PARIS — French lawmakers took up a draft law yesterday that would guarantee the right to permanent housing, a bill long demanded by campaigners for the homeless but one that critics say is unclear and needs fine-tuning.Helping the homeless has become a big issue in the run-up to presidential elections in April and May, thanks largely to a small group of activists who set up tents along a Paris canal and invited Parisians to spend a winter night inside.

The government responded, pledging new funds to help the homeless and those living in temporary accommodation, as well as drafting the proposed law on a legal right to housing.

The bill would make housing a guaranteed right like education, and would allow people to sue the government if they have no reliable place to live. Scotland is the only other place in Europe with a similar law.

France’s lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, started a debate on the bill yesterday, and a vote is expected February 22. Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party supports the bill, while the Socialist Party of his main rival, Segolene Royal, has said it doesn’t go far enough.

Several hundred people protested near the National Assembly to demand stronger measures.

Homeless groups, which have long demanded more legal protection, welcome the attention to their cause. But many say the bill puts up too many bureaucratic barriers to helping those who live on society’s margins, including people expelled from their apartments or artists with irregular incomes.

Jean-Baptiste Legrand, founder of the Children of Don Quixote, the activist group that put tents up in Paris and other cities this winter, urged officials to be more specific about how homeless people will claim their legal right to housing. He also demanded more funds at local level.

In general, though, he praised the government’s move.

“The difference with this new law is that the government has a legal obligation to fulfill its promises,” he said.

Miloon Kothari, the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, says the law is too ambiguous about tenants’ rights. He plans to send a letter of recommendations to the French government.

“The law is useful and important, but it’s not going to make a big dent in the problem because there are many other factors to be taken into account,” such as unemployment, high rents and the large number of vacant properties in France, he said.