Housing advocates are condemning a Supreme Court ruling that will likely have broad ramifications on how communities treat people who are homeless.
“This cruel, misguided ruling will only worsen homelessness,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “It gives cover to elected officials who choose political expediency over real solutions by merely moving unhoused people out of public view rather than working to solve their homelessness. These ineffective and inhumane tactics exacerbate homelessness by saddling unhoused people with debt they can’t pay, while further isolating them from the services and support they need to become stably housed. To truly address and solve homelessness, policymakers must instead work with urgency to scale up proven solutions, starting with greater investments in affordable housing and supportive services.”
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that homelessness is not a status protected by the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The case originates in Grants Pass, Oregon, a small community that has taken a hard stance on homelessness, ticketing and fining people for sleeping outdoors. Lower courts have ruled that criminally punishing unhoused people under the town’s laws violates the Eighth Amendment if there are no other appropriate places for people to sleep.
The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the lower court rulings in what is touted as the most important legal case about homelessness in decades.
Under the ruling, localities will be able to arrest, ticket, and fine people for sleeping outdoors on public property, even if leaders have failed to produce enough affordable housing or shelter for everyone in the community who needs it, said the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH).
“This decision sets a dangerous precedent that will cause undue harm to people experiencing homelessness and give free reign to local officials who prefer pointless and expensive arrests and imprisonment, rather than real solutions,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the NAEH. “At a time when elected officials need to be focused on long-term, sustainable solutions that are grounded in evidence—including funding the affordable housing and supportive services that their constituents need—this ruling allows leaders to shift the burden to law enforcement. This tactic has consistently failed to reduce homelessness in the past, and it will assuredly fail to reduce homelessness in the future.”
Housing advocates have stressed that fining or arresting people only makes the situation worse for those who are unhoused. Instead, studies have shown that providing housing saves taxpayers’ money by reducing jail, court, and emergency room expenses.
Other housing leaders raised concerns about the court decision, including Jennifer Hark Dietz, CEO of PATH, a leading supportive housing and services provider in California.
"The Supreme Court’s decision in the Johnson v. Grants Pass case is devastating and will have disastrous consequences for unhoused individuals across the country, including the 181,000 people experiencing homelessness in California,” she said. “Throughout our 40 years of service across the state, PATH has seen how costly, ineffective, and inhumane criminalization and enforcement policies can be.”
According to Hark Dietz, an audit of Los Angeles’ 41.18 anti-camping policy found that after spending $3 million on encampment clearings, only two people were connected to permanent housing. San Diego instituted a similar anti-camping ordinance, and homelessness there continues to rise.
“The status quo of people living outdoors is unacceptable, but we know what works—connecting people to outreach, supportive services, shelter, and permanent housing,” she said. “Punishing people for being unsheltered is cruel and will not put an end to our homelessness crisis. As an organization dedicated to ending homelessness, PATH will continue to advocate for housing and services, not handcuffs."
The primary driver of homelessness remains the lack of affordable housing, said David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, adding that adequate funding, good policy, and evidence-based program design informed by people with lived expertise are required to move people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing.
“If you don’t want affordable housing in your backyard, you’re going to have homelessness in your front yard,” he said. “Ensuring that everyone has a safe place to call home is the solution to this crisis.”
