Successes

1962

• American Bar Association gives Award of Merit to the Philadelphia Bar Association for its leadership in making legal services available to all regardless of their ability to pay.

1965

• Law and the War on Poverty in Philadelphia by William R. Klaus is published by the Public Service Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association in response to the growing and overwhelming need for legal services.

1966

• Judge Raymond Pace Alexander, of the Court of Common Pleas, grants CLS’ charter over objection.  The new organization places attorneys in existing anti-poverty program offices in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.

1969

• CLS opens its own small neighborhood offices around the city.
• Shapiro v. Thompson, welfare residency laws declared unconstitutional because they deny an individual the right to travel.

1970

• Fox v. HUD, attempts to gain housing assistance for racial minorities removed from their former neighborhoods.

1970

• Gurmankin v. Costanzo, strikes down the Philadelphia School District’s bar against employing blind teachers.

1971

• CLS helps Congress to adopt nation’s first Lead Paint Poisoning Prevention Act.
• Graham v. Richardson, Supreme Court holds citizenship requirements in welfare programs are unconstitutional.
• Brown v. Phila. Housing Authority, federal court order establishes grievance procedure process for public housing tenants.

1972

• Swarb v. Lennox and Fuentes v. Shevin, Supreme Court holds confession of judgment and replevin procedures unconstitutional.
• Dotson v. Redevelopment Authority, race discrimination litigation results in more low-income housing in Society Hill.

1973

• Nicholson v. Pittenger, institutes a federally-funded, free school breakfast program.
• City-wide Coalition Against Childhood Lead Paint Poisoning v. HUD and City of Phila. v. Page, federal court requires de-leading of federally owned properties and public housing units.  Page holds that HUD violated the implied warranty of habitability in the sale of a house that contained lead hazards.
• Goosby v. Osser, Supreme Court overturns Election Code provisions denying unconvicted pretrial detainees the right to vote.
• David v. Romney, Third Circuit holds that properties sold under several FHA mortgage insurance programs must comply with local housing codes.

1974

• Buckles v. Weinberger, at the outset of the SSI program CLS successfully protects 5,000 disabled Pennsylvanians.

1975

• Washington Square East litigation, CLS successfully concludes this long litigation with the building of low income units in this urban renewal area.
• CLS expands and reorganizes into five neighborhood law centers with a main office in Sylvania House.

1976

• Whitman Park public housing project is ordered to be built in the southern tip of Philadelphia; this will be an ongoing and very public project of CLS.
• Resident Advisory Board v. Mayor Rizzo, federal court finds racial discrimination by the City of Phila, RDA, PHA, and HUD and orders Whitman Park public housing to be built.
• CLS helps draft PA Protection from Abuse Act, a national model for state domestic violence legislation.
• Dawes v. Phila. Gas Commission and Koger v. Guarino, federal court holds due process protections apply to water and gas consumers, leading to the appointment of CLS as the Public Advocate before the Gas Commission.

1977

• Fare Hike by SEPTA, for the first time CLS seeks an injunction to prevent the hike.
• Alexander v. Polk, Third Circuit rules that cutoff of WIC benefits by the Phila. Dept. of Public Health violates due process; damages awarded.
• Liberty Alliance of the Blind v. Califano, Third Circuit requires payment of Social Security benefits to over 2,000 blind beneficiaries whose rights had been ignored by the Social Security Administration.
• CLS establishes the Energy Unit to address utility related needs of low-income Phila. residents.

1978

• Bankruptcy Reform Act is passed by Congress; CLS develops nationally recognized practice in consumer bankruptcy.
• Davis v. Bucher, Federal Court holds that federally funded employers may not refuse to hire or fire individuals solely on the basis of past drug use.
• Griffin v. HUD, Third Circuit rules that HUD violated the law in its operation of the rent supplement program in subsidized housing.
• Finburg v. Sullivan, Third Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down PA rules that allowed creditors to seize consumers bank accounts containing SS benefits without notifying the consumers of any rights they may have, or providing any procedures to promptly return the seized goods.
• Bolden v. PA State Police, one of the 1st ever race discrimination suits against a state police department. It was a long, bitterly fought case that led to a sweeping victory and integration of the force by African Americans.
• Cooper v. Califano, court holds portions of Social Security Act unconstitutional because of gender discrimination.
• Willing v. Mazzocone, PA Supreme Court protects the right of indigents to picket.
• Vecchione v. Wohlgemuth, federal court enjoins seizure of Social Security benefits from institutionalized people.

