US Supreme Court allows cities to ban homeless camps

Post by manchmalscott » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 2:02 AM UTC

toast0 wrote: post #173

nimbius wrote: post #45

I feel like the outcome of this is unilaterally bad. Most homeless are elderly and mentally Ill. The solutions are institutionalization and retirement housing/pensions but no state did this after Reagan and instead made homelessness an issue to ignore. Faced with the ability to legally incarcerate nearly 600,000 people, states likely won't hesitate to do just that without a second thought. For a country that prides i…

I don't think it's a good plan, but if you incarcerate the homeless, you're housing them and meeting their basic needs. At least until the prisons become overcrowded. There's lots of reasons why it's not a good solution, but having encampments in public parks isn't a good solution either. But I think this ruling allows governments to disrupt encampments without providing shelter or incarceration. Forcing people to di…

Post by rolph » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 2:08 AM UTC

matrix87 wrote: post #181

nimbius wrote: post #45

I feel like the outcome of this is unilaterally bad. Most homeless are elderly and mentally Ill. The solutions are institutionalization and retirement housing/pensions but no state did this after Reagan and instead made homelessness an issue to ignore. Faced with the ability to legally incarcerate nearly 600,000 people, states likely won't hesitate to do just that without a second thought. For a country that prides i…

I don't think they're going to hunt them down like the gestapo If the homeless just kept to themselves and weren't actively causing public disturbances in places like SF, this wouldn't be an issue And it's an issue that affects some municipalities more than others. If a horde of homeless just show up in SF one day and strain infrastructure, I don't think it's unreasonable for SF to be able to do something about that

Post by asdff » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 2:40 AM UTC

squigz wrote: post #196

asdff wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, most cities with a homeless crisis today don't exactly have the spare jail capacity to actually enforce anything like that, so I think giving some tools where you can be pragmatic about where an issue is presently taking place while you can attempt to solve it on the back end is useful. My city has already passed laws about homeless camps near dangerous intersections for pedestrians who have to step into the st…

> most cities with a homeless crisis today don't exactly have the spare jail capacity to actually enforce anything like that I've never heard of a jail capacity shortage in America, so could someone provide some data on this?

Post by pandaman » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 2:43 AM UTC

underlipton wrote: post #214

pandaman wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Why do many people quote it as if something profound here (there are at least half a dozen of instances of this quote by different authors and some just repeat it in multiple threads)? This is the essential rule of law: nobody is above it. It appears that people posting this quote believe that the law should be different for different people? I mean, the original author was a monarchist and did not believe a dem…

Because a hypothetical opposite - “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to use money to improve their dwelling, to purchase unnecessary luxury goods, and to pay for basic goods a rate commensurate with their means” - does not exist. The laws that "nobody is above" punish poverty, but not wealth. That's the distinction.

Post by corinroyal » Sat, Jun 29, 2024, 3:36 AM UTC

diogenescynic wrote: post #180

pseudalopex wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most homeless are elderly and mentally Ill. The solutions are institutionalization and retirement housing/pensions but no state did this after Reagan and instead made homelessness an issue to ignore. Most homeless people are working age and homeless under a year. Costs of living are the strongest correlates of homelessness rates.

>Costs of living are the strongest correlates of homelessness rates. I suspect this is strongly skewed by half of all homeless living in California where they seem to be mostly from out of state and coming here for the weather, lenient drug laws, and many social benefits. You can just ask them and they will tell you--most of them are from red states where they'd be locked up for what they do here. As such, they came…