DeepSummary
The episode discusses an upcoming Supreme Court case, City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which will rule on whether cities can fine, jail, or ticket homeless individuals for sleeping or camping in public spaces when they have nowhere else to go. It explores the competing interests of local governments wanting to maintain public order and the rights of the unhoused.
The episode examines the rise in homelessness since the 1980s, which has been driven largely by a lack of affordable housing, particularly in cities with high housing costs. It challenges the notion that homelessness is primarily caused by personal factors like drug addiction or mental health issues.
The episode features an interview with Atlantic writer Jerusalem Demsas, who argues that criminalizing homelessness does not solve the underlying problem of housing scarcity. She discusses the potential impact of the Supreme Court's ruling and suggests that policymakers should focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing to address homelessness.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The upcoming Supreme Court case City of Grants Pass v. Johnson will rule on whether cities can criminalize homeless individuals for sleeping in public when they have no alternative shelter.
- Homelessness has increased significantly since the 1980s, largely driven by a lack of affordable housing in major cities.
- Criminalizing homelessness by fining or jailing individuals who sleep in public spaces does not address the root cause, which is a shortage of affordable housing.
- There is a tension between local governments' desire to maintain public order and the rights of the unhoused who have no alternative place to sleep.
- Policies that focus solely on moving homeless individuals without providing housing solutions are costly and ineffective in solving the underlying problem.
- Increasing the supply of affordable housing is seen as a key solution to reducing homelessness, but implementing such policies has been politically challenging.
- The episode challenges the notion that homelessness is primarily caused by personal factors like drug addiction or mental health issues, and instead emphasizes structural factors like housing affordability.
- The Supreme Court's ruling could either empower cities to criminalize homelessness further or reinforce the need for alternative housing solutions, with significant implications for the unhoused population.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “If you keep it focused on order, you just end up moving homeless people around. Maybe you move them to jail. You know, maybe you move them to, you know, another city. Maybe you are able to incentivize more of them to live in cars and be better at evading if they're able to get there. And some people might count that as a win if you just end up not having to see these encampments everywhere. But to me, that's a lot, a lot, a lot of money, a lot of public money spent on not solving a problem.“ by Jerusalem Dempsis
- “I mean, homelessness has skyrocketed since the eighties. Half a million people, roughly are homeless on a given night. When they do the point in time count to figure out how many people are homeless in America, what is the.“ by Jerusalem Dempsis
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Episode Information
Radio Atlantic
The Atlantic
6/6/24
Later this summer, the Supreme Court will rule on City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, one of the most important cases on homelessness to come up in a long time. The court will rule on whether someone can be fined, jailed, or ticketed for sleeping or camping in a public space when they’re homeless and have nowhere else to go.
We talk to Atlantic writer and Good on Paper host Jerusalem Demsas about the case and what it may or may not solve. Homelessness has exploded since the 1980s, mostly in cities where housing costs have gone up. Criminalizing—or not criminalizing—people sleeping in public does not change the fact that many people have no other option, and that people who do have places to sleep can’t help but notice their cities have a huge homelessness problem.
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