Unhoused Justice
The ACLU defends the civil rights and liberties of unhoused people and works to end laws and practices that punish and exile unhoused people for little more than surviving in public.
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What’s at Stake
Over 745,000 people experienced homelessness in 2025 and millions more are spending over half their earnings just to keep a roof over their head. Instead of investing in affordable housing and essential services, jurisdictions across the country are responding to this crisis by arresting, jailing, and forcibly institutionalizing unhoused people. These unjust practices only exacerbate the homelessness crisis and fall hardest on historically marginalized groups, including people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community.
Criminal legal system involvement and homelessness are part of a vicious cycle. Unhoused people are at increased risk of arrest and incarceration and, in turn, arrests, citations, and jail or prison stays often push people into homelessness. That’s because arrest, incarceration, and institutionalization separate people from essential support systems and saddle them with unaffordable fines and records that can disqualify them from future employment and housing opportunities. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness.
Through litigation and advocacy, we challenge these punitive and ineffective government responses and ensure that the civil rights and liberties of all people, regardless of their housing status, are protected.
Over 745,000 people experienced homelessness in 2025 and millions more are spending over half their earnings just to keep a roof over their head. Instead of investing in affordable housing and essential services, jurisdictions across the country are responding to this crisis by arresting, jailing, and forcibly institutionalizing unhoused people. These unjust practices only exacerbate the homelessness crisis and fall hardest on historically marginalized groups, including people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community.
Criminal legal system involvement and homelessness are part of a vicious cycle. Unhoused people are at increased risk of arrest and incarceration and, in turn, arrests, citations, and jail or prison stays often push people into homelessness. That’s because arrest, incarceration, and institutionalization separate people from essential support systems and saddle them with unaffordable fines and records that can disqualify them from future employment and housing opportunities. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness.
Through litigation and advocacy, we challenge these punitive and ineffective government responses and ensure that the civil rights and liberties of all people, regardless of their housing status, are protected.