1979

• Pugh v. Holmes, CLS assists in obtaining a PA Supreme Court ruling establishing in the common law an implied warranty of habitability in residential leases.
• Ferrell v. Pierce, Federal court orders HUD to provide housing to homeowners whose mortgages had improperly been foreclosed upon and to operate a national program providing foreclosure relief.

1980s

• The CLS Dependency Unit (now the Family Advocacy Unit) is formed to expand representation of parents fighting to preserve and reunite their families.
• CLS’ Community Reinvestment Act challenges to bank mergers lead to community reinvestment agreements and lifeline bank accounts.
• Hines v. Pettit, etc, series of cases ends practice of entering judgments in amounts higher than originally sought without notice or hearing.

1980

• CEPA v. SEPTA, court enjoins SEPTA fare increase.

1981

• Shadis v. Beal, federal court reinstates Medical Assistance benefits to elderly and disabled Social Security beneficiaries.  Over $1 million in damages distributed.
• TAG v. Paulken, federal court vacates decision which denied VISTA refunding for Tenants’ Action Group.
• Doe v. Colautti, class action leads to statewide regulations protecting the confidentiality of mental health information.
• Business Assoc. of University City v. HUD, Third Circuit upholds building of subsidized housing in University City.

1982

• Youngberg v. Romeo, holds that a developmentally disabled individual has liberty interests in receiving minimally adequate treatment.
• PA v. Local 452, federal court order ends racial discrimination against minority operating engineers.
• Kuehner v. Heckler, Third Circuit enjoins illegal termination of disability benefits; leads to passage of amended statute.
• Henderson v. PHA, federal court orders hearing prior to termination of Section 8 housing benefits.

1983

• In Re Sheriff’s Sale, court stays sheriff’s sales on all Phila. mortgage foreclosures for over a year.  CLS, as counsel to Phila. Unemployment Project (PUP), is instrumental in the establishment of state mortgage foreclosure assistance programs (HEMAP).
• USA v. Catherine Street Close, federal court enjoins Marshall’s sale of subsidized housing in Queen Village, resulting in housing remaining subsidized.
• James v. O’Bannon, Third Circuit requires the eligibility standard for AFDC supplements for working custodial parents to be based on net, not gross, income.

1983-96

• Lease Purchase Class Actions, CLS sues landlords who offer deceptive lease/purchase or installment sales contract for homes.  Hundreds of tenants obtain titles and repairs to their homes.

1984

• Social Security Disability Benefits Reform Act passed, halting disability purges of the Reagan administration. Law passed in answer to massive litigation strategy, including Kuehner v. Heckler.
• McCloud v. Saks, federal court order ends landlord/tenant officers’ assessment of fees before judicial determination.

1985

• Mayhew v. Cohen, federal court holds reduction of welfare benefits to collect overpayments unconstitutional without adequate notice and hearing.

1986

• Suong Phan v. DPW, administrative civil rights complaint leads to the hiring of Vietnamese and Khmer-speaking welfare caseworkers and translation of materials sent to welfare recipients.
• Harley v. Lyng, federal court requires state to properly issue expedited food stamps to poor persons in exigent situations.
• Warren v. Hascher, court holds that residents of personal care boarding homes in PA are entitled to the same legal protection as tenants.
• Fifty residents of Park Residence Nursing Home v. DPW, Commonwealth Court requires, for the first time, that nursing home residents must be given notice prior to changes in their level of care.

1987

• Mass tax sale by City is stopped; thousands of low-income homeowners get individual payment agreements and save homes.
• Hendrickson v. PGW, federal court requires PGW to give notice and a hearing in denials of service for reasons other than nonpayment.
• Bennet v. White, successful litigation and ensuing monitoring results in $6 million of improperly diverted support payments returned by welfare dept. to former welfare recipients.
• O’Dell v. O’Bannon, District Court order Phila. Dept. of Human Services to provide a range of services for families whose children have been placed in foster care.

