page_title: Homeless Bill of Rights
section_title: Controversy over Legislation Affecting the Homeless
hierarchical_section_title: Homeless Bill of Rights / Controversy over Legislation Affecting the Homeless
caption_attribution_description: English: Beds Not Jails Families ACT! rally
context_page_description: The Homeless Bill of Rights refers to legislation protecting the civil and human rights of homeless people. These laws affirm that homeless people have equal rights to medical care, free speech, free movement, voting, opportunities for employment, and privacy. Legislation of this type is currently being debated at the state level in the United States. Over 120 organizations in five different states have shown public support for a Homeless Bill of Rights and are working towards its implementation. A Homeless Bill of Rights has become law in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Illinois and is under consideration by several other U.S. states, including California, Delaware, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont.
context_section_description: Opposition to legislature that supports the rights of unhoused individuals primarily comes from state and city officials, housed citizens, and varied business interests. Increasing the visibility of homelessness as a public issue is an implicit goal of many Homeless Bill of Rights advocates. Visible homelessness, especially in the form of encampments, is typically regarded as a failure of the city or state. Most anti-homeless legislation seeks to mitigate the issue by moving unhoused individuals from one space to another and thus decrease the visibility of "undesirable" individuals in public spaces.
  Business interests, represented by the California Chamber of Commerce, have called Assemblymember Tom Ammiano's Homeless Person's Bill of Rights  a "job killer" which would create "costly and unreasonable mandates on employers." Some municipalities and local politicians also oppose the laws, which impose state authority to overturn local regulations. San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener commented:
  Our local laws against forming encampments, passing out and blocking sidewalks, and otherwise monopolizing public spaces would be wiped off the books. Think we have a street behavior problem now? Just wait until this passes.
  The Los Angeles Times suggested in an editorial that the Homeless Bill of Rights does not go far enough unless accompanied by economic resources allocated to provide housing. Joel John Roberts, CEO of People Assisting the Homeless, argued similarly that the Homeless Bill of Rights may be toothless and even enabling. Roberts writes:
  There needs to be a balance between criminalizing homelessness with ordinances that persecute people who are forced to live on the street, and giving those same people the right to do whatever they want without any consequences. ... A more powerful Bill of Rights for people who are homeless, however, would consist of one simple right: the right to housing.
caption: The "Beds Not Bars" slogan suggests that society must help homeless people instead of outlawing their behavior.
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