The Supreme Court’s Decision Undermines Protections for Homeless People, Exacerbating Their Vulnerability
On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down the Ninth Circuit decision in the Grants Pass v. Johnson case. In a 6-3 ruling, SCOTUS determined that cities can enforce anti-camping bans even if there are no available shelters for homeless individuals. Justice Neil Gorsuch, along with the court’s conservative justices, concluded that these bans do not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
This ruling is a profound injustice to the homeless community, fundamentally altering how cities address the homelessness crisis. It places thousands of homeless Americans at even greater risk by stripping away their already minimal protections. This decision represents one of the most significant injustices faced by the homeless community to date.
History of Grants Pass
The case began in October 2018 when three homeless individuals in Grants Pass, Oregon, sued the city for unconstitutionally penalizing them for their homelessness. Grants Pass had enacted three ordinances prohibiting homeless people from sleeping on public sidewalks or streets and erecting tents in streets, parks, or any other public property.
Violating these ordinances resulted in civil citations, barring individuals from reentering city parks for 30 days, and imposing fines starting at a whopping $295—an insurmountable amount for homeless individuals. Repeat offenders camping in parks faced criminal trespassing charges, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and an additional fine of $1,250. Such criminal records further hindered their chances of securing housing.
In response, the homeless community of Grants Pass fought back, arguing that the city had “criminalized their existence” since there were no city-run homeless shelters. Grants Pass’s only two privately run housing programs served only a small fraction of the homeless community.
It is crucial to understand that these ordinances effectively prohibit basic human functions like sleeping. Everyone needs sleep to survive; without it, we cannot live. Punishing homeless individuals for performing a vital activity that sustains life is not only inhumane but also counterproductive. These ordinances criminalize the act of survival, and with the recent ruling, this unjust practice will persist.
Initial Victory for Homeless People
In July 2023, a federal district court ruled against the city of Grants Pass, concluding that the Eighth Amendment prohibits these ordinances. While the ruling was not perfect, it marked a significant step forward. The court blocked Grants Pass from enforcing its anti-homeless laws, preventing the city from enforcing anti-camping ordinances in city parks at night. However, the court permitted the city to enforce these rules during the daytime, provided they issued a 24-hour warning.
The City of Grants Pass quickly appealed this decision, arguing that the ruling prevented the city from responding to the growth of public encampments. Furthermore, they stated that this decision would only allow more crime, medical issues, and drug use on public streets.
Theane Evangelis, the lawyer representing the city, told the justices that “the City of Grants Pass will be forced to surrender its public spaces…it leaves cities with really no choice: either keep building enough shelter that may or may not be adequate or suitable to someone’s preferences or be forced to give up all of your public spaces.”
Disregard for Expert Opinions
In March, the Cicero Institute filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of Grants Pass to “stop activist judges from rewriting the U.S. Constitution by eliminating cities’ abilities to enforce lawful, common-sense municipal ordinances within their jurisdictions as they relate to homelessness and camping on public land.” However, Invisible People recognizes that the Cicero Institute’s advocacy efforts ultimately harm homeless individuals by pushing for their criminalization. Unfortunately, their efforts have once again been successful.
The Cicero Institute disregards the expert opinions of social workers and other frontline workers addressing the homeless crisis. Simply put, they do not care about the well-being and lives of homeless individuals.
As it stands today, the City of Grants Pass and its supporters can continue their criminalization efforts, relying on law enforcement and arrests as their sole approach to addressing homelessness.
From the perspective of a homeless person, it seems clear that Grants Pass and its supporters have little regard for homeless and poor people. They appear unwilling to address homelessness and poverty meaningfully, instead opting to remove homeless individuals from public view by any means necessary. The quickest route to this goal is through criminalization efforts that impose fines, make arrests and jail homeless individuals.
So, what happens now? What does this ruling mean for other cities and homeless people nationwide?
Consequences of Criminalization
The Supreme Court’s decision will allow local governments in cities like Grants Pass to criminalize their homeless population. Now, we can no longer ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities are given access to housing and services they need – that they’re being taken care of. Local governments won’t be held accountable for this.
They can decide for themselves what is “appropriate,” even if that means arresting and jailing homeless people for camping or sleeping in public parks. Officials can do this even if there are no available shelters. They can do this instead of developing shelters and affordable housing, which we know is the only real solution to ending homelessness. However, this ruling also underscores the urgent need for better solutions to address homelessness, inspiring us to work towards a more just and equitable society.
The results of criminalization will happen. The consequences of this ruling will happen. These laws will further perpetuate the negative messaging around homelessness, and that alone has a ripple effect. It will penetrate the minds and hearts of their community. As community members see homeless people being treated this way – harmed, arrested, taken to jail, they will become accustomed to it and eventually accept it as simply a “necessary evil,” or worse, that homeless people probably deserve the treatment they’re getting.
Supreme Court’s Inhumane Decision Will Make Homelessness Worse
This is a massive loss for homeless rights and homeless lives. Without protection from the Supreme Court, there’s simply no guarantee that unhoused, unsheltered, and poor community members will get the services they need. Cities won’t have any obligation to do better – to do more. Cities can create local laws that prohibit living outside when there are no adequate shelters, services, or systems to navigate homeless community members into shelters and, ultimately, into stable long-term housing. That means cities can now arrest, fine, or jail homeless people for simply trying to survive. Cities can, if they wish, “fix” their homeless problem by simply putting them all in jail.
Homelessness will become much worse. All barriers to stable living will be exaggerated by such a ruling. Now, homeless people will have the obstacle of a criminal record. This will make it much harder for a homeless person to secure a job or an apartment. The repercussions are that much worse for homeless people in that they will likely lose connections with friends, family, caseworkers, churches, and other organizations that can help.
All evidence points to the fact that not only is criminalizing homelessness incredibly inhumane, but it simply does not solve homelessness. Policy aside, this is about people’s lives. Criminalization makes a homeless person’s life that much harder, that much worse than it already is. This is about kicking the most vulnerable members of society when they are already down. While the Supreme Court claims this is okay, it is not. This is a stripping of rights. Plain and simple.