1988 

• In re St. Mary’s Hospital, Bankruptcy Court prevents closure of community hospital.
• CLS, representing Tenants Action Group (TAG), is instrumental in passage of City Council ordinance making self help evictions illegal.

1989

• Smith v. Commercial Banking Corporation, Third Circuit decision that firmly established the right for low-income debtors to sue their mortgage companies when their consumer rights were violated.
• Whitaker v. Phila. Electric Co., Third Circuit holds that bankruptcy debtors are entitled to immediate restoration of utility service without payment of deposit.
• West v. Brown, Third Circuit holds that public housing utility allowances cannot be used in the calculation of food stamps.
• Robinson v. Dawes, Third Circuit holds improper the rules which reduce food stamp awards to adult siblings who live together.

Early 1990s

• CLS takes lead in confronting scourge of fraudulent trade schools and obtains millions of dollars of student loan cancellations.
• Elderly Law Project (ELP) is launched, CLS does pioneer work for rights of poor residents of nursing and boarding homes to quality care.
• CLS successfully challenges a series of SEPTA fare hikes saving low-income riders millions of dollars.

1990

• DPW v. Davenport, Supreme Court upholds discharge of criminal restitution orders as debts.
• Sullivan v. Zebley, Supreme Court holds that the method of determining disability for children under the Supplemental Security Income program is illegal and orders the Social Security Admin. to rewrite regulations.  The case is the largest class action ever won against SSA.  CLS establishes the Advocating on Behalf of Children Project (ABC) to address the needs of disabled children.
• Montgomery v. Green, court orders sheriff to give notice to member of a judgment debtor’s household on procedures to protect their household from possessions from sheriff’s sale.
• Vance v. Sullivan, federal court invalidates “Essential Persons” provision of the Social Security Act, resulting in increased welfare awards.
• Baksalary v. Smith, federal court rules that worker’s compensation benefits can no longer be terminated or reduced without prior notice to recipients and an opportunity to be heard.

1991

• Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, after national review of legal services programs, concludes that CLS is the most successful legal services provider in the nation. See Allen Redlich, “Who Will Litigate Constitutional Issues for the Poor?”, 19 HASTINGS CONST. L.Q. 745, 749 (1992).

1993

• Williams v. PHA, federal court requires hearing procedure for tenants denied eligibility for Section 8.
• Brooks v. PHA, federal court orders PHA to provide additional monies for public housing tenants who pay for utilities in common areas.
• Rosetti v. Shalala, Third Circuit decision leads to Social Security Admin.’s adoption of new standards for assessing disability caused by HIV and AIDS.
• Bonds v. White, federal court order improves child support collection and distribution in interstate and intercounty cases.
• Bozzi v. Shalala, court orders redeterminations of eligibility for hundreds of widows improperly denied Social Security disability benefits.

1994

• Averly v. City of Phila., court order reforms City’s psychological examination of police candidates.  250 African Americans are given new opportunities to become police officers.
• Action Alliance v. Snider, federal court orders sweeping revision to the administration of the Medicare Buy-In Program leading to 12,000 new beneficiaries and $6.2 million in refunds.

1995

• CLS, representing Tenant Action Group (TAG), plays key role in City Council passing ordinances requiring lead hazard disclosure and prohibiting retaliatory eviction of tenants after a lead hazard has been found.

1996

• Storm of welfare “reform” results in passage of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) legislation; CLS takes lead in advocacy regarding implementation of Pennsylvania welfare policies and procedures. CLS’ advocacy preserves benefits for entire groups of clients, such as cash and medical assistance for immigrants and food stamps for single childless persons.

1997

• Success Against All Odds v. DPW, Court Order prevents elimination of the Child Support Pass-Through. The legislature then amends the state statute to specifically provide for Pass-Through.

