PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Frost, Maxwell [D-FL-10] · D–FL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Oct 14, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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Analyze H.R.10231 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-09-02 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed No Homeless Detention Centers Act would restrict recipients of federal housing department funds from punishing homeless people for basic survival activities on public property. It would also prohibit those recipients from using threatened or actual punishment to force people doing those activities into homeless shelters or housing, or requiring residents to work as a condition of staying. These restrictions would apply to recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development funds.
This Act may be cited as the No Homeless Detention Centers Act.
A recipient of Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may not— (1) compel, by threat or imposition of punishment, a person engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property to reside in a facility designated for housing or sheltering homeless persons; (2) compel a person residing in a facility designated for housing or sheltering homeless persons to provide labor in order to reside in such facility; (3) threaten or impose punishment on a homeless person because such person is engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property;
The findings section presents the bill’s rationale: it attributes homelessness to housing, health care, economic and other barriers, and criticizes responses based on punishment and forced placement. These are statements made in the proposed bill, not independently established findings of this analysis.
Congress finds the following: (1) Homelessness is growing across the United States due to a lack of affordable housing and health care options, economic hardship, systemic racism, chronically low wages, underemployment and unemployment, gentrification, housing discrimination, mass incarceration, discrimination based on immigration status, criminalization of poverty, domestic violence, discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming, and queer individuals, trauma, disabilities, personal and medical debt, a lack of affordable childcare, natural disasters, barriers to the social safety net system, and unexpected loss of household income.
Despite the growth of laws criminalizing camping over the past 4 decades, homelessness has continued to increase.
Unhoused persons would be forced to stay in the facility under court order or under threat of having anti-camping ordinances enforced against them if they needed to sleep after leaving the facility.
Recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development funds would be prohibited from using threatened or actual punishment to force a person performing basic survival activities on public property to live in a facility designated for homeless housing or shelter.
A recipient of Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may not— (1) compel, by threat or imposition of punishment, a person engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property to reside in a facility designated for housing or sheltering homeless persons;
Recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development funds would be prohibited from compelling residents of homeless housing or shelter facilities to provide labor as a condition of residing there.
A recipient of Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may not—
(2) compel a person residing in a facility designated for housing or sheltering homeless persons to provide labor in order to reside in such facility;
Recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development funds would be prohibited from threatening or imposing punishment on a homeless person because that person performs basic survival activities on public property.
A recipient of Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may not—
(3) threaten or impose punishment on a homeless person because such person is engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property;
Recipients of Department of Housing and Urban Development funds also would be prohibited from assisting state or local law enforcement officers or private contractors acting under claimed federal legal authority or receiving federal funds in threatening or imposing punishment on homeless people for basic survival activities on public property.
A recipient of Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development may not—
(4) provide assistance to any State or local law enforcement officer or private contractor acting under color of Federal law or receiving Federal funds to threaten or impose punishment on a homeless person because such person is engaging in life-sustaining activities on public property.
The proposal would use the existing definition of “homeless person” in section 103(a) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. That definition is referenced but not reproduced in the supplied text.
(1) Homeless person The term homeless person has the meaning given that term in section 103(a) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302(a)).
Protected “life-sustaining activities” would mean activities necessary for basic biological health and safety. Examples include moving, resting, sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protection from weather, eating, drinking, and storing belongings needed for safe shelter.
(2) Life-sustaining activities The term life-sustaining activities means those activities necessary to maintain the basic biological health and safety of a human being, including moving, resting, sitting, standing, lying down, sleeping, protecting oneself from the elements, eating, drinking, and storing such personal property as is needed to safely shelter oneself.
“Public property” would include property owned or leased wholly or partly by federal, state, local, Tribal or territorial governments. It would also include adjacent areas with a legal right of public use or that are held open to the public. Listed examples include sidewalks, parks, parking lots, public buildings, public transportation facilities and services, underpasses, and land beside roads.
(3) Public property The term public property means any property that is owned or leased, in whole or in part, by the United States or by any State, unit of local government, Tribal government, or territory of the United States, including areas adjacent to public property upon which there is an easement for public use or that is held open to the public, including— (A) plazas; (B) courtyards; (C) parking lots; (D) sidewalks; (E) public transportation facilities and services; (F) public buildings; (G) underpasses and lands adjacent to roadways; and (H) parks.
“Punishment” would include physical violence and civil or criminal legal consequences. Examples include arrest, fines, loss of privileges such as a driver’s license, and limits on legal rights.
(4) Punishment The term punishment means physical violence or civil or criminal legal consequences, including— (A) arrest; (B) imposition of fines; (C) revocation of privileges, such as revocation of a driver’s license; and (D) limitation of legal rights, such as involuntary commitment, conservatorship, or guardianship.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated October 14, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Financial Services on September 2, 2026.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-14T08:05:31Z. 2026-09-02: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. 2026-09-02: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-09-02. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption or preferential treatment was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. The proposal’s protections for its intended population do not alone constitute targeted benefits. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 14, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI