Advocates across the nation are participating in a National Week of Action starting today (April 22) to oppose counterproductive and inhumane efforts to punish and arrest people experiencing homelessness and advocate for the only real solution to the homelessness crisis: safe, stable, affordable housing.
The National Week of Action, hosted by NLIHC, the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC), National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), and National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), comes as the Supreme Court of the United States hears oral arguments today in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, the most significant court case about the rights of people experiencing homelessness in decades. The court will decide whether communities that have failed to address the need for affordable housing and shelter can punish unhoused people for sleeping outside with tickets, fines, and arrests, even when there are no other safe or adequate housing or shelter options available.
Take Action Starting Today!
Your elected officials need to hear from you, from people directly impacted by homelessness, and from other advocates in your community! Take action today and all week to call on policymakers to end homelessness and housing poverty.
Ways to take action:
- Attend local rallies hosted by homelessness advocates. Local actions will be announced on www.johnsonvgrantspass.com.
- Share how you’re planning to participate in the Week of Action by contacting us at [email protected]!
- Use an advocacy toolkit from NLIHC, NHLC, NCH, and NAEH to plan an event in your local community, such as:
- Meeting with your local, state, or federal elected officials to discuss the real solutions to homelessness.
- Hosting a roundtable or other gathering where people with lived experience of homelessness can share their stories with elected officials.
- Hosting a teach-in, film screening, or other educational event.
- Writing an op-ed or letter to the editor.
- Amplifying social media from National Homelessness Law Center (@homeless_law) and others.
- Bringing your elected officials on a site visit to an affordable housing development or other program in your community.