Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness, reintroduced the “Unhoused Bill of Rights” (H.Res.634) on July 28. The Unhoused Bill of Rights is the first federal resolution to declare unalienable rights for people experiencing homelessness and provide solutions to permanently end the homelessness crisis.
The NLIHC-supported resolution urges the federal government to declare the homelessness crisis a life-threatening public health emergency and provides a comprehensive list of recommendations to guarantee housing, healthcare, and livable wages for unhoused people. Those recommendations include universal rental assistance, funding the national Housing Trust Fund at $40 billion annually, and enacting a permanent emergency rental assistance program – three of NLIHC’s HoUSed campaign’s policy priorities.
In addition to supporting historic federal funding for affordable housing and homelessness programs, the federal resolution outlines the fundamental civil and human rights that must be enforced to protect people experiencing homelessness. The Unhoused Bill of Rights also calls on the federal government to collaborate with advocates and community-led organizations to develop holistic, non-carceral, and health-based solutions to the homelessness crisis.
“Housing is a human right, and bold solutions – including universal rental assistance, preservation and expansion of public housing, investments in the national Housing Trust Fund, and robust and enforced tenant protections – are necessary to end homelessness,” stated NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a press release announcing the resolution. “Homelessness is one of our country’s most urgent, tragic, and solvable crises, and Congress must use every opportunity to advance the policy solutions needed to end it. I applaud Congresswoman Bush for helping to build the political will necessary to end this entirely preventable crisis.”
View the press release at: https://tinyurl.com/3r8hvjvt
Learn more about the “Unhoused Bill of Rights” at: https://tinyurl.com/mtc2ke3a
Read the resolution at: https://tinyurl.com/39tvxb8s