WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Monday in one of the largest legal cases ever dealing with homelessness in America.
The case centers on whether cities can ban homeless people from sleeping outside and issue fines for doing so.
It originated in Grants Pass, Oregon, where city leaders established an ordinance barring camping on public property and prohibiting homeless people from using blankets, pillows and cardboard boxes while sleeping within city limits.
Rise in homelessness
Supporters say the city ordinance helps the area deal with a growing number of encampments that can be unsafe, while opponents argue it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
At first, violators can face fines, but serial offenders can see possible jail time.
Data from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department show on a single average night last year, over 650,000 people experienced homelessness. That marked the highest number of homeless people reported since HUD began reporting the data in 2007.
Four out of 10 people without a home experienced unsheltered homelessness.
The case comes after homelessness in the United States grew a dramatic 12%, to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, according to federal data.
Arguments before the court
In a filing to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the city of Grants Pass rejected the idea that the penalties amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
“Neither the civil fines imposed by petitioner Grants Pass for violating ordinances regulating camping on public property, nor short jail terms for serial violators, are cruel and unusual,” they wrote.
Lawyers for the people who challenged the ordinance argued in briefs that a lack of resources leaves homeless people without other options.
“Because there are no homeless shelters in Grants Pass and the two privately operated housing programs in town serve only a small fraction of the city’s homeless population, most of the city’s involuntarily homeless residents have nowhere to sleep but outside,” they wrote.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday questioned where homeless people will go if “every city, every village, every town lacks compassion and passes a law identical” to Grants Pass.
“Where are they supposed to sleep? Are they supposed to kill themselves not sleeping?” Sotomayor asked. “What is so complicated about letting someone somewhere sleep with a blanket in the outside if they have nowhere to sleep?”
The measure was largely struck down by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found in 2018 that such bans violated the 8th Amendment by punishing people for something they don’t have control over.
A decision in the case is expected by June. Whatever the justices decide could impact similar ordinances elsewhere in the country.
In California and other Western states, courts have ruled that it’s unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter space is lacking.
A cross-section of Democratic and Republican officials contend that makes it difficult for them to manage encampments, which can have dangerous and unsanitary living conditions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.