The United States Supreme Court is set to review the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, a critical homelessness case, during its current term.
The court has not taken up a similar case about homelessness in many years.
The city of Grants Pass, Oregon, located off of the I-5 freeway in the southwest corner of the state, is home to a homeless population of about 600.
The city’s local municipal code includes several provisions relating to homelessness, particularly concerning camping and outdoor sleeping and such permissible locations, which, if violated repeatedly, permit the city to issue fines or to bar individuals from city property.
Johnson v. City of Grants Pass concerns the constitutionality of such codes.
In 2018, the 9th Circuit, in Martin v. City of Boise, held that “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.”
Shortly after the Martin ruling, a group in 2018 filed Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, stating that the cities’ local camping and sleeping ordinances and fines conflicted with the findings of Martin, particularly given the inequity of fewer beds than the number of homeless people in Grants Pass. In the filing, the plaintiffs challenged five municipal ordinances: “an ‘anti-sleeping’ ordinance, two ‘anti-camping’ ordinances, a ‘park exclusion’ ordinance, and a ‘park exclusion appeals’ ordinance.”
When heard by the 9th Circuit, the lower court affirmed its Martin decision that these ordinances were unconstitutional and Grants Pass could not punish homeless people since they exceeded the number of homeless individuals than what local shelters could accommodate.
Now, the Supreme Court will hear Johnson v. City of Grants Pass this term and will rule on the constitutionality of the local ordinances and cities’ ability to fine or publish homeless people for camping or sleeping in public spaces.
“The Court’s ruling will have a tremendous impact on the 250,000 people who sleep outside on a given night,” said The National Homelessness Law Center in a press release. “We are confident that the court will affirm what we have said for years: the solution to homelessness is housing, not jail cells or courtrooms.”
Given the considerable interest in the case, cities, activist groups, and key stakeholders will be listening to hear how the conservative majority of the court will rule when arguments proceed.