Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and Workforce, the Judiciary, Agriculture, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
H.Res. 1249, the Unhoused Persons Bill of Rights, is a resolution expressing that the United States should end homelessness by 2029 and establish comprehensive legal protections for unhoused individuals. The bill identifies that approximately 771,400 people are currently unhoused, with disproportionate impacts on Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and disabled communities, and attributes homelessness to factors including poverty, stagnant wages, and a shortage of affordable housing. The resolution proposes that unhoused people should have access to 19 fundamental rights including housing, healthcare, public facilities, employment, and education without discrimination, along with legal protections against harassment by law enforcement and private discrimination. The bill also directs the Departments of Justice, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services to work with community advocates to develop guidelines for decriminalizing homelessness and provide a report to Congress within six months. The resolution has been referred to six congressional committees and frames ending homelessness as a cost-effective solution, noting that adequate housing voucher funding would cost less than 20 percent of the defense budget compared to the current $30,000 to $50,000 annual taxpayer cost per unhoused individual.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.