this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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The scenes were emblematic of the crisis gripping the small, Oregon mountain town of Grants Pass, where a fierce fight over park space has become a battleground for a much larger, national debate on homelessness that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The town’s case, set to be heard April 22, has broad implications for how not only Grants Pass, but communities nationwide address homelessness, including whether they can fine or jail people for camping in public. It has made the town of 40,000 the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis, and further fueled the debate over how to deal with it.

“I certainly wish this wasn’t what my town was known for,” Mayor Sara Bristol told The Associated Press last month. “It’s not the reason why I became mayor. And yet it has dominated every single thing that I’ve done for the last 3 1/2 years.”

Officials across the political spectrum — from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in California, which has nearly 30% of the nation’s homeless population, to a group of 22 conservative-led states — have filed briefs in the case, saying lower court rulings have hamstrung their ability to deal with encampments.

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[–] Neato@ttrpg.network 121 points 7 months ago (36 children)

What the fuck? They're homeless. Sleeping outside is their only option. Shelters are often dangerous, very restrictive on who they let in and there aren't anywhere near enough of them in the places they need to be.

Sleeping in public places isn't a fucking crime. It's not like they'd choose the park over an apartment if they had one.

[–] PoopDelivery@sh.itjust.works 73 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Yes, but if it's criminalized you get to remove the eyesore of struggling poor people with the added benefit of fines and imprisonment.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 69 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Also prisoners are slave labor thanks to the 13th amendment so if you can take people off the street and chuck them in jail, you get free labor. Yay capitalism. /s

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[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

How effective do they expect fining homeless people to be?

[–] PoopDelivery@sh.itjust.works 17 points 7 months ago

Can't pay the fine, believe it or not, jail.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

Extremely effective. It's not about housing them...

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[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago

Not to mention you get kicked out of the shelter in the morning and can’t return until the evening, assuming you’re back in time to get a bed.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Also a lot of them are ran by Christians. Can't imagine they treat gay people equally

[–] Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 7 months ago

After the way I was treated today, I can imagine much worse than "not equally".

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[–] PoopDelivery@sh.itjust.works 56 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's getting to the point that you can't sleep anywhere legally unless you're paying someone for the space you're occupying. Most of the cities near me have destroyed the woods that homeless people lived in, forcing them to move and leaving behind a weird ass looking stand of trees.

I used to work with homeless people and as much as being outside sucks, shelters can be worse. We had people in their 70s who went to shelters and slept on the floor, their heads almost touching their neighbors. They had their meds stolen and had to sleep on top of their belongings to keep them safe. A lot of people chose to sleep outside in the summer because they felt safer.

[–] mojo_raisin@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

It’s getting to the point that you can’t sleep anywhere legally unless you’re paying someone for the space you’re occupying.

This is the point of enclosure and it's been true for hundreds of years now. This is the concept the stole the planet from the people.

[–] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 49 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 7 months ago

No, no, no. We wouldn't think of fining people for existing. Just for existing while poor.

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[–] FirstCircle@lemmy.ml 39 points 7 months ago (13 children)

You can be sure that these jailed homeless people will end up being forced into labor - enslaved - because you can't let dirt-cheap labor go to waste, and you can't let a poor person look like they're getting something for nothing - mooching, free-riding - even if it's not their choice. Handouts are legitimately only for the rich and their corporations after all. If someone's fined+jailed and won't work for some capitalist exploiter, what will be done? I would guess some kind of torture will be employed to change their minds, but wouldn't be surprised if they're simply executed, especially if they're non-white.

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 32 points 7 months ago
[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like we’re running out of orphans for the orphan-crushing machine.

Reference

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

Oh no they still work. They just can't afford to live in a building.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 27 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I didn't think they'd actually start setting up Sanctuary Districts in 2024, but it looks like that's their eventual goal...

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bell_Riots

Too bad we don't have a Gabriel Bell.

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[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 24 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This lawsuit is idiotic considering the federal courts already ruled that you can't apply penalties against sleeping outside unless there are enough shelter beds for everyone. That ruling was in our federal district covering Oregon...

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[–] graycube@kbin.social 23 points 7 months ago

Fines will teach those people who have no money to get more money.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Open up the governor's mansion so they can sleep indoors

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[–] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 22 points 7 months ago

We keep eroding the social support network and complain about the homeless problem.

We keep changing the environment and complain about the new weather.

This all ends… so well.

[–] credo@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago (7 children)

The federal government needs to take over homeless support. Establish federally managed shelters.

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm wary about this being the solution. I mean... [Gestures wildly at the federal government] Just wait until the republicans get a supermajority again and see what they do with camps full of homeless people under federal control.

[–] credo@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago

Yeah, but giving the homeless bus tickets to another state isn’t the answer either. I know that wasn’t referenced earlier- but it happens. Without federal level support, Republicans’ solution is to remove their burdens to someone else’s plate. Then they unironically point at the “failures” of Democratic states, “look at all the encampments.”

Making homelessness illegal is just another arrow in their quiver towards the same goal (target).

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[–] Veraxus@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

"Can blood be squeezed from a stone? A rural Oregon city asks the US Council of Monarchs."

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 7 months ago

With this lineup, the SC is going to make execution the punishment for not having gainful employment. Only half sarcastic.

[–] ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I’d have to laugh if the people backing this proposed law become homeless after it is passed.

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[–] Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Yall call this civilization? What a joke.

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yes, let's waste money on fining people, who will tell you they have nothing, but it's no problem, because you will get them sooner or later once you have their address... Oh.

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[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

have filed briefs in the case, saying lower court rulings have hamstrung their ability to deal with encampments.

Think it's more about this, than actually collecting fines from homeless people that have no money.

[–] uis@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

You know, after Putin will be finally sent to Hauge(or die) Russia can solve its demographic problem(you know, hundreds of thousands people becoming fertilizer) by simply making flying to Russia free.

Or that is just another stupid idea and we should focus on education, healthcare, pensions, welfare and public transport instead. This should be even easier and have bigger results.

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