The wrong way to fight homelessness

Across the country, cities have taken to cracking down on people who lack housing — not by finding them places to live, but by kicking them out of the places they are seeking shelter.

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These mass encampment evictions owe in part to a 2024 US Supreme Court ruling, City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, that allowed cities to enforce bans on public camping even if shelters in the area are full.

That decision drew immediate condemnation from Carrie Ann Shirota, policy director at ACLU of Hawaii, who said in a press release, “The U.S. Supreme Court's terrible ruling continues in the shameful tradition of choosing to remove unhoused people from public view rather than provide our community members with the resources they actually need: affordable housing and support services,” according to the Tribune News Service.

Following the court's ruling, there have been increased sweeps of encampments, forcing people to move from tents, camper vans or other makeshift shelters. One hundred fifty municipalities, including a number of small cities in California and the Pacific Northwest, have since passed outdoor camping bans, paving the way for cities to conduct sweeps. In 2024, city records in Portland, Oregon, noted that more than 20 encampments were dismantled per day.