1998

•  In re First Union Merger, challenge to merger of CoreStates and First Union leads to agreement benefiting low-income banking consumers.
•  Deregulation of Electricity, CLS represents Consumers Education and Protective Association and Tenant Action Group (TAG), and wins concessions from PECO, significant rate reductions and strengthens low-income customer assistance programs.
•  Farley v. PHA, Third Circuit holds PHA grievance hearing awards can be enforced in federal court.
• Pleasant v. Evers, federal court holds unconstitutional court rule requiring tenants to pay 3-months rent to stay in their dwellings during an appeal of an eviction order.
• CLS launches Community Economic Development Unit (CED), staffed by Skadden Fellow, to assist nonprofit organizations and micro-businesses in low-income neighborhoods.

1999

• In Re: Algon Associate – Bankruptcy Court orders rehabilitation of a large deteriorated apartment complex.
• CLS engages the State in broad negotiations over implementation of the welfare reform work requirements, helping to avoid massive cash assistance cutoffs, to preserve access to education, and to enforce employment rights. Public jobs programs, rather than workfare programs, are created.

2000

• CLS’ challenge to PECO/Unicom Corporation merger leads to a settlement agreement, which further upgrades PECO’s low-income customer assistance programs, with a focus on the poorest of the poor.
• CLS makes “predatory lending” a household word and develops nationally recognized practice that saves hundreds of homes from foreclosure.
• CLS files eleven civil rights complaints against PA’s Dept. of Public Welfare, alleging discrimination against people with limited English proficiency at welfare offices and in welfare-to-work programs. Advocacy on behalf of immigrants and communities with limited English proficiency is an important part of CLS’ Language Access Project (LAP), initiated in 1999.

2001

• Salter v. PHA, federal court order prohibits PHA from terminating Section 8 housing benefits, when landlord has commenced an eviction action.
• Pleasant v. Evers, federal court provides money damages to tenants who were required to pay 3 months rent in order to stay in their homes during eviction appeals.

2002 

• The Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issues a Letter of Findings, as a result of complaints filed by CLS under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). This Letter set out language access requirements that DPW must meet in order to come into compliance with Title VI.

2003

• Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signs Act 44 as a result of CLS advocacy, lifting a lifetime ban on benefits for persons with felony drug convictions.
•  Nixon v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules the Older Adults Protective Services Act (OAPSA) unconstitutional, lifting a statute that barred thousands of ex-offenders from working in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

2004

• CLS works to craft a replacement statute for OAPSA which achieves a fair balance of the interests of the security of vulnerable adults and the rights of the caregivers to earn a living.

2005 

• CLS advocacy helps avoid cuts to AdultBasic, the low-cost program for uninsured individuals and families whose income was just high enough to disqualify them for no-cost health insurance AdultBasic was instead allocated an additional $17 million.

2006

• Erb v. McClellan, CLS successfully negotiates resolution to involuntary assignment of 110,000 Medicare beneficiaries to HMOs as part of the implementation of Part D (covering prescription drugs). Resolution allows greater time and information for beneficiaries to make informed choices.
• CLS advocated on improving the Inclusionary Housing bill introduced in City Council. The bill would require developers of new residential construction in the City to set aside 10 % (15 % if built off site) of the units as affordable housing units.
• CLS and the Tenant Union Representative Network (TURN) are successful in getting passed into City of Philadelphia law the Rent Suitability Certificate Ordinance. The Ordinance requires that a landlord, prior to renting a residential property, obtain a certificate stating that there are no recorded code violations on the property, attest that the property is free from defects, and maintain the property in the future.
• The Senate Committee on Children and Youth voted out of committee a bill that would amend the Older Adults Protective Services Act (OAPSA), the nursing home statute that CLS successfully challenged in the Nixon litigation. CLS efforts stalled the bill, which would have exacerbated problems with OAPSA by causing long-term employees to lose jobs because of very old criminal convictions.
• CLS executes on King v. Rubin judgment. CLS entered into a series of settlement agreements to recover funds from the defendants and the Pennsylvania Real Estate Recovery Fund to provide money class members.

