More than a year after the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding local rules banning homeless camps on public property, Grants Pass is still a mess. The southeast Oregon city is also Exhibit A of what Christopher Rufo calls the homelessness industrial complex.
Grants Pass won. In 2024, the Supreme Court struck down lower court decisions and held that laws regulating camping on public land do not violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling was a win for local control.
The win was short-lived.
Homeless “advocates” in late January filed a lawsuit claiming the southwest Oregon city of 40,000 residents had violated state law that requires local laws “regulating sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property that is open to public must be objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.” Just what “objectively reasonable” is has yet to be defined.
In August, the overwhelmed city signed a settlement requiring it to provide 150 camping spaces compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and drinking water for its outdoor “guests.”
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