SUBJECT:Support Housing Not Handcuffs & Stop Violence Against Our Neighbors
TO: ted.lieu@mail.house.gov
CC: lieu.staff@mail.house.gov, marc.cevasco@mail.house.gov
BCC: marvistavoice@gmail.com
Dear Representative Lieu,
I am writing as a constituent to urge you to support and help pass the Housing Not Handcuffs Act. Everybody deserves a safe place to live, but instead of lowering rents and fixing our broken housing system, too many politicians are fueling violence by cutting housing programs, passing laws that criminalize survival, and spreading rhetoric that dehumanizes our unhoused neighbors. These actions are deadly.
In just the past week, we have seen horrifying reminders of what this dehumanization leads to: a national TV host openly calling for the mass murder of homeless people, a mass shooting at an encampment in Minneapolis followed by bulldozers destroying what little the survivors had left, and the tragic deaths of Corey Zukatis and Demartravion “Trey” Reed in Mississippi. These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader pattern of political violence against people experiencing homelessness, disproportionately impacting Black, brown, Indigenous, trans, and disabled people.
Criminalization does not solve homelessness. It only deepens suffering and pushes people further from stability. Studies and lived experience alike show that the solution to homelessness is housing and supportive services, not handcuffs. Housing Not Handcuffs would turn us toward a humane and effective path, ending federal support for laws that criminalize homelessness and instead investing in housing and care.
Your leadership is urgently needed. I ask you to cosponsor and fight for the Housing Not Handcuffs Act, and to be a clear voice in Congress rejecting hate, criminalization, and political violence. We need representatives who stand for dignity, safety, and housing for all.
Thank you for your service and for standing with our community.