Addressing Homelessness and Hunger Through a Human Rights Approach Focused on Collective Responses

The United States is experiencing unprecedented levels of homelessness and food insecurity. In 2024, the number of unhoused persons on a single night reached the highest ever recorded, and in 2023, 13.5% of the population lived in food insecure households, including 7.2 million children. Both homelessness and food insecurity disproportionately impact individuals based on race and gender. In this context, community-led tools, such as community kitchen events and public feedings, have played an important role in providing those experiencing extreme hardship with access to adequate food and safe community spaces.

However, rather than supporting these efforts or addressing the root causes of homelessness and food insecurity, governments increasingly criminalize homelessness or life-sustaining activities conducted in public, including targeting service providers. The international human right to an adequate standard of living provides an important framework for addressing the criminalization of homelessness and reorients law and policy towards dignity, health, and well-being. At the same time, this Article calls for a reconceptualization of this right to recognize community-led responses and solidarity efforts as an essential collective dimension of a human rights approach relevant to our times.