Tell Piscataway Council: Housing Not Handcuffs!
Join us to urge local leaders to withdraw homelessness criminalization ordinance

Join us to help stop a series of proposals under consideration by Piscataway's Town Council on their December 2, 2025 meeting agenda. If passed, the ordinance will criminalize homelessness by forcing people living outside, to leave the town when directed by police or face trespass charges, which bring fines of as much as $2000 and/or up to 90 days in jail.

Additionally, the proposal would limit the time a person can stay in a hotel/motel to 31 days and require these private businesses to provide a list of all registered guests to the Township Police Department upon demand. Organizations providing homelessness services often secure hotel placements to support people experiencing homelessness, including veterans and domestic violence survivors. The sheer scope of this invasive proposal is staggering - who will enforce it, how and under what terms? What protections will domestic violence victims have? People come to Piscataway and stay in its hotels and motels for all kinds of reasons, and they have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they do so. This portion of the proposed changes must also be stopped.

Our communities need housing, not handcuffs! With the federal government reducing vital housing supports and moving toward policies that force people into encampments, Piscataway’s proposal would only deepen the harm facing our most vulnerable neighbors at time when help is needed the most.

TAKE ACTION

You can help by taking the following actions:

1. SIGN on to a public letter urging the Council and Mayor to withdraw the proposal from the Dec. 2 meeting agenda and form a Municipal Task Force to work on these issues collaboratively with community stakeholders. If you have direct connections with any of these individuals, please also reach out to them and urge them to oppose these changes and pull them from the Dec. 2, 2025 agenda. (Please include your email, so we can keep you updated as the situation develops.)

2. SHARE the letter with partner organizations and individuals, especially those in Middlesex, Union and Somerset Counties. Piscataway borders New Brunswick, Highland Park, Dunellen, Plainfield, Somerset and Bound Brook. This proposal will let Piscataway's local government push people experiencing homelessness here into the communities on our borders, and force others to spend resources to take care of our neighbors. 

3. SPEAK UP at the Dec. 2, 2025 7PM meeting to voice your opposition to these harmful, expensive and invasive proposals. Please use this Facebook event to RSVP, so we have an accurate headcount. You can also attend the meeting virtually (because we passed a ballot initiative in 2021!). We will share the information about remote participation when we have it, but please plan to attend in person if you can. 

4. CONTACT your state legislator and urge them to support the Homelessness Bill of Rights (S1083/A1678) sponsored by Senator Timberlake and Assemblyman Atkins. This legislation takes aim at discrimination faced by homeless residents, preserving their civil rights and effectively ending efforts statewide that would impose jail time or fines for those who have no safe place to seek shelter.

Background

In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities can enforce ordinances that criminalize camping on public property, even if adequate shelter is unavailable, as long as the laws are generally applicable and not specifically targeting homeless individuals. Since then, cities across the country, have been introducing ordinances that punish unhoused individuals. Other municipalities in NJ such as Paterson, Haddonfield, and Morristown have attempted to introduce similar measures but they were ultimately withdrawn, while places like Summit and Toms River have passed their own versions of these ordinances. Please note, Piscataway does not provide Code Blue services, municipal homelessness assistance or any other form of support for people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.