Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless v. Marion S. Barry, Jr., Mayor of the District of Columbia

I part from the majority on the issue of whether families eligible for emergency shelter under the District’s laws and regulations have a “property interest” which triggers some form of procedural protection under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. I agree with the district court that families who meet the threshold eligibility requirements of the statute and whose place on the waiting list has been reached are entitled to some modicum of procedural due process by virtue of the statutory mandate of the program, and the Shelter Office’s policy and practice in the administration of the…