"Homeless Bill of Rights" looks to protect the unhoused, enhance rights in Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Upwards of 8,500 people are unhoused and living on the streets of Michigan each night.
One activist turned lawmaker tells CBS News Detroit the issue of homelessness is an all-encompassing one.
That prompted State Rep. Emily Dievendorf to introduce the Homeless Bill of Rights in the Michigan House this fall.
"It helps with education, equal education, equal and fair, affordable housing," said Mike Karl, a formerly homeless advocate in Lansing. "It helps stop discrimination when it comes to searching for jobs or searching for public places that you can stay because there's a lot of public places that you can't even use a bathroom."
Karl brought the idea of a "Homeless Bill of Rights" to Dievendorf.
"[The homeless] can't go to a laundromat, they can't go to our state capitol if it's raining--and they should, these places should be open and available for people to go in and stay, get out of the water or get out of the cold or the weather and help people just look at them as a person," he said. "Not a number, not a statistic, but a real everyday person."
The Homeless Bill of Rights is part of a three-bill package that tackles issues of housing discrimination and enhancing tenants' rights. The highlights of Dievendorf's bill include secure access to public spaces, the right to vote without a permanent address and the right to property and privacy.
The bills would also allow an unhoused person the ability to file a civil lawsuit if their rights were violated.
"I was on the streets for almost two years," said David Mandra, who works alongside Karl. "I stayed in tents and on a park bench until I got housed, and I think that this bill, if it does get passed, I think that we could really make a difference in helping people get up off the street. I mean, it doesn't make sense that the cops are out there arresting people for panhandling or sleeping on a park bench and stuff like that and not giving them the resources that they need to be able to get housed."
Karl and Mandra tell CBS News Detroit the root of this legislation centers around dignity.
"My response to folks who are concerned about seeing houseless encampments is that the only way to ensure that houseless folks aren't out and about in the community having to set up camp in our parks is to ensure we're supplying the housing that houseless folks need and getting to the root of what leads to houselessness," said Dievendorf. "So in the meantime, while we are building more affordable housing, while we are renovating our aging housing stock, while we are fixing the loopholes in our law that allow for housing discrimination and get in the way of access to housing, we can't treat our neighbors with lack of compassion because they truly do not have other places to go."
Dievendorf says she knows that this legislation could come with some pushback but encourages lawmakers and Michiganders to look at the issue with empathy.