Yesterday, six homeless New Yorkers filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and the Eric Adams administration to end the City’s inhumane and unlawful homeless sweeps. The lawsuit alleges that both the City’s sweeps policy and the practices that follow are unconstitutional and violate individuals' civil rights. The plaintiffs are represented by the Urban Justice Center – Safety Net Project (UJC-SNP), the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC), and Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP.

Click here to read the Law Center’s statement on this historic lawsuit.

In New York and across the country, displacing, arresting, and fining people who sleep outside makes it harder to solve homelessness. Instead of throwing homeless people into jail or throwing their belongings away, cities must focus on the only proven and lasting solution to homelessness: housing that people can afford paired with voluntary, supportive services.

As I said in our statement, “The damaging effects of the sweeps policy represent an abject failure of New York City governance and exacerbate the trend of criminalizing homelessness that has been escalating across the country. Since the Supreme Court effectively criminalized homelessness this summer with the Johnson v. Grants Pass ruling, more than one hundred bills cruelly targeting homeless people have been introduced across the country. The billionaire-led campaign to arrest, fine, and displace homeless people must be met with increased funding for the proven solution to homelessness: housing paired with voluntary services.”

Hear directly from homeless folks from around the country who endured encampment raids in this new reporting from ProPublica.

It does not need to be this way. Together, we can ensure our elected officials focus on housing, not handcuffs, services, or sweeps.