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Cities have asked the high court to re-examine Martin v. City of Boise and issue of criminalizing homelessness An Idaho lawsuit concerning how cities across the West enforce laws about sleeping in public?potentially changing how they treat their homeless populations?may be making its way to the Supreme Court.
The high court is currently weighing an appeal to the case of Martin v. City of Boise, which emerged in 2009 when Robert Martin and five other homeless individuals challenged the Idaho city?s ability to fine them for violating an anti-camping ordinance. According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the case from this past April, cities can?t arrest or punish people for sleeping on public property unless they provide adequate and relatively accessible indoor accommodations. The ruling means that unless there is enough shelter space for the homeless population of a city such as Seattle or San Francisco, city officials can?t enforce anti-vagrancy laws or prohibitions against camping in public parks or sidewalks. The court can?t force cities to build adequate shelter space or homeless housing, but it can make it unconstitutional for them to criminalize homelessness until that burden has been met.
Many cities, including Los Angeles, filed briefs asking the Supreme Court to rule on the case.
After the Ninth Circuit decision was announced, Eve Garrow, a homelessness policy analyst and advocat...