In a 6-3 decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Johnson v Grants Pass (the decision out of Oregon that affirmed Martin v Boise). This decision now takes the restraint off of cities that want to use law enforcement and No Camping statutes/ordinances as a prominent tool in their homeless policy, even when no shelter space is available to accommodate them, as is the case in Spokane today. Homeless service providers and outreach workers will need to take this new situation into consideration in planning their services. While the City of Spokane publicly maintains that they are not conducting law enforcement sweeps of homeless camps, what they ARE conducting is "Code Enforcement Outreach" (usually accompanied by law enforcement) to "clean up" camps. When you have to use nomenclature to hide what you're doing, your policy has a serious problem, people quicly figure out what's happening, and your credibility with the people you actually need to implement your policy (actual homeless service providers) is quickly eroded. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, you look foolishg claiming it's just a platypus. And all those displaced "platypus" are now showing up in neighborhoods and parks throughout our community, resulting in more police calls. Moving forward, there will be a lot of ink spilt over this return to this ineffecctive past policy of playing "homeless wack-a-mole" (see this quick piece from Community Solutions), but for now we need to encourage our local leadership toward better solutions and not a return to the failed policies of the past. More later. Probably much more, as events unfold.
Yours for the Shalom of Our Community,
Maurice Smith