Civil Rights Campaign

On April 23rd AB 5 passed out of Judicairy Committee.
Check out the roll call vote!
Send your Support Letter

AB 5, The Homeless Bill of Rights is being held in suspense by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We need Californians everywhere to make their voice heard!

Here are some steps you can take to support AB 5, The Homeless Bill of Rights:

#1 - In support of the California Hunger Action Day on Wednesday May 22nd, AB 5 supporters are being asked to contact members of the Appropriations Committee to reinforce the message that homelessness and the suffering associated with it, like hunger and incarceration, must end.

Every year advocates, soup kitchen volunteers, nutritionists, food bank supporters, and others concerned about the millions of Californians experiencing hunger travel by bus, car, and plane to participate in an important event, the annual California Hunger Action Day happening on Wednesday May 22nd. As a part of their legislative priorities, they will be lobbying for AB 5 as a critical step towards ending hunger. You can join them, too! Be sure to prioritize May 22nd for making your calls but keep the pressure on until May 24th.

Sample script: “Hello, my name is ____________ and I am a resident of _____. I am calling to urge the Assemblymember to vote in support of AB 5, the Homeless Bill of Rights, moving out of suspense.
I believe the savings from ending the criminalization of homelessness greatly outweigh any costs associated with AB 5.”

If you're in the East Bay:
Speaker Perez: 916-319-2053, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mike Gatto, Chair: 916-319-2043, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Bill Quirk: 916-319-2020, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you're in Los Angeles:
Speaker Perez: 916-319-2053, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mike Gatto: 916-319-2043, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Raul Bocanegra: 916-319-2039, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Steven Bradford: 916-319-2062, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ian C. Calderon: 916-319-2057, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jimmy Gomez: 916-319-2051, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Isadore Hall, III: 916-319-2064, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Chris R. Holden: 916-319-2041, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you're in Sacramento:
Speaker Perez: 916-319-2053, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mike Gatto: 916-319-2043, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Susan Talamantes Eggman: 916-319-2013, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Richard Pan: 916-319-2009, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you're in San Francisco:
Speaker Perez: 916-319-2053, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mike Gatto: 916-319-2043, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nora Campos: 916-319-2027, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Shirley N. Weber: 916-319-2079, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

#2 -We only have till May 24th to get off of suspense and to the full assembly before the end of this session..
so call every day!!!

Send your Support Letter
http://www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/AB5SupportLetter_Assembly_.pdf

to Appropriation Committee members
http://www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/FullAppropAssembly.pdf

Full Assembly roster
http://www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/Fullassemblylist.pdf

#3 - "Like" & "Share" AB 5 Daily Facts available on WRAP's facebook. WRAP members need your support in countering the misinformation being shared about what AB 5 will and will not do. Help us by sharing an AB 5 Daily Fact posted everyday on WRAP's facebook. The daily facts share the hard and simple facts about AB 5 and why California needs to pass this critical piece of legislation NOW and highlights our brilliant campaign artwork.

To post or see past AB 5 Daily Facts, visit our facebook by clicking here!

#4 - Sustain the AB 5 Campaign by making a donation to WRAP. WRAP member organizations are made up of the grassroots movement to end homelessness and the human suffering attached to it. Most of our work is volunteer-based and centers the voices and experiences of homeless and poor people. Your monetary and in-kind donations keep this work moving forward.

Appropriation Committee members

Full Assembly roster

at: phone: 916-319-2017. fax: 916-319-2117. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

artdeco

California’s Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act (AB 5) authored by assemblymember Tom Ammiano is an attempt to get the State of California to differentiate between criminal acts that a person might commit (regardless of their housing status) and life sustaining acts we all perform but become criminal offenses when those without housing commit them.

AB 5 is a bill that says to local governments that regardless of whether or not you are frustrated and angry that the federal government has abandoned your needs, it is not ok for you to take that anger out on people who are less powerful than you.
The bullied child need not become the teenage bully.

Oregon, Vermont, Connecticut and Missouri are joining California in calling for a Homeless Bill of Rights. This signifies a growing dissatisfaction with the current tools and strategies available to localities to address our growing economic disparities that result in human rights abuses.

Homeless Bill of Rights Artwork

Legislation:

bill.
summary/fact sheet.

Endorsers:

endorsement form.
list of endorsers.

Outreach:

street outreach fact sheet
blank outreach forms
faith community letter
historical criminalization fact sheet

Media:

press release
articles

Artwork:

In preparation for launching a national campaign Right to Exist, and now Introducing Homeless Person's Bill of Rights and Fairness Act WRAP members have been documenting homeless people's experiences with the police,BID agents, criminal justice system, and private security guards.

The findings of our research are an affront to fairness and decency:

81% of survey respondents reported being harassed, cited, or arrested for sleeping.
78% of survey respondents reported being harassed, cited, or arrested for sitting or lying on the sidewalk.
66% of survey respondents reported being harassed, cited, or arrested for loitering or hanging out.
Only 26% of the respondents said they knew of a safe place to sleep at night.

Below is a fact sheet with the preliminary results from outreach to over 1276 homeless people in 13 communities.

NEW National Civil Rights Outreach Fact Sheet >>>

If you would like to add your communities voice to this effort download the forms below, complete the surveys, and send them into us. We will add them to the national results and send you your local & national results.

English Form Spanish Form

English Outreach Form Download>>
Spanish Outreach Form Download>>

Because federal responses to homelessness have been so ineffective, a growing number of localities are using "broken windows" policing to remove homeless people from public view. These punitive measures involve gross human and civil rights violations.

This nationwide pattern has escaped civil rights protections because these ordinances are drafted very carefully to appear as if they apply equally to all people, but enforcement is very much impacted by people’s skin color, housing, economic, and mental health status.

WRAP civil rights campaign combines street outreach, documentation of civil rights violations, organizing, legal defense, and direct action. None of us can do this alone. We must work in solidarity with one another to defend those being attacked and pressure local governments to end these discriminatory programs.

WRAP thanks the Diane Middleton Foundation for the generous support that helped make this outreach and organizing possible.