Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Supreme Court Allows Cities to Enforce Bans on Homeless People Sleeping Outside
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 10 months ago on
June 28, 2024

Supreme Court ruling allows cities to enforce bans on homeless outdoor sleeping, sparking debate on public policy responses. (AP File)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court decided on Friday that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors, even in West Coast areas where shelter space is lacking. The case is the most significant to come before the high court in decades on the issue and comes as a rising number of people in the U.S. are without a permanent place to live.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the high court reversed a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to cruel and unusual punishment. The majority found that the 8th Amendment prohibition does not extend to bans on outdoor sleeping bans.

Public Policy Responses to Homelessness

“Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. “A handful of federal judges cannot begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness.”

He suggested that people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors could raise that as a “necessity defense,” if they are ticketed or otherwise punished for violating a camping ban.

Impact on Western States

A bipartisan group of leaders had argued the ruling against the bans made it harder to manage outdoor encampments encroaching on sidewalks and other public spaces in nine Western states. That includes California, which is home to one-third of the country’s homeless population.

“Cities across the West report that the 9th Circuit’s involuntary test has crated intolerable uncertainty for them,” Gorsuch wrote.

Homeless advocates, on the other hand, said that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness and ultimately make the crisis worse. Cities had been allowed to regulate encampments but couldn’t bar people from sleeping outdoors.

Opposing Views on the Ruling

“Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, reading from the bench a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues.

“Punishing people for their status is ‘cruel and unusual’ under the Eighth Amendment,” she wrote in the dissent. “It is quite possible, indeed likely, that these and similar ordinances will face more days in court.”

The case came from the rural Oregon town of Grants Pass, which appealed a ruling striking down local ordinances that fined people $295 for sleeping outside after tents began crowding public parks. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over the nine Western states, has held since 2018 that such bans violate the Eighth Amendment in areas where there aren’t enough shelter beds.

Attorney Theane Evangelis, who represented Grants Pass before the high court, applauded the ruling, saying the 9th Circuit decision had “tied the hands of local governments.”

“Years from now, I hope that we will look back on today’s watershed ruling as the turning point in America’s homelessness crisis,” she said.

Increasing Homelessness in the United States

Friday’s ruling comes after homelessness in the United States grew a dramatic 12% last year to its highest reported level, as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more people.

“Policymakers must focus on real solutions like rental assistance, cash supports, and strong, flexible community services that are proven to end homelessness and stabilize people with low incomes in housing,” said Peggy Bailey, executive vice president for policy and program development at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

More than 650,000 people are estimated to be homeless, the most since the country began using a yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. Nearly half of them sleep outside. Older adults, LGBTQ+ people and people of color are disproportionately affected, advocates said. In Oregon, a lack of mental health and addiction resources has also helped fuel the crisis.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

DON'T MISS

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

DON'T MISS

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

DON'T MISS

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

DON'T MISS

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

DON'T MISS

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

DON'T MISS

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

DON'T MISS

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

DON'T MISS

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

UP NEXT

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

UP NEXT

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

UP NEXT

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

UP NEXT

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

UP NEXT

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

UP NEXT

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

UP NEXT

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

UP NEXT

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

UP NEXT

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

41 minutes ago

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

55 minutes ago

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

1 hour ago

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

1 hour ago

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

1 hour ago

Timberwolves Push Lakers to Edge of Elimination With Comeback Win

1 hour ago

Dodgers Overcome Early Deficit for Victory Over the Pirates

2 hours ago

Suspected US Airstrike Hits Yemen Migrant Centre; Houthi TV Says 68 Killed

2 hours ago

Norway Establishes Diplomatic Relations With State of Palestine

2 hours ago

Kim Kardashian Jewel Heist Trial Starts in Paris

2 hours ago

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have announced that they will pay Syria’s $15 million debt to the World Bank, potentially unlocking millions of dolla...

6 minutes ago

A market in Old Damascus, Feb. 26, 2025. The civil war has taken a huge toll on the country’s economy, with industries decimated and infrastructure destroyed. (Kiana Hayeri/The New York Times)
6 minutes ago

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

A Pakistan flag is seen on Pakistan Rangers' Post near the Attari-Wagah border crossing near Amritsar, India, April 26, 2025. India has suspended visa services to Pakistani nationals "with immediate effect" following an attack on tourists near Pahalgam in south Kashmir. (REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis)
36 minutes ago

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

Choices at the gas pump including ethanol or no ethanol gas are seen in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 29, 2020. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
38 minutes ago

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

Demonstrators rally on Cambridge Common in a protest organized by the City of Cambridge calling on Harvard leadership to resist federal government interference at the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. April 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Photo)
41 minutes ago

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

Madera police arrested Huber Silva, 32, of Madera, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, on felony robbery and drug charges Sunday after he was located near E. Dunham Avenue with the help of a witness and K-9 Goose. (Madera PD)
55 minutes ago

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - April 28, 2025 People use their cell phone's flashlight in a dark sports shop after the matches get suspended due to a power outage (REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura)
1 hour ago

Huge Power Outage Paralyses Parts of Spain and Portugal

Protesters, predominantly supporters of the Houthi movement, hold up their weapons as they rally to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians, vowing that U.S. airstrikes would not deter their support, in Sanaa, Yemen April 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)
1 hour ago

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

Damage in a parking lot struck in a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, April 14, 2025. The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had ordered a three-day cease-fire in Ukraine next month, the second time in two weeks that Russia’s leader has promised a temporary pause in the fighting as President Trump shows growing impatience with his refusal to stop the war. (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend