Johnson v. Grants Pass

The Supreme Court has given cities and states across the U.S. permission to punish people who are forced to sleep outside, even when they have no other safe option. A ruling like this does nothing to end homelessness, and punishes people for existing in public simply because they have nowhere else to go. 

Studies and experience show that criminalizing homelessness only leads to more homelessness. Prohibiting acts of human survival, such as sleeping outside, is a waste of taxpayer money and actually makes it harder to connect people with housing. This ruling is a clear sign that the Supreme Court, as well as many elected officials across the political spectrum, would rather side with billionaires and make homelessness worse than simply ensure everyone is safely housed.

More than 600,000 people experience homelessness on a given night in America. Nearly half of these people—250,000—sleep outside. Homelessness is increasing across the country, as more and more hardworking households struggle to make ends meet. Rent is too expensive, wages are too low, and we have seen decades of failed housing policies. Instead of focusing on solutions like rental assistance and eviction prevention, cities and states are trying to arrest their way out of homelessness. Homelessness is caused by a lack of housing that people can afford. The solution is not court or jail, the solution is providing people with housing with services.

• January 12th, 2024: The Supreme Court announces it will hear Johnson v. Grants Pass.
• April 22nd: Oral arguments and in-person rally at the Supreme Court.
• June 28th: The Supreme Court announces it is now a crime to sleep outside when no other options are available.

Jurisdictions across the country would no longer be able to criminalize people for existing when they have nowhere else to go. The expensive and evidently ineffective criminalization options would be taken off the table, and cities and states would have to focus on the true solution to homelessness: providing people with the housing and supportive resources they need.

There are many proven and data-backed solutions to homelessness, like providing people with housing and services. Arresting or otherwise punishing homeless folks is not a solution, and jails and fines make the cycle of homelessness worse. 

Cities like Miami, Milwaukee, and Houston have made tremendous progress in solving homelessness by funding housing and services. When folks have the housing and support they need, they no longer live outside. Miami, for example, was under a ruling similar to Grants Pass. Instead of seeing an increase in homelessness, while Miami was under this ruling, the city cut its homeless population in half by providing adequate housing and shelter. Again, this proves that housing is the solution to homelessness.   

Short-term solutions like shelters where everybody has their own room, regular trash pick up, and homeless outreach are also vital in solving homelessness.

Homelessness is solvable, but as long as elected officials 

Click here to read the Johnson v. Grants Pass Supreme Court opinion.