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For years advocates have demanded more housing and an end to the criminalization of homelessness, addiction, and mental health. Our polling shows that voters of both parties strongly support both.

The CDC has strongly urged individuals to stay in their homes to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Without a home, people are at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus and transferring the virus to others. Protecting the unhoused, in other words, also means protecting the broader public. Our polling shows overwhelming, bipartisan support for this strategy.

Voters also strongly support ending the criminalization of homelessness, and allowing people to sleep outside and in their vehicles without fear of arrest, as a strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Grassroots groups and other advocates have already begun pushing for these strategies that have broad bipartisan support among voters. Now lawmakers and other government officials must act.

To read the entire report provided by The Justice Collaborative Institute, visit Fighting the Coronavirus and Protecting the Unhoused.