A full record of the briefs, letters, rule changes, and project milestones behind our work — search or filter by year to find a specific one.
Pending before the Michigan Supreme Court as of 2026.
A county FOC office corrected a clerk's mistaken policy after we escalated it.
Courts statewide used our worksheets to diagnose and fix their own broken processes.
New provider partnerships, better internal systems, and court referrals drove the program's biggest year yet.
A proposed rule change would end fee reimbursement for interpreters in criminal cases — we argued it should cover every case, because equal access to courts is the court's job, not the litigant's.
The conference produced shared learning between organizations.
Judges and advocates, including our own perspective from Street Outreach Court Detroit, discussed how specialty courts like homeless courts reframe what "justice" looks like.
We shared our model with community activists, defense lawyers, and other advocates working to reduce incarceration statewide.
A new case management app connecting participants, providers, and the court helped drive the program's best year yet.
MDOS didn't adopt our legal position, but discontinued the practice anyway.
The site tracks how courts and agencies measure up against best practices on the issues we work on.
Michigan repealed the law via HB 5103 in 2023.
The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling 6–3 that the laws don't violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause.
The program's strongest numbers since 2019, as providers rebuilt their referral pipeline.
The partnership that started in the Detroit area grew into statewide legal support.
The Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal, but three justices flagged the problem.
The Court of Appeals sided with the state; review continued alongside the companion Edwards case.
After a year of rebuilding intake processes, the program's numbers crossed back over 1,000 cases closed.
Signed into law in December 2022, three years after we began drafting it.
No meaningful response.
We backed proposed amendments to Michigan Court Rule 4.201 aimed at giving tenants more notice and protection in eviction cases.
The partnership expands direct legal services to more homeless service providers and their clients.
Intake slowed as providers shifted to virtual operations and trained new staff mid-pandemic, but the program held.
The Supreme Court ruled 8–1 that the exclusion was constitutional.
The Court declined our 2017 request — then adopted it anyway during the pandemic.
The program moved to virtual operations rather than shut down, and helped Flint and other cities launch homeless courts of their own.
Since September 2020, the list has included rate info.
The lawsuit ended in 2020 without establishing the constitutional right — but came remarkably close.
Michigan was added to the pilot program on May 20, 2020.
The Michigan Supreme Court adopted the rule change statewide in January 2020.
The map translates constitutional rights and the Rethink Discipline law into a clear guide for schools and advocates.
The model spread beyond Detroit that year too, with Street Democracy helping Colorado Springs and Flint launch their own homeless courts.
Street Democracy's research points to a low-cost way courts could improve outcomes for people on probation: hire differently.
No meaningful response.
MDE adopted our recommended resolution and MARSE amendments.
After a two-year hiatus, the program's 2018 comeback nearly matched its pre-pause numbers.
The pilot replaced fines with support like job training and benefits help — and the results were striking: lower housing instability, lower recidivism, and more trust in the courts.
After a 2017 letter went unanswered, we built a coalition of education advocacy organizations to speak with one voice on school discipline reform.
The Michigan Supreme Court adopted most of our recommendations.
After a two-year approval process — capped by a sheriff personally driving to collect the last signatures — the program reopened in 2018 with full formal approval.
A pilot program in the 31st District Court tested alternatives to fines and incarceration.
Public Acts 360–366 of 2016 replaced automatic expulsions with restorative practices.
The Michigan Supreme Court banned the practice, after our clients testified in Lansing.
When Volunteers of America Michigan's legal partner kept turning away referrals, we built a program designed to say yes.
The program's fourth year showed exponential growth in graduates and case closures.
By 2014, graduates and cases closed had both doubled from the year before.
In 2013, the program's growth showed the model was taking hold, closing 343 cases.
In 2012, the program proved that bringing court to people experiencing homelessness works.
The Detroit Action Commonwealth and Street Democracy independently discovered Ann Arbor's homeless court model — then built Detroit's own version together.
We didn't reach consensus on the underlying issues, but developed a protocol for advocacy orgs to bridge the gap between police and prosecutors.
Contributed to two of the framework's core guidelines, on due process and indigency.
Funded by FFJC, the event reshaped how we bring clients into policy design going forward.
Still pending.