Earlier this year, the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, told the court it should be allowed to clear homeless encampments whenever it wants — even if there’s nowhere else for unhoused people to go.
That’s currently prohibited by a lower court decision that found doing so amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
No matter how the justices rule, Reno deputy city attorney Brian Sooudi is expecting the case to have a big impact.
“It will be a monumental decision, because it will truly be the first Supreme Court decision regarding homelessness in our country,” he said.
The court could decide to keep things as they are. But activists hope it’ll strengthen legal protections for unhoused people.
Justices could also side with local and state governments that want more leeway to clear encampments.
Even if that were to happen, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said his office won’t change how it enforces a recent ban on camping near the Truckee River, sleeping in cars, and other activities related to homelessness.
“Let’s just say they eradicate it, and they just get rid of it,” he said. “We’re not going to go hardcore.”
Balaam stressed his deputies don’t want to arrest people for homelessness, and officials from Reno and Sparks made similar promises. Instead, they said they’d rather help people get off the street.
But they also won’t need to change their approach because they can already place people in nearly 600 beds at the Cares Campus. The county built its mega-shelter to try and make sure it would never run out of capacity in the first place.
Sparks city attorney Wes Duncan said that’s allowed local officials to enforce these ordinances without violating case law.
“The Cares Campus was a game changer,” he said. “It provides temporary shelter, to try to get as many people off the streets as we can.”
Over the last month, the county-run shelter has averaged 11 open beds each night. And officials from all three local jurisdictions say law enforcement agencies check the capacity before they displace anyone with an enforcement action.
Meanwhile, Balaam said his office prioritizes compassion in its approach to dealing with unhoused people.
And he pointed out that the office of sheriff is an elected position. So if community members think he’s doing a bad job, they can always vote for someone else.
“If I do wrong, I expect you to call me out in public,” he said.
