Last Friday’s Supreme Court decision on Johnson v. Grants Pass will allow state and local governments to punish and prosecute people experiencing homelessness when they are resting in public because they have nowhere else to go.
For forty years, East Bay Housing Organizations has been working to produce, preserve, and protect affordable housing opportunities for low-income communities in the East Bay.
We know from decades of medical, policy, and social science research that this decision to criminalize some of the most vulnerable members of our community will only make homelessness worse. A recent study conducted by the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC), in partnership with the Housing Narrative Lab, found that 7 out 10 adults nationwide reject jailing, ticketing and fining people who have nowhere else to go. This decision by the Supreme Court goes against proven research and does not align with the views of the public.
EBHO condemns this SCOTUS decision. We stand with our members and partners as we call on local and state government leaders to reject this decision, and instead continue to invest in affordable housing for all. We know that is the only real and sustainable solution to ending homelessness.
Luckily, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority voted unanimously last Wednesday to put a $20 billion affordable housing bond measure on the November ballot of all Bay Area counties, which would provide funding to build thousands of new affordable homes and house hundreds of thousands of our neighbors.
This SCOTUS decision will not distract us from the work ahead.
We will continue to fight for housing justice for all.
— The East Bay Housing Organizations Team