Lower courts have said it's unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping outside if no shelter is available. Cities say these rulings have paralyzed their efforts to manage growing tent encampments.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a major case that could reshape how cities manage homelessness. The legal issue is whether they can fine or arrest people for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has deemed this cruel and unusual punishment, and this case is a pivotal challenge to that ruling.

The high court declined to take up a similar case in 2019. But since then, homelessness rates have climbed relentlessly. Street encampments have grown larger and have expanded to new places, igniting intense backlash from residents and businesses. Homelessness and the lack of affordable housing that’s helping to drive it have become key issues for many voters.

The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, could have dramatic implications for the record number of people living in tents and cars across the United States.

    • @lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
      0•1 year ago

      There is no “somewhere else” for them to go to, just a bunch of other places where people don’t want them either. Seems like everywhere in America just wants to shuffle homeless people around without doing much (or often anything) to actually solve the problem.

  • Flying Squid
    0•1 year ago

    Oh good. With this SCOTUS, I assume they’ll declare it open hunting season on homeless people.

    I fucking hate it. I mean read this shit-

    The legal issue is whether they can fine or arrest people for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available.

    FINE people who can’t even afford a home when they have NO CHOICE but to sleep outside. And this even reaches SCOTUS? It wasn’t immediately laughed out of court? Not in America.

    I live some distance out of town near a highway. I have to drive over a small bridge to get into town. The bridge is still not in town, there’s farm fields next to it. But there’s a sign next to the bridge, in English and Spanish, that says ‘no trespassing.’ To be clear, this isn’t some person putting it on their land, this is an official county government sign. And yes, before the sign went up, people were sleeping under there.

    These people have nowhere to go. You can’t even argue that they’re wanted as bodies for the industrial prison system, because they usually aren’t arrested, just chased off. And apparently given fines they can’t afford now.

    I honestly have no idea what cities and counties expect these people to do.

    • 𝓒𝓸𝓼𝓶𝓸𝓬𝓻𝓪𝓽
      0•1 year ago

      I feel conflicted, I have been noticing a homeless camp growing very close to my neighborhood and they are absolutely trashing the area, letting their dogs run loose in the streets. I want to sympathize with them but they harbor no respect for themselves or their environment.

      • Flying Squid
        0•1 year ago

        Would you respect yourself or your environment when you’ve been ground into the dirt? No one respects them, why should they respect anyone or anything? I don’t blame them at all.

        Instead of being upset about their presence, maybe do something to help them? Like try to get your town or city to house them?

        • 𝓒𝓸𝓼𝓶𝓸𝓬𝓻𝓪𝓽
          0•1 year ago

          I have a basic respect for the environment that everyone should have by default, regardless of their financial status. And I would do everything in my power to keep it reasonably clean if I was in a similar situation.

          If the dirt is all I have, then I would find something to grow in it. Not a pile of sharps.

          • Flying Squid
            1•1 year ago

            I have a basic respect for the environment that everyone should have by default

            Very easy thing to say when you haven’t been completely crushed under the thumb of the system so badly that you can’t afford to rent a hovel even though you have a job.

            And I would do everything in my power to keep it reasonably clean if I was in a similar situation.

            How close to that situation have you ever been? Are you anywhere near close to that situation right now? It sounds like you can afford a home to live in whether you own or rent, so I’m guessing you aren’t.

            If the dirt is all I have, then I would find something to grow in it.

            Vacant lots and undersides of bridges are well-known as being excellent spots for growing vegetables and fruits.

            As far as them doing drugs? Perfectly justifiable for them to want to do the one thing they’re able to do to either escape the situation they’re in or get pain relief they can’t get otherwise because they can’t afford pain medication or a prescription for it in a for-profit healthcare system either. I sure as fuck would do the same thing in their situation.

            Let me guess, you also don’t like it that they shit and piss in public but expect them to provide their own toilets.