On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court ruled that people sleeping outside could be ticketed and after multiple tickets, jailed for thirty (30) days. The Court stated that these penalties were neither cruel or unusual because they didn’t inflict terror or pain and were not unusual to the city’s other punishments. See City of Grants Pass, Or. v. Johnson, 603 U.S. 1 (2024). The Court also stated, “Under the city’s laws, it makes no difference whether the charged defendant is homeless, a backpacker on vacation passing through town, or a student who abandons his dorm room to camp out in protest on the lawn of a municipal building.” Id.
The Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness disagrees wholeheartedly with this ruling. Our unhoused neighbors will be disproportionately affected by laws that could inflict similar punishments. As Justice Sotomayor states in her dissent, “Homelessness in America is a complex and heartbreaking crisis. People experiencing homelessness face immense challenges….” See Sotomayor dissent, Grants Pass. The ideology behind these laws is to exclude people from our community based on their unhoused status. Barriers created by fines and potential warrants will make it extremely harder to become housed. Our Continuum has focused its effort and housing first and services for the whole person. We do not seek to further punish those who are experiencing houselessness by a creation of barriers that will not deter folks from sleeping outside.
Click here for more info on how to address homelessness without criminalization
