Bill of Rights for persons experiencing homelessness

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.

What: resolution (DC5) establishing a bill of rights for people experiencing homelessness in Ann Arbor and rejecting criminalization of homelessness.
Where it stands: approved by voice vote on 2026-10-19.
Next: the city administrator reports back within 180 days after reviewing city policies, contracts, employee training and complaint procedures, with recommended policy, budget or legislative changes.

Sponsored by Ghazi Edwin, seconded by Harrison; Watson was added as a co-sponsor. It shares principles with a similar bill pending in the Michigan legislature.
Lelay (city Supportive Connections): the 2026 point-in-time count shows local homelessness up 118 percent since January 2022 (about 20 percent from 2025 to 2026), with racial disparities and more than 400 people homeless on a given night. The resolution creates no shelter beds but sets a shared foundation: enforcement based on conduct, not housing status.
Harrison: if you have no home you can still sit in a park, ride the bus and enter a city building; personal information stays private and county IDs count.
Ghazi Edwin: federal funding is shifting away from permanent supportive housing and housing first. A later council speaker noted that the county's family shelter and adult shelter face significant funding losses this cycle.
White (Ozone House) supported it; the county waiting list for young people rose from 31 to 93 in a year.
A closing commenter (Haley) disagreed that giving homeless people housing helps.

About 25 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-19 - City Council	25

2026-10-19 - City Council - Staff introduction, public support and council remarks; approved by voice vote.