On Friday, people who fight for fair housing criticized a Supreme Court decision that lets cities enforce laws that make it illegal to sleep on public property.
The justices said that the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, did not break the Eighth Amendment when it fined and jailed people for camping on public land or leaving their cars in city parks overnight.
The 6-3 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson will make it easier for cities to deal with homeless camps directly through the police.
Many people who support fair housing have joined the justices who disagreed and said that this is wrong.
The decision “comes at the worst possible time,” as Kate Walz, associate director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project and co-author of an amicus brief before the court, put it. “The housing market is so unstable and the affordable housing crisis is so severe.”
“We need to get rid of the idea that the criminal justice system can solve the problem of affordable housing.” “No, it’s not,” Walz said.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her dissenting opinion that people become homeless for many reasons, some of which are out of their control.
“Lack of affordable housing and wages that don’t go up can make it so that some people can’t pay their rent because of an unexpected medical bill.” A 9 percent rise in the estimated number of homeless people is linked to every $100 rise in the median rental price, she wrote.
The dissent was joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.
In the U.S., housing has become more and more expensive over the past few years. It’s not possible for many Americans to own their own homes because the rent takes up a big chunk of their income.
According to Morgan Williams, general counsel for the National Fair Housing Alliance, this rent burden is really felt by low-income workers, which has made more people lose their homes.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of homeless people in the U.S. rose by 12%, or 70,642 people, between 2022 and 2023. In 2023, there were the most homeless people anywhere since records began being kept in 2007. The report said that on a single night in 2023, there were about 653,100 homeless people, which is about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States.
The justices overturned a lower court decision that said people who are homeless because there aren’t enough shelter beds shouldn’t be punished.
In a letter for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said, “Homelessness is complicated.” It has a lot of causes. So might the changes in public policy that are needed to deal with it.
He said that letting cities enforce rules about public camping is good for both communities and the people who live in the camps because they are encouraged by the government to get help.
Walz doesn’t agree. “I don’t see any value at all in these kinds of ordinances,” she said.
Williams said that the decision opens up another way for police to keep targeting black and brown communities that are already at risk. “Laws that make being homeless a crime affect the most disadvantaged people in society,” he said.
Fair housing supporters are afraid that the decision could lead to a crackdown on camps. A lot of cities wrote briefs in support of Grants Pass.
The city of Los Angeles summed up the problem that many places are having. The city told the judges that it is “trying to solve the humanitarian tragedy facing unhoused residents while simultaneously dealing with the health and safety concerns raised by having tens of thousands of people living with their belongings in public spaces meant for other, shared purposes.”
HUD says that the area around Los Angeles, which includes both the city and the county, has the second most homeless people in the country, after New York City.
That’s not what CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness Ann Oliva thinks this ruling will do to help cities.
“At a time when elected officials should be focusing on long-term, evidence-based solutions like funding the affordable housing and supportive services that their constituents need, this ruling lets leaders lay the blame on law enforcement.” “This strategy has never worked to reduce homelessness in the past, and it will very likely not work in the future either,” she said in a statement.
