SCOTUS Tears Up Unhoused People’s Constitutional Rights

by Contributing Author

statement by the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP)

Washington D.C. – The Supreme Court issued a decision today in the landmark case Grants Pass v. Johnson. This case centers on whether governments can fine and arrest unhoused people who have no other choice but to sleep outside. As expected, our Dred Scott-loving Supreme Court diluted people’s 8th Amendment protections against Cruel and Unusual punishment OR …The court upheld this ruling deciding it is indeed cruel and unusual punishment to cite and arrest people for lodging when no shelter is available  

Lower courts had ruled that Grants Pass practices were in fact found to be unconstitutional as they were arresting and citing unhoused people for camping,

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Sweeping Decision

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Jeremiah Hayden, Street Roots

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers Grants Pass v. Johnson, there’s work to do to address homelessness, regardless of outcome

Cassy Leach woke up early on April 22, the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson across the country in Washington, D.C. 

That morning, Leach, Mobile Integrative Navigation Team, or MINT,

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State Senate Sit-lie Ban Fails in Committee

by Contributing Author
Demonstration in Sacramento on April 22, 2024. Large sign reads "No more homeless deaths."

by Lukas Illa

With the room packed and members of the public spilling out to the hallway, the California Senate Committee on Public Safety rejected Senate Bill 1011, a bill that sought to criminalize homeless encampments within 500 feet of a public or private K-12 school, major transit stops and “open spaces.”

The committee voted 3-1 against SB 1011, with another one abstaining. The vote prevented the bill from moving to the full Senate.

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Grants Pass v. Johnson Homelessness Case to Go Before U.S. Supreme Court

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Jeremiah Hayden, Street Roots

Homeless residents in Grants Pass shelter in tents in parks, including Morrison Park, despite the threat of civil and criminal penalties.

Laura Gutowski resides just down the street from the Grants Pass home that she lived in for 25 years. Her son used to play baseball in Morrison Centennial Park, where she now lives in a tent not far from the diamond.

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Will the U.S. Supreme Court Make it Easier for Cities to Banish Us?  Maybe, But We Will Not Disappear! 

by Contributing Author

by the Western Regional Advocacy Project

On April 22, 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson. The case determines if the U.S. Constitution allows for local governments to fine, arrest, and jail people for living outside, when they have nowhere else to go. Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) members are planning a day of action on April 22, 2024 to speak out for the rights of unhoused people to exist,

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‘This is Why We Fight’: Los Angeles Community Action Network Targets Sit-Lie Law

by Contributing Author

by Cathleen Williams, Sacramento Homeward Street Journal

“My hometown is located on a flat coastal plain once covered in brush, and intersected by rivers and creeks where pure water has bubbled up from creeks since the dawn of the Pleistocene. As a settled, human place, it has belonged to the Tongva and to three different empires. Once it was a rural outpost of the Spanish crown, and then a Mexican pueblo before it was taken by the United States and became what it is today: the newest and last megalopolis built in the western march of Western civilization across the Western Hemisphere.” –

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Advocates Indict San Francisco’s Sweeps Policies Before U.S. Supreme Court

by TJ Johnston

A coalition of current and former San Francisco officials and civic organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in advance of a hearing on whether cities could penalize existing while homeless even when no shelter is available. Members of the coalition and their counsel, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, announced the filing in a press conference on Zoom.

Separately,

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Sweeps Do Not End Homelessness

by Contributing Author

Mayor London Breed released a statement on March 1 reporting on a reduction in the number of tents in San Francisco due to sweeps. While the Mayor’s office credits the Healthy Streets Operation Center (HSOC), which conducts encampment removals, conflicting data indicates that revenue from the November 2018 Proposition C—”Our City, Our Home”—is in fact responsible. On the same day, the Mayor submitted an amicus brief in support of overturning the Grants Pass case,

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No on E: Endangering Accountability and Privacy

by Contributing Author

by Nathan Sheard

San Francisco voters have a lot to consider before the March 5 election. Voting No on Proposition E should be an easy choice for anyone who is concerned with addressing our city’s challenges, rather than benefiting from them. If passed, Prop. E would significantly weaken measures meant to protect the rights and safety of San Francisco residents and visitors. If Prop. E passes, it would strip accountability for the use of dubious surveillance tools,

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