Advocates for Arizona’s homeless fear that the Supreme Court’s decision to maintain statutes criminalizing sleeping in public areas has increased the risk of police violence.
Phoenix made national headlines for months last year when a Maricopa County judge ordered that the city’s largest homeless encampment, The Zone, be evacuated. Downtown merchants had protested that it presented a safety risk.
Advocacy groups condemned the order. By November, the encampment had been dismantled, displacing hundreds.
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The United States Department of Justice released a damning report on the Phoenix Police Department in June, following a nearly three-year investigation. The research showed that Phoenix police consistently violated homeless people’s rights by unjustly detaining, ticketing, and arresting them, as well as improperly disposing of their property.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision upheld an Oregon statute, essentially ratifying similar ordinances in Phoenix and other communities that prohibit camping outdoors or in encampments in public places.
Arizona supporters fear the decision will have terrible consequences.
“The issue of homelessness is difficult. Its causes are numerous. “So maybe the public policy responses required to address it,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority.
Jared Keenan, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, voiced concern about the ruling’s impact on homeless persons throughout the state.
“It’s difficult to imagine a more blatant example of harsh punishment than fining, detaining, and imprisoning people for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go. And that is the issue in Phoenix, where we do not have enough shelter space, cheap housing, or long-term housing,” Keenan explained. “The Supreme Court has given the green light to cities to criminalize existence when you’re unhoused.”
Arizona has often come under scrutiny for its handling of homeless people. In November 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona filed a lawsuit accusing Phoenix of punishing homeless people for sleeping outside and destroying their items without warning.
“Rather than using criminalization as one tool in their toolbox, as the city officials claim they needed to do, they’re using it as a primary tool,” Keenan told CNN.
Criminalizing homelessness is “not only cruel but also counterproductive,” he stated. Like other proponents, he cited the expansion of affordable housing and social services as approaches to address the core causes of homelessness.
“Criminalization does not end anyone’s homelessness. Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, stated that the solution to end homelessness for people is to give them housing and supportive services that they want and need.
“We need federal investments to address the affordable housing crisis and shortage that is affecting not only Arizona, but communities across the country,” she stated. “It’s not going to get resolved without some significant investments.”
The number of people without permanent shelter in Arizona increased by 29% between 2020 and 2023, according to the state’s Department of Economic Security. According to DES, unsheltered homelessness has surged by nearly 73% during the last five years.
According to the DOJ analysis, those experiencing homelessness accounted for more than a third of all arrests in Phoenix between 2016 and 2022. Many of these stops, tickets, and arrests were deemed unconstitutional by the Justice Department.
How Phoenix has responded.
The city of Phoenix published a statement on the day of the Supreme Court decision, stating it has worked to “address encampments in a dignified and compassionate manner,” to end homelessness while “preserving the quality of life in our neighborhoods for all residents.”
Furthermore, “the city will continue to lead with services and will not criminalize homelessness,” according to a statement released by the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions.
In December 2022, a federal judge in Arizona ordered Phoenix to stop enforcing camping laws, taking property without warning, and destroying property without providing an opportunity to retrieve it.
Last October, the court changed the order to reflect a decision by the liberal 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals – which also hears cases from Arizona – on an ordinance in Grants Pass, Oregon.
The 9th Circuit ruled that cities targeting homeless individuals violated the Constitution. Grants Pass had declared it illegal to utilize cardboard boxes, pillows, or blankets while sleeping in public. The Supreme Court overruled that decision on June 28 in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson.
According to the Justice Department investigation, Phoenix police regularly disregarded or ignored the court orders issued in 2022 and 2023, and officers were not properly taught on “how to follow the law, nor supervise them to ensure they did.”
While personal property seizures improved in “highly visible areas,” other sweeps fell short of constitutional standards, according to the report.
In one case, authorities arrested seven people who were sitting and sleeping on a public sidewalk and charged them with trespassing. The DOJ declared the arrests illegal.
Officers ignored their appeals and left their possessions on the sidewalk.
“Please. Everything I own has arrived. Everything. According to the DOJ, one woman asked, “Please,” to which the officer replied, “This is all rubbish. “There is nothing.”
The DOJ documented multiple instances in which cops discarded personal possessions while roaming homeless persons. One man lost an urn containing a relative’s ashes. Countless more reported losing items that the DOJ claimed they required for survival, such as clothing, tents, medicine, and personal identification, including Social Security cards.
According to the article, a homeless lady lost her birth certificate when the city threw away her tent, making it impossible for her to find accommodation.
Officers once told a homeless man, “You guys are trash, and this is trash,” as they discarded his personal belongings.
Arizona is one of the most rapidly rising states. A lack of affordable housing has exacerbated Phoenix’s homeless situation, overloading sheltering capacity despite the city’s $140 million investment in shelters and other homeless programs, according to the Department of Justice as per bizjournals.
“The city views unhoused communities as a problem rather than as individuals. “It’s much easier to try to disappear people through incarceration than it is to address the homeless crisis,” said Ben Laughlin, policy and research coordinator at Poder in Action, a civil rights advocacy group.
While the Supreme Court upheld encampment bans, activists want solutions that go beyond policing.
According to Keenan, “We fear that the city’s going to double down on efforts at criminalizing people who are unhoused.”