POLICY SOLUTIONS
Our policy solutions are designed to help local, state, and federal lawmakers focus on the true solutions to homelessness: housing and supportive services. These template bills help end and prevent the criminalization of homelessness, protect service providers, and redirect support towards affordable housing programs.
The State Surplus Property Bill is a template that helps turn abandoned or unused state-owned property into affordable housing. Because wages have been stagnant, cost of living has increased, and housing prices have soared, there is an affordable housing crisis in this country. There is no state in the U.S. that has an adequate supply of affordable housing for the lowest-income renters. With this bill, states can alleviate the housing crisis by redistributing land or buildings for the purpose of affordable housing development.
The Gloria Johnson Act is a template bill designed to help local and state lawmakers correct the harm done by the Supreme Court in Johnson v. Grants Pass, which ruled that unhoused people are not protected from cruel and unusual punishment, even when no viable shelter options are available. The template allows legislators to enshrine some of those protections, and help redirect resources from wasteful and harmful policing to the real solutions to homelessness: housing and supportive services.
The Homelessness Service Provider Protection Act aims to protect service providers, who play an indispensable role in the movement to solve homelessness, from rising criminalization. This template bill prohibit politicians from enacting laws that prevent service providers, faith groups, culturally responsive organizations, and other community members, from offering essential services, supplies, and assistance to their unhoused neighbors.
2017 Housing Not Handcuffs Act
Millions of Americans are just one missed paycheck away from becoming homeless. But instead of addressing the housing crisis, politicians are working with billionaires to arrest people for sleeping outside. The 2017 Housing Not Handcuffs Act is a template that can be used at local, state, and federal levels to end the criminalization of homelessness.
This template bill codifies the true solutions to homelessness: ending criminalization, strengthening housing protections, and increasing access to and availability of affordable housing.
For information about the 2025 Federal Housing Not Handcuffs Act, click here.