Local cities had urged the high court to allow more flexibility in clearing and managing encampments.
RVs, cars, trash and personal belongings are visible at the homeless encampment along Coyote Creek near Old Oakland Road on May 11, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. In a decision eagerly awaited by officials across California and the Bay Area, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that cities are free to clear homeless encampments even when those living on the street have nowhere else to go.
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom cheered the 6-3 decision, which saw the court’s conservative justices forming the majority. In the court’s decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the camping bans could stand, in part because the fines and jail time outlined in the no-camping ordinance are neither cruel nor unusual.
“Today’s disappointing Supreme Court ruling may have put false solutions back on the table,” Brett Andrews, interim chief executive of the Bay Area homelessness solutions nonprofit All Home, said in a statement. In a statement on Friday, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said that even in the wake of the favorable ruling, the city “will continue to take a compassionate, services-first approach to addressing our homelessness crisis.”
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