2008

• CLS advocacy in Harrisburg removes asset test requirement for Food Stamp eligibility, allowing more low-income people to receive Food Stamps.
• The Office of Long Term Living (OLTL) released an Aging Program Directive (APD) directing that individuals with intermediate level care needs qualify for Waiver services as a result of advocacy by CLS and the Pennsylvania Health Law Project. This APD reverses earlier policy which had limited eligibility to those who needed care at the higher “skilled” level.
• CLS successfully advocates for child support legislation proposed by the Rendell Administration and enacted by the state legislature. Act 16 keeps child support dollars in Pennsylvania, instead of sending them to Washington, and gets them to families rather than giving them to the government. It also encourages non-custodial parents to pay support, because they will know that the money will directly benefit their children.
• Kaplan v. Chertoff, CLS successfully negotiates partial solution for case challenging the denial of SSI for refugees, asylees and other humanitarian immigrants who have been unable to naturalize within the allotted seven years due to delay in processing applications for citizenship. Settlement allows expediting of such cases to prevent loss of benefits.
• CLS was instrumental in the creation of DHS’s Policy and Procedure for Effective Communication with Deaf or Hard of Hearing Clients. CLS, in partnership with advocates from the deaf and hard of hearing community in Philadelphia, the Department of Human Services, City Law Department and other stakeholders collaboratively drafted this much needed protocol to improve access and outcomes for vulnerable children and families who are deaf or hard of hearing and interact with DHS and their contracted provider agencies.

2009

• After years of CLS advocacy, Pennsylvania mortgage regulations require brokers and lenders to document that a borrower has the ability to pay any offered mortgage loans.
• CLS advocacy results in $7 million over four years in utility assistance for low-income clients, with an additional $27.6 million in energy efficiency and conservation assistance through 2012.

2010

• After more than a decade of work by CLS, the Women’s Law Project, and the Community Justice Project, DPW adopts regulations protecting survivors of domestic violence who need help from the welfare system.
• CLS advocacy leads to a ban on the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women in Pennsylvania’s county jails and correctional facilities.
• CLS helps create the “Heat and Eat” plan to increase food stamp benefits for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians while streamlining paperwork.
• CLS is instrumental in creating the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program. Pennsylvania gets over $100 million to assist homeowners facing foreclosure due to unemployment, underemployment or medical problems.
• Garcia v. Sebelius, settlement of federal class action results in faster exchange of data between DPW and the federal government, speeding up access to Medicare for tens of thousands of low-income disabled and elderly individuals.
• CLS advocacy creates “Way to Work Pennsylvania,” a six-month subsidized jobs program that provides work for 28,000 adults and youth statewide.

2011

• Apartment Association of Greater Philadelphia v. City of Philadelphia representing TURN.  CLS successfully obtained a consent order which reinstated the Rent Suitability Certification Program.  The City had earlier unilaterally agreed to suspend the program which had required landlords, prior to entering into a lease, to obtain a certification from L & I that there are no property maintenance code violations on the property, state that the property is free from defects, and maintain the property in the future.
• CLS, working with TURN, was instrumental in the passage of an ordinance which protects the rights of tenants who are victims of domestic violence.  It prohibits the termination of a lease because a tenant was in an incident where the tenant was a victim of domestic violence.  It also allows a victim of domestic violence to terminate the lease early and allows the tenant to request that the landlord bifurcate the lease and evict the abuser.
• CLS, working with TURN and PCCY, successfully advocated for the passage of the Lead Safe Certification Ordinance which requires a landlord, prior to leasing a residential property where children 6 and under will reside, to obtain a certification from a certified lead inspector that lead dust wipes and visual inspection revealed no lead hazards in the property.  During the period of time a landlord fails to provide a certification, the landlord is denied the right to collect rent.

