Directing The Judiciary To Establish A Working Group To Explore The Feasibility Of Establishing A Housing Opportunity And Poverty Elimination (hope) Court Program In Partnership With State Agencies And Community Organizations And To Provide Recommendations For Statewide Implementation.
House Joint Resolution 11 directs the Delaware Judiciary to create a HOPE Court Working Group to study whether Delaware should establish a Housing Opportunity and Poverty Elimination (HOPE) Court program. The resolution frames the issue as one of removing legal barriers that can keep people experiencing homelessness or housing instability from obtaining housing, employment, and services, and it points to existing homeless court models in other states as a template. The working group is tasked with evaluating feasibility, developing a framework for statewide implementation, and recommending how such a program could operate in Delaware.
The working group would include legislators, county representatives, community-based service providers, a person with lived experience of homelessness and criminal justice involvement, and key state officials from the courts, DHSS, DSHA, the Attorney General’s office, and DELJIS. The Judiciary is also directed to coordinate with state and local agencies, probation services, legal aid, and community organizations, and to provide administrative support, meeting records, and a final report within 12 months of the first meeting. The report must address potential sites, agency roles, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.
This resolution does not change substantive state law or create a HOPE Court program immediately. Instead, it establishes a formal study and planning process within the Judiciary to assess how a homeless court-style program could be implemented statewide and what institutional, legal, and operational changes might be needed. Its practical impact is to convene stakeholders, gather information from agencies, and produce recommendations that could later lead to legislation, court policy changes, or pilot programs affecting criminal justice, housing, and social service systems.
The bill appears to have a generally supportive and reform-oriented tone, emphasizing problem-solving, service coordination, and reducing barriers faced by people experiencing homelessness. Its sponsors and the resolution’s findings present the proposal as a public-safety and self-sufficiency measure rather than a punitive one, and the inclusion of courts, housing, health, and community partners suggests broad institutional interest in exploring the concept. No committee transcript or vote record was provided, so there is no documented opposition or recorded debate in the supplied materials.
The main potential points of contention are likely to be whether Delaware should invest judicial and agency resources in a new court model, whether the program would be effective statewide, and how it should balance accountability for outstanding warrants, fines, and low-level offenses with service-based resolutions. Questions may also arise about agency workload, funding, data sharing, and the role of courts in addressing homelessness and poverty. The resolution itself anticipates these concerns by limiting the measure to a feasibility study and requiring recommendations before any statewide implementation.