{"id":2984,"date":"2024-06-28T21:35:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T21:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=2984"},"modified":"2024-06-28T21:35:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T21:35:34","slug":"supreme-court-oks-local-crackdowns-on-homelessness-as-advocates-warn-of-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=2984","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court OKs Local Crackdowns on Homelessness, as Advocates Warn of Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s watershed decision<\/a> on homelessness Friday will make it easier for elected officials and law enforcement authorities nationwide to fine and arrest people who live on streets and sidewalks, in broken-down vehicles, or within city parks \u2014 which could have far-reaching health consequences for homeless Americans and their communities.<\/p>\n

In a 6-to-3 ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson<\/em>, the justices in the majority said allowing the targeting of homeless people occupying public spaces by enforcing bans on public sleeping or camping with criminal or civil penalties is not cruel and unusual punishment, even if there are no alternative shelter or housing options available for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine the chaos that is going to ensue. It\u2019ll have horrible consequences for mental and physical health,\u201d said Ed Johnson, director of litigation at the Oregon Law Center and lead attorney representing homeless defendants in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people aren\u2019t allowed to engage in survival while living outside by having things like a blanket and a pillow, or a tarp and a sleeping bag, and they don\u2019t have anywhere else to go, they can die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The case, the most consequential on homelessness in decades, comes amid widespread public frustration over the proliferation of homeless encampments \u2014 especially in Western cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon<\/a> \u2014 and the unsafe and unsanitary conditions that often fester around them.<\/p>\n

An estimated 653,100 people were homeless in the United States in 2023, according to the most recent federal estimates<\/a>, the vast majority residing in shanties, broken-down recreational vehicles, and sprawling tent camps scattered across urban and rural communities.<\/p>\n

The Oregon city of Grants Pass, at the center of the legal battle, successfully argued that it was not cruel and unusual punishment to fine and arrest homeless people living outdoors or illegally camping on public property.<\/p>\n

Mike Zacchino, a spokesperson for Grants Pass, issued a statement Friday that the city was \u201cgrateful\u201d to receive the decision and is committed to assisting residents struggling to find stable housing. Theane Evangelis, the city\u2019s lead attorney, told the Supreme Court in April that if it couldn\u2019t enforce its anticamping laws, \u201cthe city\u2019s hands will be tied. It will be forced to surrender its public spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeless advocates serve hundreds of people during a weekly providing of groceries, warm food, supplies, and living essentials for the homeless community at Morrison Park in Grants Pass, Oregon, on March 28.(Melina Mara\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that the homelessness crisis is complex and has many causes, writing, \u201cWith encampments dotting neighborhood sidewalks, adults and children in these communities are sometimes forced to navigate around used needles, human waste, and other hazards to make their way to school, the grocery store, or work.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Gorsuch wrote, the Eighth Amendment does not give the Supreme Court justices primary responsibility \u201cfor assessing those causes and devising those responses.\u201d A handful of federal judges cannot \u201cbegin to \u2018match\u2019 the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding \u2018how best to handle\u2019 a pressing social question like homelessness,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision focuses on the needs of local government and \u201cleaves the most vulnerable in our society with an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elected officials, both Republican and Democrat, have increasingly argued that life on the streets is making people sick \u2014 and they should be allowed to relocate people for health and safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf government offers people help and they can\u2019t or won\u2019t accept it, there should be consequences. We have laws that need to be used,\u201d said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who is an adviser to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on homelessness, referencing laws that allow the state to require mental health and addiction treatment, for instance.<\/p>\n

