The Supreme Court is set to address the legality of anti-encampment laws, with final decisions coming out in June after the April 22 hearing, according to the APNews article “With Homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court weighs on bans on sleeping outdoors.” The case, the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, asks whether the city violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment through fining and jailing, according to Oyez, a law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Justia. Homeless individuals should not be fined and banned from sleeping in public places, as doing so violates their constitutional rights and perpetuates systemic injustice.
Homeless individuals, already marginalized and disenfranchised, often have nowhere else to turn to but public spaces for shelter. According to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, about 70% of California’s homeless population is unsheltered. Nationwide, on a single night in 2023, roughly 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, and 40% of those individuals lived in unsafe places, as per the 2023 Annual Assessment Report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, it could mean communities, including our community, can clear out encampments, even if no available shelter or housing exists.
Another Eighth Amendment case, Robinson v. California (1962), ruled that narcotics addiction could not be criminalized because doing so would punish individuals based on their “status” rather than their actions, according to Oyez. This precedent established that laws targeting individuals for inherent characteristics violate the Eighth Amendment. Similarly, homelessness can be argued as a “status,” or a person’s characteristic that cannot immediately change. Fining and punishing homeless individuals essentially violates this precedent, given that they cannot help their status of homelessness.
The Johnson v. Grants Pass case could hold broader societal implications for the issue of homelessness. Grants Pass essentially infringes on homeless individuals’ right to existence. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Black and indigenous people are more prone to homelessness, with about 37% of the homeless population being Black, despite making up 13% of the US population. Anti-camping laws would only reinforce systemic discrimination based on identity.
Rather than criminalizing homelessness, states and communities should invest in housing and shelters like tiny homes, a solution already being incorporated. Individuals can also take action by speaking out against anti-homeless policies, contacting their representatives in government, and lobbying for more humane options.