Can a city make it a criminal offense to sleep outside, if there are no shelters or other places for homeless people to sleep inside? That’s the issue in City of Boise v. Martin, a case that the Supreme Court […]
Category: Criminalization
Statement from the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Response to the White House Council of Economic Advisers’ Report on Homelessness
The White House Council of Economic Advisers’ recent report, “The State of Homelessness in America” reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of homelessness, the programs that end homelessness, and the people who experience it. The authors cast doubts, refute progress, and offer […]
Court Says Cities Can’t Criminalize Sleeping Outside Absent Other Housing or Shelter Options
Written by Eric Tars, Senior Attorney, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Last Tuesday, September 4, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that people experiencing homelessness cannot be punished for sleeping outside in the absence of adequate alternatives. The […]
Time for Change: Findings from the SPARC Study on Race and Homelessness
This guest post was written by Jeffrey Olivet and Marc Dones, lead authors of Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities Phase One Report. In recent years, an increasingly urgent dialogue has emerged around race and equity in America. But that dialogue has generally overlooked […]
Homelessness and Incarceration Are Intimately Linked. New Federal Funding is Available to Reduce the Harm of Both.
Homelessness is intimately linked with the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Almost 50,000 people a year enter homeless shelters immediately after exiting incarceration. And people returning from jail or prison face barriers to finding stable housing and employment due to […]