On August 1, 2021 Congresswoman Cori Bush slept on the steps on the U.S. Capitol to protest her colleagues adjourning for August recess without passing an extension of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium for renters.
Bush said the inaction could lead to thousands of Americans being left homeless. Three days earlier, Bush had introduced the Unhoused Bill of Rights, a federal resolution calling on Congress to permanently end the unhoused crisis by 2025.
The proposed bill stalled, but Bush has reintroduced the legislation, which declares unalienable rights for unhoused persons and provides solutions for the federal government to permanently end the crisis by 2027.
Bush said, “this legislation responds to the bleak post-Covid economic reality faced by millions of low-income renters, where rising housing costs continue to rapidly outpace wages and force people to live on the streets.”
“My children and I have personally experienced the trauma, stress, stigma, and pain that comes with being unhoused. Our veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and our youth are disproportionately at risk of becoming unhoused. Being able to afford a safe place to live is a human right that has been undermined by intentional policy decisions,” Bush said in a release.
“As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Homelessness, I am proud to reintroduce [this] legislation that commits the federal government to addressing the root of our nation’s housing crisis once and for all. We have the power and money to end the unhoused crisis, we just need the will to reorient Congressional priorities.”
According to Bush’s office, the legislation would:
-Increase the affordable housing stock, provide universal housing vouchers, and bolster funding to federal housing programs, shelters, transitional and permanent housing programs, social services, and permanent emergency rental assistance;Â
-Call on the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the unhoused crisis a public health emergency;Â
-Protect 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;
-Support 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;
Develop 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.
“In St. Louis, there are many examples of the dual crises of increasing housing insecurity and the criminalization of our unhoused neighbors. We support Representative Bush’s Bill of Rights for our unhoused neighbors and her commitment to meeting their needs comprehensively using all available federal resources,” says Christopher Wilcox, director of policy and advocacy for Red Circle, a St. Louis community service organization.
Bush has been joined by fellow Congressional Caucus on Homelessness co-chairs in an ongoing effort to educate members of Congress and their staff on issues faced by unhoused persons.
