Piscataway Township Council Withdrawls Ordinance Criminalizing Homelessness; Other Proposals Continue to Advance

CONGRATULATIONS and thank you to everyone who took action to stop the Piscataway Township Council from passing a measure that would have criminalized homeless residents. Last night, the Council fully withdrew the portion of a wide-ranging ordinance that would have forced people living outside to leave the town when directed by police or face trespass charges. Those charges would have brought fines of as much as $2000 and/or up to 90 days in jail. This is a victory in the fight to preserve the rights of our most vulnerable residents and uplifts housing as a human right. Special thanks to At-Large Council members Sarah Rashid and Laura Leibowitz for opposing this measure publicly before the meeting. Unfortunately, the Council moved the remainder of the items included in the proposed ordinance from the December 2, 2025 agenda to future action.

WHAT'S NEXT?
On December 16, 2025, the Council will consider another problematic provision of the original proposal, the so-called “public nuisance” ordinance. This is a catch-all provision that could criminalize acts of mutual assistance and direct aid to people experiencing street homelessness. Instead of attending the December 2 meeting, please join us on December 16, at 6:00PM (the meeting starts at 7), to speak out against this proposal. We are also still collecting signatures on the sign-on letter and will have more information next week about this event. We will also keep you posted on the hotel/motel elements of the ordinance which are now slated to move early next year.

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, we are grateful for all of you and the accomplishments we achieve together. We thank you for the calls, emails, letter endorsements and statements of support. Advocacy works and we will continue until we get the Homeless Bill of Rights signed into law.