Homelessness case before US supreme court could have far-reaching effects
Homelessness case before US supreme court could have far-reaching effects
Justices consider constitutionality of punishing people for sleeping outside as western states seek to address encampments
Justices to consider constitutionality of punishing people for sleeping outside as western states seek to address encampments
A case that could significantly change how US cities respond to the growing homelessness crisis has reached the supreme court as record numbers of people in America find themselves without a permanent place to live.
The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
The case stems from a 2019 camping ban enacted by city officials in Grants Pass, Oregon, a small mountain town where rents are rising and there is just one overnight shelter for adults. Debra Blake, who had lost her job a decade earlier and was unhoused, was cited for illegal camping. After being convicted and fined, she soon joined other unhoused residents in suing the city over the ordinance.
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He asked what would happen in the city if the ordinances were to remain blocked.
“The city’s hands will be tied. It will be forced to surrender its public spaces, as it [already] has been,” Evangelis said.
This is the crux of it. The city does not consider the homeless to be the "public". Can't be homeless and a citizen at the same time apparently.
To make this clear, this is a about the government further destroying the entire concept of "public spaces". Dividing further who counts as "the public".
Maybe they should invest in proper shelters then if they don't want them in the parks...
I've read elsewhere that the city already had a case like this, where it was ruled it wasn't illegal as long as there wasn't adequate shelter. Or something along those lines.