Oppose Criminalization

OPPOSE THE CRIMINIALIZATION OF HOMELESSNESS AND RESPOND TO ENCAMPMENTS WITH PROVEN SOLUTIONS 

In City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that cities can enforce bans against camping on public property,  without violating the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment, even when people who are homeless have no other place to go.  By allowing cities to criminalize the act of sitting, sleeping, or lying down on public property, the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass has unleashed a short-sighted race to the bottom.   

But Grants Pass isn’t a mandate; it’s a choice. Cities can choose to criminalize homelessness by enforcing blanket bans on basic survival activities like sleeping, sitting or keeping warm and dry on public property, even when there are no alternatives, or they can respond to the crisis of homelessness with real solutions.