Where Will You Sleep Tonight?

 It would be great if we could elevate the thinking about homelessness in these United States. The number of conservative voices who see fit to assume that not having a place to sleep at night is a moral defect, a choice made by folks who just got tired of having a roof over their head. Very few of these pinheads are making these claims based on any actual experience. Instead, they pontificate from the steps of their summer cottages as they try to decide which bedroom they would like to muss up this weekend. 

Without the hyperbole: The town of Grants Pass, which has no public homeless shelters, effectively banned homelessness by imposing escalating fines starting at one hundred eighty dollars for those who sleep outside. One of the original plaintiffs in the case against the city had over five thousand dollars in penalties before she died. The United States Supreme Court is now hearing the case of the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, in which the justices will determine whether localities can criminalize homelessness by punishing those who sleep out on streets using tents, blankets, or even a piece of cardboard. The court must weigh if doing so when no beds are available violates the Eighth Amendment and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Maybe we should start with the level of ridiculousness this discussion entails. If someone is homeless, one expects that they lack the money to pay rent, or to buy a house, or to pay for a room. Fining these individuals is as crass as it is unnecessary. The city of Grants Pass Oregon began aggressively enforcing penalties for sleeping outside on public property, like issuing two hundred ninety-five dollar fines that increase to five hundred thirty-seven dollars if unpaid. Following two citations, the police could then find the homeless person guilty of criminal trespassing, which could lead to up to thirty days in jail and a new one thousand two hundred fifty dollar penalty. 

From people who have no money. The attorneys for Grants Pass argued that they were regulating the "conduct" of sleeping outside, not the "status" of sleeping outside. It was their assertion that  the government could criminalize homelessness, because it is not “a status like drug addiction” but a series of acts that can each be outlawed. 

There are more than half a million Americans who fit the description of homeless as laid out by this case. Breaking the law because they have nowhere to sleep. Human beings. Conduct? Status? Grants Pass has approximately six hundred homeless people living in their midst. Grants Pass has no homeless shelter. How can that be legal?