The high court decision could further embolden cities to sweep encampments and could force homeless people to be more transient \u2014 constantly moving around to evade law enforcement. Sometimes they\u2019re offered shelter, but often there is nowhere to go. Steinberg believes many cities will more aggressively sweep encampments and keep homeless people on the move, but he does not believe they should be fined or arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m comfortable telling people that you can\u2019t camp in public, but I would not criminalize it,\u201d he said. \u201cSome cities will fine and arrest people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates for homeless people say constant relocations will further imperil the health of this population and magnify public health threats, such as the spread of communicable diseases. They fear conservative-leaning communities will criminalize street camping, pushing homeless people to liberal municipalities that provide housing assistance and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome cities have decided that they want to fine, arrest, and punish people for being homeless, and the majority opinion tells communities that they can go ahead and do that,\u201d said Steve Berg, chief policy officer for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. \u201cIf communities really want less homelessness, they need to do what works, which is make sure people have access to housing and supportive services.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they disperse and relocate \u2014 and possibly get arrested or slapped with fines \u2014 they will lose connections to the doctors and nurses who provide primary and specialty care on the streets, some health care experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just is going to contribute to more death and higher mortality rates,\u201d said Jim O\u2019Connell, the president of Boston\u2019s Health Care for the Homeless Program and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. \u201cIt\u2019s tough, because there\u2019s a public safety versus public health\u201d debate cities are struggling with.<\/p>\n

As homeless people become sicker, they will get more expensive to treat, O\u2019Connell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop thinking about the emergency room, which is cheap compared to what we actually see, which is homeless people being admitted to the ICU,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got 20-something patients at Mass General today taking a huge amount of money to care for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, which has one of the biggest homeless populations in America, street medicine provider Brett Feldman predicts more patients will need emergency intensive care as chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease go untreated.<\/p>\n

Patients on anti-addiction medication or those undergoing treatment to improve their mental health will also struggle, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are already getting moved and camps swept all the time, so we already know what happens,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cPeople lose their medications; they lose track of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeless people die at rates two to six times higher than residents living in stable housing, according to a May report<\/a> from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Drug overdoses and coronary artery disease were the top two causes of death since 2017.<\/p>\n

Feldman said it may become harder to house people or place them into treatment programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rely on knowing where they are in order to find them,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cAnd they rely on us knowing where they are to get their health care. And if we can\u2019t find them, often they can\u2019t complete their housing paperwork and they don\u2019t get inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tents line a sidewalk in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 20.(Qian Weizhong\/VCG via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Biden administration has pushed states to expand the definition of health care to include housing. At least 19<\/a> are directing money from Medicaid \u2014 the state-federal health insurance program for low-income people \u2014 into housing aid.<\/p>\n

California is going the biggest, pumping $12 billion into an ambitious Medicaid initiative<\/a> largely to help homeless patients find housing, pay for it, and avoid eviction. It is also dramatically expanding street medicine services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court decision could interrupt these programs, said Margot Kushel, a primary care doctor and homelessness researcher at the University of California-San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you\u2019re going to see disconnections from those case managers and housing navigators and people just losing touch in the chaos and the shuffle,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s worse, though, is we are going to lose the trust that is so essential to getting people to take their medications or stop their drug use and, ultimately, getting people into housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kushel said the ruling would make homelessness worse. \u201cJust having fines and jail time makes it easier for a landlord to reject you for housing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Americans are increasingly frustrated by encampments spreading into neighborhoods, ringing public parks, and popping up near schools. The spread is marked by more trash, dirty needles, rats, and human excrement on sidewalks.<\/p>\n

Local leaders across deep-blue California welcomed the decision from the conservative majority, which will allow them to fine and arrest homeless people, even if there\u2019s nowhere for them to go. \u201cThe Supreme Court today took decisive action that will ultimately make our communities safer,\u201d said Graham Knaus, CEO of the California State Association of Counties.<\/p>\n

Newsom, a Democrat who leads a state with nearly 30% of the nation\u2019s homeless population, said the decision gives state and local officials \u201cthe definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets,\u201d ending legal ambiguity that has \u201ctied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was produced by <\/em>KFF Health News<\/em><\/a>, which publishes <\/em>California Healthline<\/em><\/a>, an editorially independent service of the <\/em>California Health Care Foundation<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n