2012

• After 4 years of advocacy, CLS along with TURN and the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance, were successful in the passage of S.887, the Tenant Property Disposition bill, which only allows a landlord to enter a tenant’s unit to take control of their property when the tenant has been evicted through the judicial process or they have notified the landlord in writing that they have vacated the property.  The law sets up a procedure for the landlord to notify the tenant and how the tenant can retrieve property left in the unit.
• CLS, along with PUP, successfully advocated for the restoration of the HEMAP program.  The legislature had failed to adequately fund the program for the past fiscal year and we were able to obtain monies for HEMAP for the next five years from the settlement of the case brought by the state Attorney General against five large mortgage servicers.
• CLS advocacy, with PUP and other groups preserved the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program in Philadelphia after it was announced by the Common Pleas Court that the time periods for the program would be severely limited.  This would have made resolution of the cases very difficult.  The Court rescinded the proposal.
• McDowell v. PHA – After almost 10 years of litigation regarding the failure to raise utility allowances in public housing units when gas rates increased, we successfully settled the case.  PHA will establish a settlement fund of $ 2,650,000 to pay damages to the tenants and CLS will receive $ 730,000 in attorneys fees.
• Simmons v. HUD – successful settlement in CLS litigation regarding the foreclosure of an elderly HUD subsidized development in Germantown.  As part of the HUD foreclosure, HUD ended the rental subsidies on the buildings.  The settlement agreement provides that the development will be project-based vouchers and the rental subsidies will continue for at least 15 years.
• CLS and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP successfully negotiated opportunity to get Medicaid reinstated for 100,000 people who lost Medical Assistance when paperwork was lost or incorrectly processed by the Department of Public Welfare.

2013

• Johnson v. Bullock-Freeman – CLS successfully argued as Amicus Curiae and obtained a Superior Court decision which reversed the lower courts and held that a tenant can “pay and stay” in possession by paying the court judgment and costs.  The lower courts had held that a tenant had to also pay additional rent that became due.
• Community Legal Services opens North Philadelphia Law Center.
• Nutritious meals won for for PA children in child care.
• Pennsylvania provides funds to solve unemployment compensation system problems.
• Philadelphia creates new Owner Occupied Payment Agreement program for delinquent property taxes.
• After advocacy by and with technical assistance from CLS and other community organizations, the Philadelphia Housing Authority Board of Commissioners adopted a strong language access policy in November 2013.  Under the policy, PHA will begin routinely identifying the need for and providing appropriate language services in the form of bilingual staff, interpretation, and translated documents to ensure effective communication with limited English proficient applicants, residents and housing voucher holders.

2014

• The Philadelphia Hoarding Task Force was created.
• City of Philadelphia and First Judicial District ended counterproductive attempts to collect old bail judgments.
• CLS broke down employment barriers for thousands of people with criminal records.
• CLS advocated at the state and federal level on behalf of Pennsylvanians in need of health care. Advocacy has successfully led to the preservation of the Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities (MAWD) program, which provides Medicaid benefits to approximately 36,000 significantly disabled working Pennsylvanians.
• Convinced the Commonwealth Court to stop implementation of a PA Public Utility Commission Order that would have allowed competitive electricity suppliers to target low-income customers enrolled in PECO’s subsidized CAP Rate program.
• CLS recommended that Pennsylvania continue its “Heat and Eat” program to prevent significant reductions in monthly food stamp benefits to thousands of low-income households, including many elderly and disabled individuals.  A federal law change had threatened “heat and eat,” but CLS advocacy was successful in preserving the program.
• Worked with Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Philadelphia Prison System (PPS) to launch a pilot program that allows parents incarcerated at PPS to be video-conferenced into all meetings regarding their children. Continued statewide advocacy aimed at improving the engagement of incarcerated parents in their child welfare cases.
• We worked with DPW after we received many referrals of elderly and disabled clients whose Medicaid in-home long term care services had been erroneously terminated, in part because renewals were either not being processed on time or were being processed incorrectly.  A number of these clients were in their late 80s or 90s, and were left with no aide to help them with basic needs like dressing and preparing food.  As a result of our advocacy, DPW agreed to increase staffing and put protections in place to ensure that appeals are timely processed and benefits continued.

