John,

The cost of housing is skyrocketing. And ever since the COVID-19 eviction moratorium ended and emergency rental assistance wound down, more families are being forced from their homes and out onto the streets. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Housing is a human right. Recently, Rep. Cori Bush (MO-01)—Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness—reintroduced the Unhoused Bill of Rights, which provides a blueprint for the federal government to permanently end the unhoused crisis by 2027.¹

It’s imperative that we show Congress that there’s public support for this resolution. Sign now and become a grassroots co-sponsor of the Unhoused Bill of Rights.

The legislation calls on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to declare the unhoused crisis a public health emergency and calls for rigorous federal investments into homeless assistance programs, affordable housing initiatives, and wraparound services that keep people permanently housed.

Specifically this legislation:

• Provides a blueprint for the federal government to permanently end the unhoused crisis by 2027 by drastically increasing the affordable housing stock, providing universal housing vouchers, and bolstering funding to federal housing programs, shelters, transitional and permanent housing programs, social services, and permanent emergency rental assistance;
  
  

• Calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the unhoused crisis a public health emergency;
  
  

• Protects unhoused individuals from the violation of their fundamental human rights to housing, health care, livable wages, education, employment opportunities, access to public facilities, and freedom from harassment by law enforcement, private businesses, property owners, and housed residents;
  
  

• Supports historic federal funding levels for state and local governments to provide 24-hour support for unhoused people, including: shelters, transitional housing programs, supportive services, public restrooms, hand-washing stations, showers, laundry facilities, and water fountains— in coordination with grassroots and community-led organizations;
  
  

• Develops holistic, health-based, and non-carceral solutions to the unhoused crisis in coordination with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), community-led organizations, and unhoused advocates from a health-based approach that addresses both the unhoused and public health crises.

Veterans, youth, people who are LGBTQ, Black renters and other people of color, and people with disabilities are disproportionately at risk of becoming unhoused, where they face surveillance, harassment, and arrest.

The United States is the wealthiest country on Earth. There’s no good reason why everyone cannot have access to safe, stable housing.

ADD YOUR NAME to become a grassroots co-sponsor of the Unhoused Bill of Rights today.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Congresswoman Bush Re-Introduces Unhoused Bill of Rights