07/01/2024
A Cruel and Unusual Decision (repost from Youth Collaboratory)
This past Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that people who are experiencing homelessness can be arrested for sleeping in public, even when communities have no shelter to offer. For the sole act of being homeless in public, people can now be legally fined and jailed, overruling the precedent that by doing so, it was cruel and unusual punishment.
This ruling will lead to more incarceration and less safety for people experiencing homelessness.
A Detrimental Impact on Young People
Homelessness disproportionately impacts young people who are Black, Hispanic, American Indian, or Alaska Native; and those who are le***an, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBTQ2S+). Twenty-nine percent of youth experiencing homelessness have been in foster care, and young people experiencing homelessness are disproportionately likely to encounter police and the criminal justice system.
Youth and young adults have limited access to safe, age-appropriate shelter. If young people cannot sleep outside when they need to, they will be forced to choose alternatives that could be more harmful and dangerous, just to avoid arrest.
Let's Focus on Collaborative Efforts
It is critically important that we stand together to publicly denounce this ruling and take action to protect our nation’s young people. All people deserve dignity, choice, and support. People experiencing homelessness need housing and services, not a criminal record. Young people need to know that their community will ensure their safety, not allow them to be placed in the criminal justice system—impacting their life goals of education, employment, family, and community—only because they had no safe shelter to stay. We need to stand against the incarceration of people of color, who are disproportionately impacted by homelessness.
Regardless of the SCOTUS decision, communities do not have to create laws that criminalize people whose only crime is not having a safe place to sleep inside. Communities can do the right thing.
What can you do?
1. Email/call your elected officials and demand funds for housing.
2. Join the "Housing not Handcuffs" Campaign https://housingnothandcuffs.org/join/
Housing Not Handcuffs is a national campaign created by the National Homelessness Law Centerand the National Coalition for the Homeless to end the criminalization of homelessness and advocate for housing as a human right.
