As the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether communities can punish people without homes for sleeping in public places, Orlando-based advocates rallied for what they call humane and effective housing-first policies.
“Housing is a human right,” Congressman Maxwell Frost said at the event Monday.
Outside the George C. Young Federal Building and Courthouse in Orlando, local experts and nonprofit leaders discussed the cost and trauma of homelessness and criminalization, Central Florida’s “severe” lack of affordable housing, the number of working adults who are homeless, and they presented data and recent trends in Florida, proposing housing program alternatives to arrest.
What’s at stake
Supreme Court Justices heard oral arguments Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, which could allow municipalities to ban sleeping or camping outdoors without a permit, even when there are no shelter beds available. Experts are calling the case “monumental” and “the most significant case in decades” on the rights of people experiencing homelessness.
The Supreme Court challenge comes from a 2022 federal ruling that says that criminalizing living outdoors with minimal shelter, when there is no other alternative, is “cruel and unusual punishment” and a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The nation’s highest court’s decision could affect a new Florida law that requires cities and counties to enforce a ban on sleeping in public places and provide designated spaces for camping and shelter. Supporters of this legislation say local governments should do better to shelter their homeless population, citing public health and safety concerns, as well as adverse effects on neighboring businesses and establishments.
Waving signs that read, “Sleeping is not a crime,” and “Housing not Handcuffs,” advocates and nonprofit leaders argued that without provisions for funding or resources to shelter people, cities and counties will resort to arresting individuals, criminalizing homelessness.
Christian Service Center Executive Director Eric Gray said legislators are not considering what will happen to hundreds of unsheltered people when the Florida law goes into effect Oct. 1, if the SCOTUS decision does not preempt it.
“It's a very uneducated, very ignorant position that, unfortunately, a few of our leaders have taken because they don't understand the complexity of the problem,” Gray said.
According to reports, the justices’ were divided during hearings, with the conservative majority siding with municipalities looking to enforce bans on unsheltered individuals sleeping outdoors laws, saying the issue is complicated and solutions should be left up to local governments.
Crunching numbers
“The solution to ending homelessness is housing,” said Martha Are, CEO of the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.
Are said the area’s lack of affordable housing crisis is driving up homelessness and called for investments, saying a little money a long time ago would have saved communities millions now.
“Unfortunately, we've delayed that investment across the state,” Are said. “We've had years and years and years of a lack of investment, and it will be a tough climb.”
Orlando City Commissioner Bakari Burns said the consequences of homelessness become more expensive than the cost of keeping people housed, saying criminalization perpetuates a cycle of instability and marginalization.
According to data by Housing not Handcuffs and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, chronic homelessness happens partly due to criminalization, and it can cost taxpayers between $30,000 and $50,000 per person each year.
“Taking a person to jail for sleeping on the streets would not end that person's homelessness, but it creates additional barriers and increases their instability,” Burns said.
Rev. Mary Downey, CEO of Hope Partnership and homelessness survivor, said publishing people for not having a safe place to sleep is “not only wrong” but “heartbreaking.”
“This is not just a legal ruling that we're looking at today, that they're hearing today. This is a moral one that affects each and every single one of us,” she said. “No one should be punished simply for trying to survive.”
Downey said the court’s ruling could redefine a national stance on homelessness.
During oral arguments at the Supreme Court Monday, city lawyers argued the law does not make being homeless a crime and that letting people sleep in the streets is undignified. Justices are expected to issue a decision in June.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
