With homelessness on the rise, Supreme Court will weigh bans on sleeping outdoors

The Supreme Court will consider Monday whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels in the United States.

Quick Read

• Supreme Court Review: The Supreme Court will examine whether it is unconstitutional to ban homeless people from sleeping outside when no shelter space is available, considering it under the context of cruel and unusual punishment.
• Significant Case: This is deemed the most consequential case regarding homelessness in decades, especially as homelessness rates reach record highs in the U.S.
• Background: The issue arises from a dispute in Grants Pass, Oregon, where the local government attempted to manage homeless encampments by fining individuals $295 for sleeping in public parks.
• Legal Precedents: Previous rulings by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have found such punitive measures unconstitutional if no shelter alternatives exist, emphasizing that it’s unjust to punish individuals for their state of homelessness.
• Stakeholder Positions: Various officials argue that without the ability to enforce such bans, managing unsanitary and unsafe homeless encampments becomes challenging. However, advocacy groups contend that criminalizing homelessness exacerbates the problem.
• Justice Department’s Stance: The Justice Department believes that individuals should not be penalized for sleeping outside unless it is proven that they have other viable options for shelter.
• Context of Homelessness Crisis: The case is underscored by a significant rise in homelessness, up 12% nationally, driven by high rents and reduced pandemic-era assistance, highlighting the broader crisis of housing affordability in the U.S.

The Associated Press has the story:

With homelessness on the rise, Supreme Court will weigh bans on sleeping outdoors

Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —

The Supreme Court will consider Monday whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels in the United States.

In California and other Western states, courts have ruled that it’s unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter space is lacking.

A cross-section of Democratic and Republican officials contend that makes it difficult for them to manage encampments, which can have dangerous and unsanitary living conditions.

But hundreds of advocacy groups argue that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep will criminalize homelessness and ultimately make the crisis worse.

The Justice Department has also weighed in. It argues people shouldn’t be punished just for sleeping outside, but only if there’s a determination they truly have nowhere else to go.

The case comes from the rural Oregon town of Grants Pass, which started fining people $295 for sleeping outside to manage homeless encampments that sprung up in the city’s public parks as the cost of housing escalated.

The measure was largely struck down by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found in 2018 that such bans violated the 8th Amendment by punishing people for something they don’t have control over.

The case comes after homelessness in the United States grew a dramatic 12%, to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, according to federal data.

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