Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities can charge people with crimes for sleeping in public, even when they have nowhere else to go.
The ruling partially reversed the 2018 case Martin v. City of Boise, which had held that cities had to offer sufficient housing alternatives before criminalizing homelessness.
The new ruling will have ramifications across the country.
On a single night in January 2022, there were at least 580,466 homeless people in the United States, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which is widely considered a conservative count.
Housing prices continue to outpace incomes, particularly in urban areas, leaving housing out of reach for many. The average hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom rental in 2023 was $27.58, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25.
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