 we were able to hire a leader to design the website thanks to the NY Foundation;
• When several city soup kitchens received funding to create “Client Advisory Boards” (CABs), where homeless people who access their services can influence practices, Picture the Homeless leaders served as consultants in the development of effective CABs where homeless people can have substantive involvement and real power in the operation of the facilities that serve them.
• Conducted speaking engagements at Hunter College, Columbia University, Bluestockings Bookstore, Riverside Church, Union Theological Seminary and churches in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn
• Conducted press interviews with major radio and television as well as print media

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Globalization

• Sent a 3 person delegation to the World Social Forum in Brazil
• Hosted the Special Expert from the UN on Extreme Poverty in the U.S. in conjunction with the National Social and Economic Rights Initiative. Leaders presented testimony and provided recommendations. Holding the event at our office created an access point for homeless peoples involvement and the fuller participation of other grass roots organizations;
• Held a major event in conjunction with Seven Stories Institute with Ariel Dorfman, an internationally acclaimed author and human rights activist.

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