Supreme Court hears case over Oregon homelessness rules
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to challenge cities that use local ordinances to enforce bans on public camping, a case that could reshape homelessness policies for years to come.
The case stems from a lawsuit challenging local laws in Oregon that restrict sleeping and camping in public areas, including sidewalks, streets and city parks. A ruling could have broad implications, especially for Western states struggling with how to tackle a homelessness crisis.
It adds another high-profile case to a docket that includes abortion, the power of administrative agencies and the question of former President Donald J. Trump's eligibility to run in Colorado's Republican primary.
In court filesThe plaintiffs' attorneys allege that in 2013, Grants Pass, a city of about 40,000 residents in southwestern Oregon, “began aggressively enforcing a series of ordinances that make it illegal to sleep anywhere on public property with even a blanket to survive the cold. nights, even if there is no shelter.” They described it as an “attempt to push homeless residents into neighboring jurisdictions.”
They claim that because there are no homeless shelters in Grants Pass and the only housing programs “serve only a small portion of the city's homeless population,” local homeless people “have nowhere to sleep but outside.”
The plaintiffs say these rules violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, effectively punishing “the city's involuntarily homeless residents for existing” in the city.
In an amicus brief, Governor Gavin Newsom of California says the court urged to take on the case, writing that he had “witnessed firsthand the challenges of the homelessness crisis,” including allocating more than $15 billion on housing and homelessness during his time in office.
The crisis there is particularly acute. The state has an estimated 171,000 homeless people, nearly a third of the nation's homeless population. Encampments in parks and other public spaces are common in cities across the state as the number of people without shelter rises. There are now 40,000 more people homeless in the state than there were six years ago.
Mr. Newsom said that while local governments are “working on a long-term approach” to help address the twin crises of housing and homelessness, they need “the flexibility” of the laws to “address immediate threats to health and safety in public places suits – both to individuals living in unsafe camps and to other members of the public affected.”
Camps “promote dangerous and unhealthy conditions for those who live there and for the communities around them,” he said, adding that local rules were “an essential tool to help get people off the streets, connect them to resources and improve safety.” promote. , health and usable public spaces.”