ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The U.S. Supreme Court decision issued today in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson will have a devastating effect on people who experience homelessness, especially those with mental health conditions.
This decision makes needing a place to sleep and not being able to access it a crime. It punishes poverty and financial insecurity in a country where housing costs are increasingly out of reach for many. Being unhoused is overwhelmingly about an inability to access housing. Punishing poverty instead of working to lift people out of poverty is only the beginning of criminalizing the human condition.
While most unhoused people do not have serious mental health conditions, sleeping in public places increases the likelihood of depression, suicidal thoughts, violence and victimization, trauma, substance misuse, and traumatic brain injuries[1]. Targeting these individuals criminalizes living with a mental health condition. Because people experiencing mental health challenges are more likely to be poor[2] and to struggle to find housing because of discrimination[3], they face housing insecurity and homelessness. And with the Grants Pass decision, they will face escalating fines they can ill afford or face incarceration.
We live in a country where accessing affordable housing and the community supports and care that could actually prevent homelessness is challenging at best, impossible at worst. Blaming people for the results of this failure is cruel and unusual punishment.
Criminalizing poverty, homelessness, and mental illness is not a solution. Providing supportive housing, peer support services, and mental healthcare are evidence-based interventions that will prevent and end homelessness for those with mental health conditions. Leading with a criminal justice response has had dangerous and deadly consequences, with roughly a quarter of deaths from police encounters involving a person with a mental health condition.[4] Jailing these individuals does not solve the problem of homelessness as incarceration is destabilizing. It alienates people from supportive community and family connections, mental health treatment, and employment opportunities. It leaves them with a criminal record that will make it even more difficult to find employment and housing. Incarceration only further exacerbates the existing problems that cause housing insecurity and homelessness and makes them more intractable.
This decision will result in more individuals with mental health conditions being incarcerated and more communities enacting hostile responses to the human need for safe dwelling, including a place to sleep. It is cruel punishment and reflective of the anger that is misdirected toward people, instead of toward policies that fail to provide people with the basic conditions necessary for human health, mental health, and safety.
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[1] Padgett, D. K. (2020, October). Homelessness, housing instability and Mental Health: Making The Connections. BJPsych bulletin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525583/
[2] Knifton, L., & Inglis, G. (2020, October). Poverty and mental health: Policy, practice and research implications. BJPsych bulletin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525587/
[3] Rental housing discrimination on the basis of mental ... (n.d.). https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/mentaldisabilities-finalpaper.pdf
[4] DeGue, S., Fowler, K. A., & Calkins , C. (2016). Deaths Due to Use of Lethal Force by Law Enforcement. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 51(5).