An increase in homelessness has cities across the country searching for solutions.
Some — including Grants Pass, Oregon — are turning to punishment such as fines or arrest for those sleeping in public areas.
That practice can continue, under a recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Writing for the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that, “Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many … People will disagree over which policy responses are best; they may experiment with one set of approaches only to find later another set works better; they may find certain responses more appropriate for some communities than others. But in our democracy, that is their right.”
The decision is expected to have a sweeping impact on policies for the unhoused, but local advocates are hoping the effect will be muted in Chicago and Illinois.
Bob Palmer, policy director at Housing Action Illinois, said he would push back against Gorsuch’s assertion.
“There’s lots of individual reasons, lots of individual stories about people experiencing homelessness,” he said. “But in the end, what everyone who is homeless has in common is they can’t afford housing. So we’re very troubled that the Supreme Court decision is essentially allowing for criminalization of what is essentially an economic problem caused by the shortage of affordable housing.”
He said more constructive measures focus on the issue with the outreach of social services.
For Chicago and the rest of the state, Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of The Law Project at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said she believes they are taking this approach.
“Just because the Supreme Court has overturned this order doesn’t mean cities should just go into a mode of being reactionary and criminalizing people for biological necessities,” she said. “Particularly in Chicago and Illinois, I think there is a recognition that criminalization is not effective. A housing first approach is effective and that seems to be the direction that people here want to move.”
Nix-Hodes and other Illinois-based organizations filed an amicus brief to illustrate how the ruling would affect people experiencing homelessness in Illinois.
