Supreme Court to Hear Case Over Homelessness Rules in Oregon

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a challenge to cities using local ordinances to enforce bans on public camping, a case that could reshape policy on homelessness for years to come.

The case stems from a lawsuit challenging local laws in Oregon that restrict sleeping and camping in public spaces, including sidewalks, streets and city parks. A ruling could have broad implications, particularly for Western states grappling with how to address a homelessness crisis.

It adds another high-profile case to a docket that includes abortion, the power of administrative agencies and a challenge to whether former President Donald J. Trump is eligible for Colorado’s Republican primary ballot.

In court filings, lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that in 2013, Grants Pass, a city of about 40,000 people in southwestern Oregon, “began aggressively enforcing a set of ordinances that make it unlawful to sleep anywhere on public property with so much as a blanket to survive cold nights, even if shelter is unavailable.” They described it as an “effort to push its homeless residents into neighboring jurisdictions.”

They argue that because there are no homeless shelters in Grants Pass and that the only housing programs “serve only a small fraction of the city’s homeless population,” local homeless residents are left with “nowhere to sleep but outside.”

The plaintiffs say that these rules violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, “effectively punishing the city’s involuntarily homeless residents for their existence” in the city.

In an amicus brief, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California urged the court to take on the case, writing that he had “witnessed firsthand the challenges of the homelessness crisis,” including