Supreme Court Won't Hear Case To Ticket Homeless For Sleeping In Public Spaces

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788435163/supreme-court-wont-hear-case-to-
ticket-homeless-for-sleeping-in-public-spaces

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal in a case
originating from Boise, Idaho, that would have made it a crime to camp and
sleep in public spaces.

The decision to let a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stand
is a setback for states and local governments in much of the West that are
grappling with widespread homelessness by designing laws to regulate
makeshift encampments on sidewalks and parks.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed nearly a decade ago. A handful of
people sued the city of Boise for repeatedly ticketing them for violating
an ordinance against sleeping outside. While Boise officials later amended
it to prohibit citations when shelters are full, the 9th Circuit
eventually determined the local law was unconstitutional.

In a decision last year, the court said it was "cruel and unusual
punishment" to enforce rules that stop homeless people from camping in
public places when they have no place else to go. That means states across
the 9th Circuit can no longer enforce similar statutes if they don't have
enough shelter beds for homeless people sleeping outside.

Los Angeles attorney Theane Evangelis, who is representing Boise in the
case, argued the decision ultimately harms the people it purports to
protect because cities need the ability to control encampments that
threaten public health and safety.

"Cities' hands are tied now by the 9th Circuit Decision because it
effectively creates a Constitutional right to camp," Evangelis told NPR in
an emailed statement.

In court documents, lawyers for Boise said, "Public encampments, now
protected by the Constitution under the Ninth Circuit's decision, have
spawned crime and violence, incubated disease, and created environmental
hazards that threaten the lives and well-being both of those living on the
streets and the public at large."

Major west coast cities and counties with soaring homeless populations had
backed Boise in its petition, including Los Angeles County, where the
number of people without a permanent place to live has jumped by 16% in
the last year.

As NPR reported, California is where nearly a quarter of the country's
homeless population live.

The homeless and their advocates say ticketing homeless people does
nothing to solve the bigger housing crisis.

"Paying lawyers six figures to write briefs is not really going to build
any more housing," said Howard Belodoff, a Boise civil rights attorney.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development found that more than
550,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2018.
Of those, nearly 200,000 were unsheltered.

The case now returns to the 9th Circuit. The city of Boise says it's
evaluating its next steps.



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