NLIHC, together with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, submitted on April 3 an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the rights of unhoused people in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. Read the amicus brief.
City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson is the most significant court case about the rights of people experiencing homelessness in decades. The Supreme Court will decide whether communities that have failed to address the need for affordable housing and shelter can ticket, fine, or arrest unhoused people for sleeping outside with a pillow or blanket, even when there are no other safe or adequate housing or shelter options available.
In the amicus brief, NLIHC and other national leaders urge the Supreme Court to find that Grants Pass’s anti-camping ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution’s 8th amendment banning cruel and unusual punishment. The amicus brief explains that homelessness is primarily driven by our nation’s worsening affordable housing crisis, with America’s lowest-income and most marginalized renters facing a severe shortage of homes affordable and available to them, and a widening gap between incomes and housing costs. Ticketing, fining, or arresting unhoused individuals does not address these root causes of homelessness and instead both exacerbates the crisis and fuels racial inequities.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 22 and will likely issue a decision in June.
Participate in the National Week of Action!
Your elected officials need to hear from you, from people directly impacted by homelessness, and from other advocates in your community!
NLIHC, the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC), National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), and National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) urge advocates to participate in a National Week of Action, starting April 22, to oppose criminalization and advance the only real solution to the homelessness crisis: safe, stable, affordable housing.
Ways to take action:
- Join national leaders, people with lived experience, and allies in Washington, D.C., on April 22 on the steps of the Supreme Court for a national event! RSVP here.
- Use the new advocacy toolkit to plan an event during the week of April 22 in your local community, such as:
- Meeting with your local, state, or federal elected officials to discuss the real solutions to homelessness.
- Hosting a roundtable or other gathering where people with lived experience of homelessness can share their stories with elected officials.
- Hosting a teach-in, film screening, or other educational event.
- Writing an op-ed or letter to the editor.
- Amplifying social media from the National Homelessness Law Center (@homeless_law) and others.
- Bringing your elected officials on a site visit to an affordable housing development or other program in your community.
Participate in local rallies hosted by homelessness advocates. Local actions will be announced on www.johnsonvgrantspass.com