The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law The Judge David L.

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the lives of people with mental disabilities through changes in policy and law.

This week, we joined housing advocates, community leaders, and people with lived experience outside the U.S. Department ...
10/26/2026

This week, we joined housing advocates, community leaders, and people with lived experience outside the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a rally organized in collaboration with the National Coalition for the Homeless to defend Housing First policies.

“Civil commitment is not our goal. Civil commitment is what happens when our service system fails,” Jennifer Mathis, our Deputy Director and Director of Policy, said at the rally.

Mathis also warned that HUD’s proposed changes would “increase homelessness, not decrease it,” and that moving away from Housing First risks taking housing support away from those who need it most.

Housing should be the starting point for recovery and independence, not something people must earn by first overcoming the very challenges that make housing essential.

10/22/2026

Housing saves lives!

We were proud to join National Coalition For the Homeless at a rally in front of the US Department of Housing headquarters in VA and strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s criminalization of homelessness.

🚨JUST RELEASED: An updated guide to the voting rights of people with mental disabilities!Your disability should not cost...
10/21/2026

🚨JUST RELEASED: An updated guide to the voting rights of people with mental disabilities!

Your disability should not cost you your vote. Yet people with mental disabilities continue to face barriers to voting, from restrictions tied to guardianship to challenges to their eligibility and access to voting assistance.

With election season underway, the Bazelon Center, in partnership with the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) and McDermott Will & Schulte, has updated 'VOTE. It's Your Right,' a practical guide explaining the laws that protect voters with mental disabilities and the steps people can take to protect or restore their voting rights.

đź“Ł Help get this information to the people who need it. Read the guide and share it with your networks!

đź”—Link to the full guide in the first comment.

10/20/2026

🚨Reminder to ask your Rep to sign bipartisan H.Res. 1586 and affirm disabled people's right to live in our communities!

đź“ŁJoin us next Wednesday, October 21st at 11 AM for the second annual Housing Now! National Day of Action rally, hosted b...
10/15/2026

đź“ŁJoin us next Wednesday, October 21st at 11 AM for the second annual Housing Now! National Day of Action rally, hosted by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Meet us in front of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Headquarters at 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314.

We hope to see you there!

10/15/2026

Thousands of people with disabilities in Arkansas are waiting years for services that would allow them to live at home with their families rather than in institutions.

Arkansas is not an isolated case. Funding gaps in community-based services continue to put people with disabilities across the country at risk of unnecessary institutionalization. Looming Medicaid cuts could make already lengthy wait times even longer.

At the same time, the federal government is abandoning its longstanding role in enforcing the right to community living. The Trump administration has reversed decades of federal policy, arguing that disability rights laws do not require states to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to people's needs.

The Supreme Court's landmark Olmstead decision remains the law, but the federal government's changing position raises serious concerns about how these rights will be enforced.

States have an important role to play in protecting these rights. As our Deputy Director Jennifer Mathis told USA Today, advocates should try to secure commitments from state leaders that they will support the integration mandate and reject the federal government's view that people with disabilities have no right to receive services in their own homes and communities.

States can invest in community-based services and ensure that people with disabilities have the support they need to live with their families and participate fully in community life.

đź”— Full article in the first comment.

10/13/2026

🚨 URGENT: Tonight at midnight is the deadline to submit public comments on HUD’s proposed Continuum of Care incentives.

HUD is attempting to divert billions in federal funding from permanent supportive housing to transitional housing and to prioritize "treatment first" housing over "housing first" - shifts that could force hundreds of thousands of people into homelessness.

We drafted comments responding to the proposal and encourage people to use and adapt them when submitting their own comments.

👉 Read our draft comments here:

NBC News: "After issuing a memo making it easier to institutionalize homeless people, the Justice Department began aband...
10/09/2026

NBC News: "After issuing a memo making it easier to institutionalize homeless people, the Justice Department began abandoning cases protecting disabled people’s right to live in the community."

Our deputy director, Jennifer Mathis, spoke to NBC News about the significance of the Trump Administration's unprecedented attack on Olmstead and what it means for people with disabilities.

This article by Mike Hixenbaugh and Colleen Long is a helpful public source that catalogues what exactly happened that caused the Administration to attack Olmstead. We strongly recommend people give it a read.

đź”— Read the full article here: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-homelessness-crackdown-retreat-disability-rights-olmstead-rcna600545

In June, the DOJ reversed a position it had held for decades and now claims there is no integration mandate under either...
10/08/2026

In June, the DOJ reversed a position it had held for decades and now claims there is no integration mandate under either the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The federal government then asked the court in Texas v. Kennedy to remove the integration mandate from HHS rules that implement Section 504.

The court agreed and ordered HHS to remove references to the integration mandate from those rules.

Olmstead is still the law of the land, and people with disabilities still have the right to receive services in their communities rather than being unnecessarily institutionalized. But the federal government is now stepping away from its role in enforcing and protecting those rights.

Our Deputy Director Jennifer Mathis spoke with NPR about the Trump administration’s reversal of the federal government’s...
10/07/2026

Our Deputy Director Jennifer Mathis spoke with NPR about the Trump administration’s reversal of the federal government’s longstanding position on the right of people with disabilities to receive services in their communities rather than institutions.

For decades, the federal government has maintained that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act require services to be provided in the most integrated setting appropriate to a person’s needs. The administration now takes the position that these laws do not contain an integration mandate - a shift that could affect how the federal government enforces these protections and how states respond to their obligations.

“That lack of clarity will impact people's rights. It will likely impact what states do and how they behave,” Mathis told NPR.

To clarify: This change in the federal government’s position does not undo the rights established under the ADA or decades of legal precedent, including the Supreme Court’s landmark Olmstead decision. People with disabilities still have the right to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

Address

1101 15th Street NW, Suite 205
Washington D.C., DC
20005

Telephone

+12024675730

Website

, , , ht

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law:

Shortcuts

Sponsored

Share

Category