The rural city of Grants Pass in southern Oregon has become the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis as its case over anti-camping laws goes to the U.S.

The scenes were emblematic of the crisis gripping the small, Oregon mountain town of Grants Pass, where a fierce fight over park space has become a battleground for a much larger, national debate on homelessness that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The town’s case, set to be heard April 22, has broad implications for how not only Grants Pass, but communities nationwide address homelessness, including whether they can fine or jail people for camping in public. It has made the town of 40,000 the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis, and further fueled the debate over how to deal with it.

“I certainly wish this wasn’t what my town was known for,” Mayor Sara Bristol told The Associated Press last month. “It’s not the reason why I became mayor. And yet it has dominated every single thing that I’ve done for the last 3 1/2 years.”

Officials across the political spectrum — from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in California, which has nearly 30% of the nation’s homeless population, to a group of 22 conservative-led states — have filed briefs in the case, saying lower court rulings have hamstrung their ability to deal with encampments.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    1150·
    7 months ago

    It’s tricky, because allowing it to happen creates massive public health and environmental disasters:

    https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2023/07/natural-sites-in-east-portland-hardest-hit-by-homeless-camps.html

    https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/07/hidden-toll-of-homeless-crisis-portlands-prized-natural-areas.html

    https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/city-breaks-up-homeless-camp-pulls-out-150-stolen-cars-tons-of-trash-live-pigs-big-four-corners-natural-area-portland-oregon-housing-crisis-damage-neighbor-george-donnerberg-park-and-rec-environmental-impact

    https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/portland-waterways-streets-cleared-of-over-100-derelict-boats-thanks-to-take-back-program/

    These aren’t the “oh, poor innocent homeless, down on their luck” portrayed by advocates, they are drug addicts and thieves, leeching off society, and actively making life worse for themselves and everyone else.

    • Neato@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      31·
      7 months ago

      Perhaps if they had housing and sufficient social nets so they didn’t have to steal to eat and places they could get managed drug doses (you can’t just quit, especially without resources) then this wouldn’t be a problem.

      It’s not like people choose to be problems and homeless. Almost all Americans are one or two bad turns away from joining them.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      251·
      7 months ago

      Studies show the majority of homeless people have jobs. Furthermore they didn’t have one big reason for going homeless. They just couldn’t afford housing and eventually they are unable to pay. People report sliding into homelessness over the course of years as the cost of housing kept rising without pay rising.

      Trying to depict all homeless people as junkies is disingenuous at best.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
        219·
        7 months ago

        That was the estimate from the University of Chicago in 2021 which has since been actively been disproven by point in time counts of actual homeless people.

        The Chicago stat:

        https://endhomelessness.org/blog/employed-and-experiencing-homelessness-what-the-numbers-show/

        “53% of people living in homeless shelters and 40% of unsheltered people were employed, either full or part-time, in the year that people were observed homeless between 2011 – 2018.”

        The reality is almost the exact opposite:

        https://socialinnovation.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Homelessness-and-Employment.pdf

        “According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) 2019 Adult Demographic Survey, over 50% of single adults (24 and older) experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Los Angeles County are unemployed (LAHSA, 2019a). Of those unemployed, approximately half reported that they are actively looking for work. The same survey found that 49% of unsheltered adults in family units are unemployed, but a much higher percentage of them (36%) are actively looking for work than single adults. Additionally, 46% of unsheltered adults cited unemployment or a financial reason as a primary reason why they are homeless (LAHSA, 2019a).”

        And:

        “According to the same survey, about 20% of single adults experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Los Angeles County are working, including full-time, part-time, seasonal, and self-employment compared to about 32% of unsheltered adults in family units (LAHSA, 2019a). Not only are people experiencing homelessness employed at low rates, but evidence shows that those who are employed report very low annual earnings (California Policy Lab, 2020). In Los Angeles County, employed people experiencing homelessness earned an average of just under $10,000 in the year prior to experiencing homelessness (California Policy Lab, 2020).”

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
          191·
          7 months ago

          So first of all, you’re comparing two different regions. Second 51 percent of people in the document you linked have an income and 36 percent are seeking work. Third, you should really read their myths document. It pretty clearly refutes all of your claims.

            • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
              31·
              7 months ago

              They aren’t asking for anyone to give things to them (well, besides spare change). They just want to live their lives and not go to jail. Some want to find a job but can’t. Some have a job but not a good enough one to get an apartment. Some want to do drugs and sleep in oblivion. Some have severe mental challenges and couldn’t hold a job if they tried.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
          91·
          7 months ago

          While employment helps people stay housed, it does not guarantee housing. As many as 40%-60% of people experiencing homelessness have a job, but housing is unaffordable because wages have not kept up with rising rents. There is no county or state where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a modest apartment. At minimum wage, people have to work 86 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom. Even when people can afford a home, one is not always available. In 1970, the United States had a surplus of 300,000 affordable homes. Today, only 37 affordable homes are available for every 100 extremely low-income renters. As a result, 70% of the lowest-wage households spend more than half their income on rent, placing them at high risk of homelessness when unexpected expenses (such as car repairs and medical bills) arise. Source

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.clubEnglish
      12·
      7 months ago

      May be, but we’ve gotten rid of entire classes of housing that these kind of people would be living in otherwise.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.world
        419·
        7 months ago

        Ideally, what I’d like to see is this… It would probably take 1.5 to 2 billion to pull off:

        1. You build and staff a state of the art medical facility for mental health and addiction treatment, including the ability to hold people long term if necessary.

        2. You build and staff a facility for job training and placement, including specialized support for people with criminal records. This would also need to include interview and resume skills. Assistance for email, phone, and Internet, but also clothing assistance, laundry assistance, and the like for interviews.

        3. You build and staff a facility for housing support. Like work assistance, there needs to be specialized support for people with criminal records. But also a permanent address for mail.

        4. Once all that infrastructure is in place, you sweep the streets.

        • People who need mental health and addiction treatment get institutionalized and treated until they are healthy, then they get released to the job and housing programs.

        • People who have no job get the job assistance program.

        • People who have a job get the housing assistance program.

        • People with warrants or otherwise engaging in crimimal behavior (stolen cars, stolen bikes, other material) get arrested.

        • People who are otherwise able bodied, but who are homeless by choice because “I ain’t part of your system, maaaan!” get their asses kicked and pressed into service cleaning up homeless camps.

            • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
              6·
              7 months ago

              Some might say making forced camps for a subset of people might be considered a final solution. But maybe I am just concentrating on the whole sweep the streets of undisrables part.

              • jordanlund@lemmy.world
                13·
                7 months ago

                Camps that help people vs. camps that hurt people is a pretty significant difference. It’s clear they can’t or won’t help themselves.

                But I’m open, you have a better solution than letting them live in squalor?

                • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
                  3·
                  7 months ago

                  Ah yes, they can put a uplifting phrase on all the entrances as well. Something like work will set you free maybe. That way you know the camp was built to help people and would be way better then just leaving them alone.

                  There are some other things that would need to be done as well though. How would the authorities know if someone was both working and had a place? Oh I know we can issue papers to each person that have their job and residence listed, that way all it would take is the local authorities asking everyone out “Papers, please”.

                  On what is a seemingly unrelated note, how much of a history buff are you?

            • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
              51·
              7 months ago

              Your last sentence is what is so unreasonable. You are criminalizing being alive without a job, which means humans have no right to live without being in your system.