Grants Pass: How the Supreme Court Made It a Crime to Be Homeless
Grants Pass, Oregon has a population of about 38,000 people and, at last count, nowhere near enough shelter beds for its unhoused residents. The city’s answer to that shortfall wasn’t more beds. It was a set of ordinances that fined people $295 for sleeping outside with so much as a blanket, and jailed repeat offenders — including people who had nowhere else to legally exist. In June 2024, the Supreme Court said that was perfectly constitutional. ...