Right to Shelter States 2025

Right To Shelter States

Yes

State	Right To Shelter States↓	Additional Details
Massachusetts	Yes	Established 1983. Applies to only to homeless families and pregnant women. Additional restrictions may apply.
Alabama	No
Alaska	No
Arizona	No
Arkansas	No
California	No	Although California lacks a true right-to-housing policy, the state does grant runaway children the right to be admitted to emergency shelters without parental consent
Colorado	No
Connecticut	No
Delaware	No
District of Columbia	No
Florida	No
Georgia	No
Hawaii	No
Idaho	No
Illinois	No
Indiana	No
Iowa	No
Kansas	No
Kentucky	No
Louisiana	No
Maine	No
Maryland	No
Michigan	No
Minnesota	No
Mississippi	No
Missouri	No
Montana	No
Nebraska	No
Nevada	No
New Hampshire	No
New Jersey	No
New Mexico	No
New York	No	New York City recognizes a right to emergency shelter, established in the 1981 consent decree for Callahan v. Carey. However, this policy applies only to NYC rather than the state as a whole.
North Carolina	No
North Dakota	No
Ohio	No
Oklahoma	No
Oregon	No
Pennsylvania	No
Rhode Island	No
South Carolina	No
South Dakota	No
Tennessee	No
Texas	No
Utah	No
Vermont	No
Virginia	No
Washington	No
West Virginia	No
Wisconsin	No
Wyoming	No

As of May 2024, Massachusetts was the only right-to-shelter/right-to-housing state in the country and its law only applied to families.
New York City also has a right-to-shelter law, but it does not extend to the rest of the state.
In both New York and Massachusetts, increasing participation in right-to-shelter programs in 2023 and 2024 have necessitated ongoing adjustments, such as the implementation of limits on the number of days individuals may remain in the program.

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