Supreme Court Overturns Anti-Camping Ordinances in Landmark Decision on Homelessness Policies

Homelessness and Anti-Camping Ordinances
By Robert Phillips, DDA (Ret)

Homelessness has been a serious social problem in the United States for some time. It has been estimated that on any given night (understanding that the number fluctuates on a daily basis), somewhere around 653,104 people could be classified as homeless in the United States. (Per Google; at least in the year 2013.) And it’s only getting worse.  California in particular has borne the brunt of homelessness, with about half of the homeless in this U.S. living in what was once considered to be the “Golden State.”? The other four states with the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness in the country include Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, and Nevada. Along with Idaho, all lie within the American West, and all coming under the jurisdiction of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. (See the 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report [AHAR] to Congress.)  And only to aggravate the whole problem, it has been estimated that around 78% of the unsheltered suffer from mental-health issues, while 75% struggle with substance abuse. (J. Rountree, N. Hess, & A. Lyke, Health Conditions Among Unsheltered Adults in the U. S., Calif. Policy Lab, Policy Brief 5 (2019).) 

Just about every level of California’s various governmental entities (not to mention those of the other western states, including Idaho) has been experimenting with the best way to deal with ....