The Supreme Court will consider Monday whether banning people who are experiencing homelessness from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels in the United States.
States across the country, including Florida, have enacted bans against sleeping outside, which effectively bans encampment for those who are homeless.
Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a law making it illegal for people to camp out on streets, sidewalks and parks. The law does not go into effect until October and would allow counties to designate temporary campsite locations that must include clean restrooms, running water and security.
The sites would also have to provide access to mental health and substance abuse treatment, and illegal drug use and alcohol consumption would be prohibited.
Supporters said the law will help eliminate the nuisance of people who are homeless living on public property and parks.
In Northeast Florida, volunteers conducted a federally mandated point-in-time count of the number of unhoused people living in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties. The report found a total of 567 people were identified in the count in 2024, up from 396 in 2023.
It’s considered one of the highest jumps in recent years.
Hundreds of advocacy groups argue that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep will criminalize homelessness and ultimately make the crisis worse.
The Justice Department has also weighed in. It argues people shouldn’t be punished just for sleeping outside, but only if there’s a determination they truly have nowhere else to go.
In California and other Western states, courts have ruled that it’s unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter space is lacking.
A cross-section of Democratic and Republican officials contend that makes it difficult for them to manage encampments, which can have dangerous and unsanitary living conditions.
The case the Supreme Court is considering comes from the rural Oregon town of Grants Pass, which started fining people $295 for sleeping outside to manage homeless encampments that sprung up in the city’s public parks as the cost of housing escalated.
The measure was largely struck down by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found in 2018 that such bans violated the 8th Amendment by punishing people for something they don't have control over.
The case comes after homelessness in the United States grew a dramatic 12%, to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, according to federal data.