On June 28th, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that people experiencing homelessness can be arrested and fined for sleeping outside. How will this impact people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota?
The case Grants Pass v. Johnson originated in Oregon. It was originally filed in 2018 to protect people sleeping in public in the city of Grants Pass from being fined. It stated that the penalties were a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. The United States Supreme Court reversed the decision, stating that it wasn’t cruel or unusual to fine people for camping in the public.
Catholic Charities Twin Cities’ Chief Program Officer Keith Kozerski says the ruling will only worsen an already large public health and humanitarian crisis.
“It's not like everybody who ends up sleeping on the street or in an encampment, or other less desirable place is there because that's what they want to do. For a lot of people, that's what they have to do. So then to say that that's a criminal act feels less than humane.”
Minnesota has not taken action to issue fines to people sleeping in public. But the State has torn down encampments and restructured public areas to prevent sleeping by installing bars, spikes, and other deterrents.
Kozerski says the nation should be investing in sustainable solutions instead of methods of displacement.
“We know that there's not adequate capacity in the homeless shelter arena. In fact, we know that in the last three months, one third of individuals seeking shelter were actually turned away because of lack of capacity. And in the Twin Cities Metro Region, that was even higher; 35% of people seeking shelter were turned away,” said Kozersk.
“At Catholic Charities in our St. Paul shelters, it costs us about $24 a night per bed for a homeless individual. In Hennepin County, it cost $172 a night for anyone spending the night in jail. So you're talking about almost six times the cost by going with the jail route versus creating enough shelter for people.”
According to the Reentry and Housing Coalition, people experiencing homelessness are more likely to report having a criminal record than the general public. But often that criminal record is for activities that are a direct result of their homelessness, such as loitering, sitting, lying down, or sleeping in public. But a jail sentence doesn’t solve the problem; in Minnesota, 19% of people released from the Department of Corrections were homeless, according to the DOC’s 2022 Homelessness report.
Kozerski says Catholic Charities Twin Cities has four shelters which are primarily sustained through private philanthropic funding. He says last year Catholic Charities served more than 25,000 people; more than 10,000 of those people were seeking overnight beds.
Homelessness disproportionately affects people of color. While white people make up 78% of Minnesota’s total population, they represent only 38% of people experiencing homelessness. Kozerski says that means the SCOTUS ruling will predominantly impact people of color in the state, while also adding to the State’s already overwhelmed criminal justice and psychiatric systems.
“SoIf someone goes into the mental health system or the criminal justice system because they were camping in a public space… They're going to spend a couple nights in jail and come out of jail just as homeless as when they went in,” he said.
Ultimately, Kozerski says penalizing the homeless community for camping on public space is the equivalent of creating a revolving door, with the cost passed on to taxpayers. Rather than widening the economic disparity gap, he says investing in stable shelter resources would be a better solution.
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