National week against the criminalization of homelessness

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Criminalizing Human Need

Across the country, state and local governments are addressing America’s housing woes not by meeting human needs but by making the day-to-day lives of people experiencing homelessness illegal. The latest and, perhaps, most consequential chapter in this struggle takes place on Monday, April 22, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. 

In response, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Homelessness Law Center, National Coalition for the Homeless, and National Alliance to End Homelessness are launching a week of advocacy and education on the issue, the National Week against the Criminalization of Homelessness. (I’ll get to how and why you can contribute, but click here for the coalition toolkit if you’re short on time or attention today. It contains an issue summary, talking points, as well as a sample op-ed, letter to the editor, and social media posts.)

Grants Pass is a small city of about 40,000 people in southwestern Oregon. The city passed three ordinances targeting its reported 602 homeless members: One prohibited camping in public parks; another sleeping in alleyways, and on public sidewalks and streets; the third barred camping on any sidewalk, street, alley, park bench, or public property of any kind. Violators could be penalized between $295 - $1,250 and 30 days in jail. 

A lower court deemed that this violated the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment because the city does not have adequate shelter. In short, they can’t say “get off the streets” if there’s no place to go. According to a 2019 study by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, homeless people already face rates of incarceration that are up to 11 times greater than the general population. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, it will effectively give state and local governments permission to codify into law what is already true as a matter of fact: mass incarceration is the “solution” to homelessness.

Despite repeated affirmations by the courts that homeless people also have constitutional rights in public spaces, legislatures continue to pass anti-homeless laws that criminalize their freedom of movement, speech, and association. According to a study by National Homelessness Law Center, which tracked anti-homeless laws in 187 cities from 2006 - 2019, there have been dramatic increases in city-wide bans on things such as living in a vehicle (213%), camping (92%), and sitting or lying down in public (72%). These laws perfectly capture how police and prisons are used to disappear “problem” populations. 

Need is acute, and governments do not have the infrastructure to respond to it with care because this country has spent the last 45 years responding to it with violence. For instance, no state – not a single one – has enough affordable housing units for its poorest residents. Nationally, there are only 34 affordable and available rental units for every 100 renting households living at the federal guideline or 30% of their state’s median income. That’s a shortage of approximately 7.3 million affordable and available rental units.

Call to Action

I wanted to share some resources on both the case and the week of action because neither the case nor its consequences have made much of a splash in the media. More importantly, though, the expansion of anti-homeless laws from municipal governments to statewide legislation is a noteworthy escalation in the war on poor people. As of February 2024, 17 states have either introduced or passed statewide bans on basic survival activities that people struggling with homelessness engage in. 

The National Week against the Criminalization of Homelessness presents an opportunity to take concrete action in the face of a problem that can feel larger than life. Furthermore, if the overwhelmingly conservative court brings back an unfavorable ruling in June, it will be important to be already plugged into networks of organizations doing this work. Finally, sometimes pushing policymakers is a straight up numbers game, especially at the municipal and state levels. If the Supreme Court declares these laws constitutional, it will be helpful to have established communication with legislators. 

State legislators do not hear enough from constituents defending the dignity of homeless people and demanding housing first solutions. Housing first policies work. Thanks to the Obama administration efforts organized around permanent supportive housing, between 2010 and 2022, the number of U.S. military veterans experiencing homelessness plummeted by 55.3%. The lack of political will is the only reason why these efforts can’t be significantly expanded to the civilian population. To no one’s surprise, the solution to the housing crisis is more safe, quality, affordable housing. 

Click here for a toolkit on this issue put together by the coalition, but please don’t feel like you need some well thought out, sophisticated message to reach out to your elected officials. Click here to find your state and federal legislators and their contact information.

In solidarity,

Dwayne