2025 Playbook
(WASHINGTON, D.C – February 3rd)
Since the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision that cities can fine, ticket, and arrest people sleeping outside even when they have nowhere else to go, we have seen over 150 anti-homeless bills passed across the country. And now, Donald Trump and his billionaire allies are working to enact their anti-homeless, anti-Black and anti-poor, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBTQ agenda. We know that these policies will hurt everyone, but Black, Brown, LGBTQ+, disabled communities, and immigrants will hurt first, and hurt worst. And, as always, people who sleep outside will be among the first to feel the full effect of these policies.
The National Homelessness Law Center is not backing down. We remain committed to protecting the rights of our homeless neighbors and fighting to ensure that everybody has the housing they need to thrive.
Block: Donald Trump’s administration wants to round up homeless people, throw them into government detention camps, and create a nationwide anti-homeless ban. Cities and states across the country are passing cruel, ineffective, and backwards laws that punish people for sleeping outside and even punish those who are trying to help get people off the streets and into housing. The Law Center is committed to using all resources at our disposal, legal and otherwise, to defend the lives and rights of people experiencing homelessness. The Law Center is already hard at work developing legal and other strategies to stop this. We will work closely with our partners to stop Trump’s plans to gut funding for housing, backtrack on proven solutions to solve homelessness, and cut vital social safety net programs.
Bridge: Attacks on homeless people do not happen in a vacuum. As anti-homeless policies increase, so will attacks on communities of color, immigrant communities, the LGBTQ community, people with physical and mental disabilities, poor folks and other historically disenfranchised groups. The Law Center is already working to serve as a bridge between housing justice and other justice movements and remind our partners that true justice cannot be reached until everybody has a safe place to live.
Build: Housing ends homelessness. As the wealthy amass even more money, more and more people struggle to pay rent. One in four people worry about becoming homeless. Instead of focusing on real solutions, politicians keep trying the same failed anti-homeless policies that have never and will never work. But, unlike politicians, real people know that throwing people in jail does not solve homelessness, housing does. We commit to building our movement’s power so that we can more effectively fight against anti-homeless laws and build a country where everybody has the housing they need.
Fight: Real change can and is happening in cities and states across the country. We will strengthen our work with local and state-based activists and other stakeholders to stop policies that will make homelessness worse and to fight for the proven solutions to homelessness, like housing and voluntary services. And even though we will not win every fight, we will fight in ways that build power for the long haul. By fighting strategically, together, with a focus on the future, we can emerge stronger than ever before.
Dream: We believe in a country where everybody has the housing and supports they need to thrive, where nobody sleeps outside and where nobody has to pick between paying rent or buying groceries. We work for an America where everybody, regardless of race, class, or background has a safe place to live. We vision a time when everybody pays their fair share to ensure everybody can thrive. We commit to keeping our eye on these dreams and working together to turn them into reality.
The fight, build, block, bridge framework is adapted from many movement thinkers, including this resource from the 21st Century Initiative and resources from the Working Families Party.