Homelessness advocates react to new SCOTUS ruling

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - A Supreme Court ruling allows cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places. While no local cities have announced plans to ban sleeping outside, advocates say the ruling is devastating to hundreds of thousands of Americans.

"We are in crisis mode, not a mild or moderate crisis mode, but a severe crisis mode," said Kathy Smith, who has been an advocate for the unhoused population in Springfield for more than two decades. "It makes absolutely no sense to fine people who are sleeping in the streets. They have no money."

In 2023, 653,104 people were found to be homeless on any given day. That number is 12% higher than the same data from 2022, which is traced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This decision applies even to areas that don't have any shelter resources.

"IT blatantly ignores compelling evidence that penalizing homeless folks with fines, arrests, and incarceration has been documented to not work" said Nick Dodson, a Housing Navigator for the Heartland Continuum of Care. "Fining people that are already experiencing poverty is not a very efficient use of our resources. It's 40 to $50,000 a year to incarcerate someone, or, 15 to $20,000, to put someone into housing with social support services."

Both Smith and Dodson said enforcing a measure like this would put more strain on already overworked first responders. They said more needs to be done with connect with people and solve the root cause of homelessness, instead of penalizing it.

"It's a complex issue, and we need to remember that each one of us has only a few mistakes, bad accidents, hospital bills, or catastrophic events away from home insecurity," said Dodson. "I think it's a huge step back to say the least."