New York City is considering a first-of-its-kind homeless “statement of rights” that would give unhoused people the right to sleep outside, apply for rental vouchers and vote, among other provisions.
The bill was introduced by Public Advocate Jumanee Williams in April 2022. City Council unanimously approved it in April. Mayor Eric Adams is expected to make a decision on the measure soon.
His spokesperson, Fabien Levy, told the Associated Press that the mayor “was still evaluating the measure.”
The legislation comes at a time when more local governments are increasingly taking steps to criminalize homelessness.
This year, California lawmakers considered a bill that would make it a misdemeanor crime or infraction to sit, lie, sleep, store, use, maintain or place personal property on any street, sidewalk or other public right-of-way within 1000 feet of a school, daycare center, park or library.
The legislation failed to make it out of committee.
A similar bill was passed in Los Angeles two years ago. Last year, Missouri passed a law making it a misdemeanor to sleep on state-owned land. Rhode Island became the first state to pass a bill of rights for those experiencing housing insecurity in 2012.
Missing from the New York City bill is a right to housing, a detail that has been publicly criticized by advocates.
“A Homeless Bill of Rights isn’t truly complete without guaranteeing housing, a basic human need, for everyone,” the National Homelessness Law Center wrote in a statement on Twitter.
Other additions to the bill include a right to shelter; right to request an interpreter and have certain documents translated into other languages when interacting with agencies; educational options for unhoused children; right to file a complaint and be protected from retaliation for filing complaints; right to receive diapers and feminine hygiene products and right to shelter space consistent with a person’s gender identity.
Similar pieces of legislation have died elsewhere. In Oregon, the state’s House majority leader said a “right to rest” bill was not moving forward because it missed key deadlines. It would’ve given people experiencing homelessness the right to rest on public land.
Lawmakers in California previously attempted to pass a “right to rest” bill, but their efforts were unsuccessful in 2015.
The New York City legislation is a direct contrast to some directives issued in the past to help solve the homelessness issue, including sweeps of encampments and forcing unhoused people off of the city’s metro system.
According to Gothamist, only 5 percent of people displaced from encampment sweeps in New York City wound up in shelters in 2022.
Subway crime rates have gone down since the city began closing off the metro system to unhoused people and increased its subway police presence.
“It is cruel and inhumane to allow unhoused people to live on the subway and unfair to paying passengers and transit workers who deserve a clean, orderly and safe environment,” Adams said after announcing the initiative last year.
“The days of turning a blind eye to this growing problem are over.”