Camp Homeward Bound In the summer of 1984, the Coalition opens Camp Homeward Bound in Harriman State Park — the first summer sleep-away camp designated exclusively for homeless children. Pitts v. Black The Coalition’s landmark Federal lawsuit Pitts v. Black ensures the right to vote for homeless New Yorkers. The case is brought against the State and City Boards of Election on behalf of homeless New Yorkers residing in shelters, hotels, or on the streets who were not permitted to register to vote because they lacked a home address. Before trial, a consent decree permitting homeless people in shelters to vote is signed. In October 1984, Judge Mary Johnson Lowe orders election officials to permit persons living on the streets to also register to vote, writing: “Homeless individuals identifying a specific location within a political community which they consider their ‘home base,’ to which they return regularly, manifest an intent to remain for the present, and a place from which they can receive messages and be contacted, satisfy the more stringent domicile standard and should not be disenfranchised solely because they lack a non-traditional residence.” The decision in Pitts v. Black gives homeless people in New York some of the strongest voting rights protections in the United States. Klostermann v. Cuomo The Coalition files a lawsuit, Klostermann v. Cuomo, which seeks permanent housing and support services for thousands of former patients of New York State psychiatric institutions who were made homeless.
