Frost Introduces No Homeless Detention Centers Act to Ban Forced Labor and Cruel Homeless Encampments

September 02, 2026 Frost Introduces No Homeless Detention Centers Act to Ban Forced Labor and Cruel Homeless Encampments *LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE* WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10) joined Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Congressman Troy Carter (LA-02), Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), and Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03), along with Eric Tars of the National Homeless Law Center, Setareh Gandehari, Advocacy Director, Detention Watch Network, and Wesley Thomas, Guest Advisory Board Member, Miriam’s Kitchen to announce his No Homeless Detention Centers Act, legislation to stop federal housing dollars from being used to force people experiencing homelessness into detention-like facilities or subject them to forced labor. The bill would prevent the federal government from funding programs that force people experiencing homelessness into shelters, camps, or other facilities against their will. It would also ban these facilities from making people work in exchange for a place to stay or punishing people for doing basic things they need to survive, like sleeping, resting, eating, drinking, or protecting themselves from the weather. "No one should look at a person who is homeless and think the answer is to lock them up or make them work for a place to sleep,” said Congressman Frost. “People need housing, not cages. They need support, not forced labor. At a time when homelessness is growing and housing is becoming more and more unaffordable, we should be investing in getting people into homes—not building cruel encampments and criminalizing people for trying to survive.” “Allowing Americans to live on streets is not a standard our nation should be willing to accept, but forcing unhoused people into detention-style facilities and forcing them to work while corporations rake in profits is a cruel punishment,” said Congresswoman Bonamici. “We must make clear that we won’t stand for federal dollars being used to detain people simply for being unhoused. Together, let’s advance policies that will actually help people experiencing homelessness instead of making their lives more difficult.” “Homelessness is not a crime – it is a failure of systems meant to serve the needs of our communities,” said Congressman Carter. “The solution to this failure is not locking people up. It is not forcing them to work in exchange for a place to stay. It is not denying them access to care. The Trump Administration’s reckless policies are causing homelessness to rise by the day. If we truly want to address homelessness we must invest in affordable housing, expand mental health services, and strengthen workforce pathways – not punish people for simply trying to survive.” “Trump and all the authoritarians in the Administration want our lives, our labor, and our freedom to extract every bit of profit they can from us for themselves and their billionaire bosses. Just as they knew that mandatory detention paired with Trump’s mass deportation campaign would be good for business, they know that detention camps for unhoused neighbors will also be a lucrative venture," said Congresswoman Ramirez. "Detention has always been UNSAFE, INAPPROPRIATE, INADEQUATE. We must not continue to fund our death and destruction. That's why I introduced the Melt ICE Act, and why I am proud to join Congressman Frost in introducing the No Homeless Detention Centers Act to demand an end to the detention and punishment of our unhoused neighbors. Together, let’s fight for every single thing our people need to thrive, including HOUSING FOR ALL!" “We should be operating from the fundamental truth that every person deserves a roof over their head and a safe place to sleep. When rent, grocery, and gas prices are skyrocketing, and Trump has cut healthcare for tens of millions of people, it is absolutely wrong to criminalize the inability to afford a home. That is why I am proud to co-lead the No Homeless Detention Centers Act to prevent a dime of federal funding from being used to put people experiencing homelessness into the for-profit prison industrial complex.” - Congresswoman Jayapal “Trump is carrying out a cruel and multi-layered detention expansion plan as part of his mass deportation agenda, locking up tens of thousands of people in facilities rife with egregiously poor conditions, medical neglect, and a culture of violence that results in system-wide abuses, including death. That’s why we are alarmed by the Trump administration’s efforts to criminalize and detain people without homes. We see this is a clear attempt to vilify homeless people and enrich private prison companies and tech surveillance organizations, just as they have done with our immigrant communities - all while ignoring the real affordability crisis in this country.” - Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director, Detention Watch Network We shouldn’t have to be here today, introducing the No Homeless Detention Centers Act, legislation restricting federal funds from going to detention camps for Americans who can’t afford the rent. But we are here today, because it is necessary to fight back against the Trump Administration that is aggressively erasing decades of data-based progress on solving homelessness and instead promoting jails, labor camps, warehouses, and asylums, not because there is any evidence to support them, but because the right-wing Cicero Institute is spoon-feeding Trump detention policies that will enrich its billionaire-backers financially – and benefit him politically. We know the solution to homelessness is housing, not handcuffs. -Eric Tars, Senior Policy Director, National Homelessness Law Center The bill comes as the far-right Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank backed by wealthy donors and corporate interests, pushes states and the federal government to criminalize homelessness, ban sleeping in public, and move people into temporary shelters or treatment facilities—sometimes against their will. Versions of these policies have already passed in states including Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, with some proposals also including work requirements or forced labor. The No Homeless Detention Centers Act is endorsed by: National Homelessness Law Center and Detention Watch Network, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Drug Policy Alliance; National Health Care for the Homeless Council; Funders Together for Housing Justice; National Coalition for the Homeless; National Housing Law Project; A Way Home America; Housing Justice Collective; Justice in Aging; National Low Income Housing Coalition; National Association of Social Workers; Poverty & Race Research Action Council; Kids In Crisis; National Organization for Women; The Southern Poverty Law Center; National Network to End Domestic Violence; League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); National Partnership for New Americans; Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team; The Workers Circle; Muslim Advocates; DemCast USA; Just Detention International; Coalition on Human Needs; Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR); Freedom Network USA; Latino Community Fund of Washington State; Praxis Health Empowerment; National Legal Aid & Defender Association; Street Democracy; Miami Valley Immigration Coalition; Lincoln County Indivisible; Western Center on Law & Poverty; Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center; Access Reproductive Justice and Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness. 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