Supreme Court allows cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court On Friday, cities were allowed to impose a ban homeless people sleeping outside in public places, on the ideological grounds that such laws do not amount to cruel and unusual punishment, even in areas on the West Coast where shelter space is scarce.

The case is the most important to come before the Supreme Court on the issue in decades and comes as an increasing number of people in the U.S. without a permanent place of residence.

In a 6-3 decisionthe Supreme Court has overturned a San Francisco appeals court ruling that a ban on outdoor sleeping violates the Eighth Amendment.

Western cities argued that the ruling made it harder to manage the economy. outdoor camps in public spacesBut homeless advocates said punishing people who need a place to sleep criminalizes homelessness.

In California, home to a third of the nation’s homeless population. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the decision gives state and local officials the authority to remove “unsafe encampments” from the streets. “This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years,” he said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged these concerns in the opinion he wrote for the majority.

“Homelessness is complex. Its causes are manifold. And so, perhaps, are the public policy responses needed to address it,” he wrote. “A handful of federal judges cannot even begin to match the collective wisdom of the American people in deciding ‘how best to deal’ with a pressing social issue like homelessness.”

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

Homeless advocates, on the other hand, have said that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep would ultimately make the crisis worse. Cities had been allowed to regulate camps under a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but could not completely ban people from sleeping outdoors.

“Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, reading from the bench a dissent co-sponsored by her liberal colleagues. “Homelessness is a reality for so many Americans.”

Punishing people for something they have no control over, like homelessness, is cruel and unusual, she said. She warned that striking down the Eighth Amendment arguments against camping bans is unlikely to end the battles over the ordinances in court.

Oregon has separate legal restrictions on how cities can manage encampments, so the ruling likely won’t have much effect in Portland, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said. Seattle officials also expected limited impact.

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

Grants Pass Mayor Sara Bristol told The Associated Press that the city will not immediately begin enforcing local ordinances that fine people for sleeping outside, and that the City Council will have to review the decision and determine next steps.

“This lawsuit was about whether cities have the right to enforce camping restrictions in public spaces, and I am relieved that Grants Pass can reclaim our city parks for recreation,” said Bristol, who serves on a nonpartisan board. “Homelessness is a complex problem, and our community has been working to find solutions.”

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

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

An advocate for homeless people living in the city lamented the decision.

“We are disappointed that a majority of the Court has decided that our Constitution allows a city to punish its homeless residents simply because they sleep outside with a blanket to survive the cold, when they have nowhere else to go,” said Ed Johnson, director of the litigation department at the Oregon Law Center.

Friday’s ruling comes in the wake of homelessness in the United States grew dramatically by 12% to the highest reported level last year, as rising rents and a decline in aid for the coronavirus pandemic combined to put housing out of reach for more people.

“Policymakers must focus on real solutions like rent subsidies, cash assistance and strong, flexible community services that have been proven to end homelessness and stabilize housing for low-income people,” 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 highest number since the country began an annual point-in-time survey in 2007. Almost half of them sleep outside. Older adults, LGBTQ+ people and people of color are disproportionately affected, advocates say. In Oregon, a lack of mental health and addiction resources has also contributed to the crisis.

The 9th Circuit’s ruling applied to nine states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

___

Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle and Adam Beam in Sacramento, California, contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court on https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.