HRTC Witnessing Harmful Impact of the Grants Pass Supreme Court Decision

Anna Berg, LCSW Director of Programs

On June 28, 2024 the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. The ruling reversed decisions by multiple lower courts and found that local governments may cite, fine, arrest and detain unhoused residents even if people have no place to go and there is no shelter and/or services to offer them. This is a dangerous ruling that criminalizes unhoused people and removes responsibility or incentive of local and state governments to attend to the individual, public health and public policy needs of their constituents. Why invest money in services or create meaningful and effective policy if (it appears) you can instead arrest and remove the problem?

Of course, unhoused people aren’t problems. They are people experiencing the problem of homelessness. And therein lies the true impact of this devastating ruling: it sanctions the systematic dehumanization of people while encouraging government disengagement and disinvestment in solutions to the very real social problems associated with people lacking housing.

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