Most Important Court Case about Homelessness Ever

On April 22nd 2024 the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. A decision will be made by June 30th. 

  • What is this case? 
    • This case is essentially going to decide if cities will have the right to criminalize homelessness. Currently the rights of homeless citizens are protected under the Eight Amendment based on the ruling of a three judge panel of the US court of appeals in 2018. 
    • In the 2018 decision Martin V. the City of Boise the panel of judges ruled: “the Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter.”

  • The city of Grants Pass
    • Located in southern Oregon about 2 hours south of Eugene & 5 hours north of Sacramento, has a population of approximately 39,0000 people including approximately 600 homeless people. The city is like many other cities in this country in that it does not have enough shelter for all of the people that need housing causing many people to set up camp on streets or sleep in public places like parks. 
    • Grants Pass has municipal code that prohibits people from sleeping in public areas which I have included below for your reference. 
      • 5.61.020 Sleeping on Sidewalks, Streets, Alleys, or Within Doorways Prohibited A. No person may sleep on public sidewalks, streets, or alleyways at any time as a matter of individual and public safety. B. No person may sleep in any pedestrian or vehicular entrance to public or private property abutting a public sidewalk. C. In addition to any other remedy provided by law, any person found in violation of this section may be immediately removed from the premises.
      • 5.61.030 Camping Prohibited No person may occupy a campsite in or upon any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right of way, park, bench, or any other publicly-owned property or under any bridge or viaduct, unless (i) otherwise specifically authorized by this Code, (ii) by a formal declaration of the City Manager in emergency circumstances, or (iii) upon Council resolution, the Council may exempt a special event from the prohibitions of this section, if the Council finds such exemption to be in the public interest and consistent with Council goals and notices and in accordance with conditions imposed by the Community Services Director. Any conditions imposed will include a condition requiring that the applicant provide evidence of adequate insurance coverage and agree to indemnify the City for any liability, damage or expense incurred by the City as a result of activities of the applicant. Any findings by the Council shall specify the exact dates and location covered by the exemption
      • 6.46.090 Camping in Parks A. It is unlawful for any person to camp, as defined in GPMC Title 5 within the boundaries of the City parks. (Ord. 19-5752) B. Overnight parking of vehicles shall be unlawful. For the purposes of this section, anyone who parks or leaves a vehicle parked for two consecutive hours or who remains within one of the parks as herein defined for purposes of camping as defined in this section for two consecutive hours, without permission from the City Council, between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. shall be considered in violation of this Chapter. 
    • "A district court certified a class of plaintiffs of involuntarily unhoused persons living in Grants Pass and concluded that, based on the unavailability of shelter beds, the City’s enforcement of its anti-camping and anti-sleeping ordinances violated the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause. A panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed, and the Ninth Circuit denied rehearing en banc."

  • Why is it important? 
    • In effect if Grants Pass is successful in overturning the Circuit Courts ruling then cities would have an ability to create code that enables them to criminalize homeless people. They could begin to arrest people simply for having no place to go and no shelters available in their town. 
    • Once homeless people are arrested they are now involved in a for profit prison industry that has numerous examples of exploiting the labor of prisoners while paying them. Here is a link to an article documenting prisons use of labor for many companies and products that you will recognize. https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e

  • What is the solution?
    • In my opinion the solution starts with a major societal shift in what we deem as valuable. All life is valuable but in the American capitalist system people are only valuable if they are able to be exploited in order to generate a return for the owning class. In other words, having a job. The way we think of jobs in this country is backwards. In order for jobs to exist employers need to make more money from your labor than they pay you for the job they ask you to do. This is how capitalism works. The literal definition of capitalism is "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit" 
    • I'm not claiming to know why human beings evolved to become the dominant species on our planet but I do know that it was not to serve as a means to generate a profit for the few in the ownership class. We need to get back to loving each other as we love ourselves. We need to encourage people to express themselves creatively without needing to monetize it. 

  • How can you help?
    • Volunteer your time at a local homeless shelter. It doesn't have to be a huge time commitment but start showing up regularly to give back. 
    • When you see a homeless person on the street, stop and talk to them. Ask them their name, take an interest in their story. They are people, no different from you or I. 
    • Petition or write to your local representatives and let them know that you support "housing for all" 
    • Support and share peoples content who are trying to create awareness about homelessness 

  • Levity
    • In doing my research for this blog I spent a decent amount of time on the City of Grants Pass website. Their slogan is "Live Rogue" which I find pretty hilarious as the definition of rogue is "a dishonest or unprincipled person".  The city is certainly living up to their slogan since they think that throwing homeless people in jail is the solution to the homeless problem. I can't think of a better way to describe someone who thinks that way than dishonest & unprincipled. Morally everyone deserves to be treated with basic human rights. Among the most fundamental of the basic human rights that we all deserve to have shelter. Together we have more than enough resources to ensure everyone has a space to call home. When people don't have to worry about where they are going to sleep or where their next meal will come from then they can truly work on expressing themselves and being the person that they want to be. Criminalizing homeless people will do exactly the opposite and cause more harm than anything else.  
Citations:
"City of Grants Pass v. Johnson." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2023/23-175. Accessed 26 May. 2024.
https://johnsonvgrantspass.com/

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