Our statement on Grants Pass

Last week’s Grants Pass opinion from the Supreme Court about the criminalization of unhoused individuals was wrong not only as a matter of law, but as a matter of basic human rights.

At issue in Grants Pass was whether criminally charging unhoused individuals for “camping” on public property (where using just a blanket or pillow can count as “camping”), even where there are insufficient shelter beds, violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.  The Court held it does not, leaving a vulnerable population in even greater peril and utterly failing to recognize, as the dissent put it, that “Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime.”  The majority even acknowledged that arresting unhoused individuals for sleeping outside risks creating a “revolving door that circulates individuals experiencing homelessness from the street to the criminal justice system and back”, and the dissent rightly noted that “For people with nowhere else to go, fines and jail time do not deter behavior, reduce homelessness, or increase public safety.”  Yet the Court still authorized Grants Pass and other cities to jail unhoused individuals for the mere act of sleeping in public.  This ruling isn’t just incorrect; it is a human rights violation.

It is also a bitter pill to compare the indifference shown towards unhoused individuals in Grants Pass to another ruling last week in which the Court expressed extreme concern (over 35 pages) about the right to a jury trial for an investment fund manager accused of securities fraud who only faced a fine, not the loss of a place to sleep and potential incarceration.  Time after time, the Supreme Court has protected the rights of corporations and corporate defendants while continually deprecating the rights of women, the poor, BIPOC individuals and communities, and other historically oppressed groups.

While the Supreme Court will do little to protect rights until it is reformed, the fight is far from over. We at the NCCRC stand with unhoused individuals, as well as with all organizations such as the National Homelessness Law Center that have spoken out against Grants Pass while reaffirming their commitment to protect basic human rights.  And there are many other solutions at the federal, state, and local level that were not foreclosed by Grants Pass.  As the Urban Institute has outlined, there are many humane and effective alternatives to arresting unhoused individuals, while the National Homelessness Law Center has rightfully called for the Biden Administration and Congress to “invest at least $356 billion in the next year … to ensure everyone has safe, decent housing they can afford.”

For our part, we continue to make the case that the right to counsel for tenants facing eviction is one upstream, proven intervention that reduces homelessness.  And we will also continue to advocate for the right to counsel for other civil matters that affect unhoused individuals, such as when they face incarceration when unable to pay criminal fines caused by sleeping outside or the loss of child custody due to not having stable housing.  In doing this work, we strive to protect the rights and dignity of individuals and families that have been so imperiled by Grants Pass.