More communities and states are passing laws that criminalize homelessness, like bans on camping on government property. But what if there’s nowhere else for unsheltered people to go?
That was a question from both conservative and liberal justices during oral arguments Monday in a Supreme Court case that could change how some communities police homeless camps and unsheltered people.
City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson asks justices to reverse an appeals court ruling that prevents the city from enforcing its bans on camping and sleeping on public property.
In 2020, a district court ruled the bans violated the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits excessive bail and fines, as well as cruel and unusual punishment. Grants Pass appealed, and the Ninth Circuit Court upheld the district court’s decision in 2022. District and circuit court injunctions have prevented the city from enforcing its camping bans since 2020.
Theane Evangelis, a Los Angeles attorney arguing for the city of Grants Pass, said the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling “has fueled the spread of encampments, while harming those it purports to protect.” She framed the city’s bans as a way to incentivize people to receive shelter services.
“These laws are absolutely a tool for getting people the services that they need,” she said. “Many people need that intervention.”
But Grants Pass lacks enough shelter beds to serve its unsheltered community, with about one bed per every six unsheltered people, according to the oral arguments.
Grants Pass camping ban aimed to push unsheltered people out of town
In 2013, the Grants Pass city council held a meeting on how to address homelessness.
“The point is to make it uncomfortable enough for them in our city so they will want to move on down the road,” said former council president Lily Morgan, who became city manager for Gold Hill, Oregon in November.
That year, the city approved three ordinances banning camping on public property, including parks, and sleeping on sidewalks and roadways.
In 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in an unrelated case that prosecuting people for sleeping on sidewalks violated the Eighth Amendment if the person charged had no other options.
After that ruling, three people experiencing homelessness sued Grants Pass over its camping and sleeping bans—Debra Blake, who died three years ago, Gloria Johnson and John Logan.
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Attorneys arguing for the plaintiffs experiencing homelessness and the federal government both noted camping bans like this one push unsheltered people out of their communities.
“One thing that I think is important to keep in mind in this,” said Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, arguing for the United States, “is if Grants Pass can do this, so could every other city. So could a state do it statewide, and eventually a homeless person would have no place to be.”
Arguing for Johnson and Logan, attorney Kelsi Corkran said: “The ordinances, by design, make it physically impossible for homeless people to live in Grants Pass without facing endless fines and jail time. … Indeed, all the ordinances do is turn the city’s homelessness problem into someone else’s problem by forcing its homeless residents into other jurisdictions.”
Street Roots reported that the city has previously shut off water and closed bathrooms in public parks to remove access to unsheltered people. The street newspaper also reported vigilante groups have been harassing unsheltered residents in city parks, with some people “slashing their tents, emptying shampoo bottles and scattering belongings.”
Justices ask how camping bans should work when shelter isn’t an option
If the city doesn’t prevail in this case, Evangelis said: “The city’s hands will be tied. It will be forced to surrender its public spaces, as it has been. Unfortunately, beds are going unused at the Gospel Rescue Mission. People are not getting the help that they need.”
Gospel Rescue Mission is Grants Pass’s only shelter, and Street Roots reported that it is high-barrier, requiring people who stay there to be sober, attend Christian services and follow other rules.
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Gospel Rescue Mission has less than 100 beds, and about 600 people are experiencing homelessness in Grants Pass, Evangelis said.
Six justices—Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Sonia Sotomayor—asked questions about how camping and sleeping bans should work when shelter space isn’t available or when the shelter won’t serve them.
Kavanaugh asked if the constitutional rule should be different depending on if beds are available or not.
“No,” Evangelis said. “We’ve seen that that is unworkable. There is no way to count what beds are available, who is perhaps willing to take one and who would consider it adequate.”
Kagan asked Evangelis if the city would cite someone for sleeping outside if no shelter beds are available, and the attorney responded that a person could raise the lack of shelter beds as a defense.
“So,” Kagan said, “You’re not willing to say, no, we’re going to tell all our police officers that they shouldn’t give a citation in that circumstance? We’re going to give a citation and then we’ll see how the courts deal with it, is all you’re going to tell me?”
“Well,” Evangelis said, “officers always have discretion, and we know that they exercise it.” “Individual officers are in a tough situation here,” Kagan said.
“They are,” Evangelis said.
Contact Streetlight editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@streetlightnews.org. Follow her reporting by joining our newsletter.
Streetlight, previously BigIfTrue.org, is a nonprofit news site based in Oklahoma City. Our mission is to report stories that envision a more equitable world and energize our readers to improve their communities. Donate to support our work here.
