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WRAP

Western Regional Advocacy Project

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Civil Rights Issues

Background

horizontalimagefor-newsletterBecause 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.

In preparation for launching a national campaign Right to Exist, and soon re-Introducing Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights,  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.
  • 68% 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 1388 homeless people in 13 communities.

NEW National Civil Rights Outreach Fact Sheet >>>
Nuevo Censo Nacional en Derechos Civiles Hoja de Resultados >>> 

xoxoxoxo

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.

plpcrd

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


CALIFORNIA PAST LEGISLATION 2012 

At a meeting in Sacramento last week, we learned that the California State Assembly’s Appropriations Committee has killed all proposed legislations which were heard and then placed onto ‘suspense’ status during the last session. AB5 (Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act) is one of those legislations. Our bill is officially dead – long live AB5!

This is not the end of anything, merely a new beginning and stopping the criminalization of our communities in both Oregon and California was never going to be easy (As we just saw with the Trust Act). If it was easy it would have already happened. And no doubt about it, it will happen and we will make it happen!

More than a 100 social-justice based organizations have worked together to bring this piece of civil rights legislation to where it got.  Over the next six months, we will organize more vigorously and reach out to a broader base.  In 2014, we will be back with our Bill and will work to get it passed by the State’s Assembly, and moved on to the Senate. We will win this fight!

Local ordinances that criminalize sitting or sleeping in public spaces across the country are not the answer to homelessness. Instead, they make us less able to pressure the federal government to restore funding for affordable housing and reinvest in healthy communities for all people.

We will focus our organizing efforts on building a social-justice campaign which will entail pushing for the passing of legislations in different states. The obstacles we overcome, together, will build our strength which we’ll certainly need a lot of to get the justice and equality that we deserve! 

legislation

  • (AB 5) Homeless Bill of Rights.
  • summary fact sheet / introduccion y hoja de hechos  
  • What AB 5 will/will not do

endorsers

  • list of endorsers

outreach

  • street outreach fact sheet 
  • blank outreach forms
  • historical criminalization fact sheet
  • Homeless Bill of Rights Webinar slide Show
  • Homeless Bill of Rights Webinar pdf

media

  • campaign messages
  • articles / more…

artwork

  • Homeless Bill of Rights Artwork 
  • WRAP Artwork

Homeless Bill of Rights Artwork

 

 

 

 

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Instagram Feed

Instagram post 17863401230948820 Instagram post 17863401230948820
San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelte San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelter GUTS HOUSING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES AND YOUTH 
https://wraphome.org/2023/05/31/mayors-plan-to-expand-shelter-guts-housing-for-homeless-families-and-youth/
Nationally, evictions from public housing have sur Nationally, evictions from public housing have surged since late 2021, when the federal government lifted an eviction moratorium put in place to protect renters during the pandemic, according to Peter Hepburn, associate director of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.  https://conta.cc/3WJco9B
WRAP members and allies always tell us the vital i WRAP members and allies always tell us the vital importance of feeling connected to each other- sharing stories from our own communities, learning from past campaigns, and having artwork that we can share (and wear!) that affirms the life-saving message that we are in this together - we are not alone! 
https://conta.cc/3Wfb5Pw
Join the Coalition On Homelessness San Francisco T Join the Coalition On Homelessness San Francisco Thursday May 11 at 12 noon steps of City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the fin We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the final two Aloft residents, Juilo and Alberto who we asked for the community’s support in advocating for, got a commitment from the State for housing vouchers and the City agreed to bridge them in a hotel like everyone else!! This means that NO Aloft resident was kicked to the shelters or streets due to the closure!! This is a huge testament to what is possible when everyone comes together toward a housing goal and puts their resources toward housing! 
https://conta.cc/3LYOumD
Instagram post 17977559687207330 Instagram post 17977559687207330
Of course, in a time when the poor people are demo Of course, in a time when the poor people are demonized for being poor and homeless people are increasingly seen more as something to fear rather than human beings, it’s unfortunately not all that surprising.
https://conta.cc/3HxZpkV
https://conta.cc/3HwGcQq
We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the fin We are thrilled to announce that yesterday the final two Aloft residents, Juilo and Alberto who we asked for the community’s support in advocating for, got a commitment from the State for housing vouchers and the City agreed to bridge them in a hotel like everyone else!! This means that NO Aloft resident was kicked to the shelters or streets due to the closure!! This is a huge testament to what is possible when everyone comes together toward a housing goal and puts their resources toward housing! 
https://conta.cc/3HsVsOn
Unhoused people are most often prosecuted for "cri Unhoused people are most often prosecuted for "crimes of survival," like sitting, lying down, or sleeping in public space. In order to protect people from discriminatory enforcement of laws that were created deny people their right to exist where they happen to live The Right To Rest Act was created in 2015 and is still being fought for today!!!! 
The Right 2 Rest Act did not meet the threshold to be voted out of committee this term, but this informational hearing will ensure legislators know this bill is necessary to protect our human rights to public space! 
https://conta.cc/3KSclTn
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