Supreme Court to hear case related to homelessness crisis
Los Angeles business owner Paul Scrivano and Portland business owner David Rinella join “Fox & Friends First” to talk about the importance of “enforcing existing laws” to alleviate the homelessness crisis. We talked.
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In Monday’s Supreme Court showdown over whether homeless people have a “right” to camp in public, few mentioned the actual victims of that crazy idea. Homeless advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said in court that living on the streets is a “victimless” crime. No victims?
Everyone who walks to work or takes their kids to school and has to step over needles, human poop, and avoid around unconscious humans is a victim.
All the shop owners whose entrances were blocked with improvised cardboard shelters were victims.
Tents and belongings from the Chokai Plaza and Judge John Iso Street homeless camps on 1st Avenue in Los Angeles. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
The victims are all the families who want to use the park but find themselves cluttered with vast tents.
ST. Louis government clears ‘scary’ and ‘smelly’ homeless camp after 3 years of inconvenience to homeowners
Homeless people are more likely to commit violent crimes than non-homeless people. The public has good reason to be wary.
Municipalities across the country are focused on the case between City of Grants Pass, Oregon, and Johnson, which challenges a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that prohibits penalties for sleeping on public land with blankets and other materials. The Ninth Circuit, known for its left-leaning decisions, argues that these penalties constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” because homeless people have no choice.
You have no choice. San Francisco officials report that 60% of homeless people living on the streets refuse shelter.
Here in New York City, all homeless people are guaranteed shelter. When Mayor Eric Adams sent an outreach team from the Department of Homeless Services to the tent camp, only about 5% of people accepted the offer of shelter. The other 95% choose to live rough.
Justice Clarence Thomas most pointed to this practical truth when he asked whether the Grants Pass ordinance criminalizes homelessness and the intentional decision to camp out instead of seeking shelter. Approaching the.
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![Homeless camps line the streets of Oakland, California](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/03/1200/675/Oakland-California-Homeless-Closed-Businesses_09.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Homeless camps line the streets of Oakland, California, on March 15, 2024. (DWS for Fox News Digital)
The big surprise is who is standing on Grants Pass’ side. Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom and, you guessed it, a long list of blue metropolises excluding New York City.
Grants Pass lawyers say the Ninth Circuit has “placed a judicial roadblock” that affects nearly every municipality in the West and prevents encampment clearing. The result is “crime, fires, a return of medieval diseases, environmental damage, record levels of drug overdoses and deaths on public roads.”
Phoenix city officials complained in a friend-of-the-court brief that the 9th Circuit judge is acting like a “homelessness policy czar” and usurping decisions that should be made by local governments. ing. Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed, warning against federal courts “micromanaging” homelessness policy.
![homeless on the sidewalk in seattle](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2021/08/1200/675/homeless-in-seattle-at-night.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
People sleep on the sidewalk outside in Seattle on April 6, 2020. (Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
That’s what’s happening. Anti-camping regulations adopted in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon, have all been banned following the 9th Circuit’s precedent. And this precedent has been cited by courts in other parts of the United States as a reason to condone homeless encampments.
The Grants Pass case is highly unusual for a large city grappling with homelessness, so predicting the outcome of the case is somewhat difficult. The town of 40,000 people has a small church-run shelter.
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But Monday’s arguments suggest the justices will rule 6-3 or 5-4 that municipalities can ban sleeping on public land. This ruling will have implications for the entire country.
With the possible exception of New York City, New York City is moving away from the norm.
![No Camping](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/03/Camping-Bans.gif)
A homeless man sits in a tent overlooking the river on June 5, 2021 in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein, File)
The City Council adopted the Homeless Bill of Rights in 2023, making Gotham the only major city with an explicit right to sleep in public. Mayor Adams did not veto it. It wouldn’t have made any sense. This law was adopted unanimously. What are city council members thinking?
Homeless people deserve mercy, but letting them freeze to death or succumb to disease is not merciful. Data shows they are shortening their lifespans by more than 30 years.
Jumaane Williams, the city’s public defender, sponsored a “Homeless Bill of Rights” and loudly said the city should look at the root causes of homelessness instead of “fear-mongering.”
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But fear is natural. And the public deserves clean and safe streets.
Fair warning: Williams is keeping an eye on Adams’ job as mayor.
The court’s expected ruling will allow local governments across the country to crack down on homeless encampments. However, a judge cannot order that.
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Law-abiding citizens who are the real victims of homelessness need to elect local leaders who can say “no” to putting the rights of the homeless above the rights of the rest of the population.
It’s up to you, New York City voters.
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