2015

• A combination of high-impact litigation led by CLS and systemic advocacy with statewide partners led to the prevention of devastating health benefits cuts for 1.1 million adult Medicaid recipients in PA and to Medicaid being fully expanded in our state, helping an estimated 600,000 people become eligible for affordable health insurance.
• CLS, PHMC, and Clarifi formed a medical-legal partnership
• After years of advocacy by CLS and our partners the SNAP asset test was eliminated in PA. Now, our clients and thousands of other families do not have to choose between food and other basic necessities.
• CLS released a report on the nursing home crisis in Pennsylvania, leading to stronger enforcements against nursing homes.
• After CLS joined national class action litigation against HUD, 12,000 surviving spouses may now be eligible to remain in their homes.
• Philadelphia City Council passed bills in support of water affordability, notice of rent increases, ban the box amendments, and stronger enforcement against wage theft.
• Commonwealth Court declared lifetime bans on employment unconstitutional.
• We worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry so the agency could obtain $745,000 in payment for 1,300 direct care workers who had been laid off and did not receive their final paychecks.
• CLS obtained four settlements of class actions brought by background screeners under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, addressing issues such as providing criminal cases brought against someone else, reporting of expunged cases, reporting of arrests more than seven years old, and inappropriately labeling retail workers as thieves.  The leading retail theft database was shut down as a result of our litigation.
• We successfully championed energy affordability initiatives so consumers can have access to hot water, electricity, and home heat. These initiatives include a redesigned PECO customer assistance program (CAP) to promote energy affordability for thousands of low-income consumers, and the preservation of medical certification rights so that customers who need utility service for health reasons can avoid loss of necessary service.

2016

• CLS succeeded in advocating with Pennsylvania’s Department of Human
  Services to greatly improve its accuracy and timeliness in issuing expedited food stamp benefits.
• CLS and its partners advocated with the Social Security Administration, which agreed to allow youth transitioning out of foster care to apply for SSI disability benefits 6 months prior to discharge. This new time frame will significantly increase the likelihood that youth who are transitioning out of foster care will have stable benefits and will not become homeless.
• A report from CLS prompted Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services to make changes to ensure that more children who have been removed from their homes are placed quickly with family rather than in foster care, preventing unnecessary trauma and promoting long term success.
• Philadelphia City Council passed a new Fair Hiring Ordinance that CLS helped design and implement to ensure that our clients who have criminal records are able to access employment opportunities.
• CLS put together the litigation team that brought a case which overturned lifetime criminal record bans that unfairly shut out thousands of people from jobs in nursing homes and home health care. The bans also deprived elderly, sick and disabled people of excellent caregivers. Because we won this case, many more people in Pennsylvania will now be able to work in the growing field of long-term health care and in other fields where lifetime bans exist.

2018

• CLS worked to envision and advocate for the Clean Slate bill, a first-in-the-nation sealing program for old, minor criminal records. The bill passed the Pennsylvania legislature in June of 2018 and sealing began in June of 2019.
• CLS worked with Philadelphia CIty Council to establish a first-in-the-nation income-based water affordability program, the Tiered Assistance Program or TAP.
• With the support of the City of Philadelphia, and in response to Philadelphia’s eviction crisis, CLS helped launch the Philadelphia Eviction Prevention Project (PEPP), a seven agency collaboration to reduce evictions, prevent homelessness, improve housing conditions and stablize communities.
• CLS successfully advocated for a state law that allowed over 25,000 community college students to access SNAP benefits (food stamps) for the first time. Previously most students could only get SNAP in narrowly defined circumstances.
• CLS worked with the City of Philadelphia to design and implement a new Property Tax Foreclosure Prevention Program, creating a means-tested repayment plan to ensure that no homeowner—especially seniors and those with disabilities—face the loss of their home due to unaffordable property taxes, while generating much-needed revenue for schools and other City services by improving tax collection efforts.
• In recent years, people with disabilities have faced the worst Social Security Administration (SSA) hearing backlog in history when seeking Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, which provide life-sustaining income. CLS worked with clients, elected officials, and the Philadelphia Inquirer to highlight and banish the backlog. As a result, SSA dedicated nine new judges to solve the crisis in Philadelphia and has made changes across the country to ensure people have fair access to the court so they can get the benefits they are qualified for.
• In a unanimous decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the restoration of Pennsylvania’s General Assistance (GA) program and the elimination of harmful work requirements. After the Pennsylvania legislature eliminated GA in 2012, CLS sued on behalf of clients who lost their benefits, which led to the program’s restoration. GA provides $205 per month for children who live with someone they are not related to, people fleeing domestic violence, individuals in active drug treatment for limited periods of time, and individuals with serious disabilities.

2019

• Clean Slate automated criminal record sealing went into effect, with an expected 31 million records to be sealed by year end.