Dickens responds to SCOTUS ruling on outdoor sleeping bans: 'Falling on hard times is not a crime'
ATLANTA - Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has responded to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling allowing cities to punish people for sleeping outside amid what some scholars and experts call a homelessness crisis in the country.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court reversed a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found outdoor sleeping bans amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
"Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it," Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion stated. "The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people and in their place dictate this Nation’s homelessness policy."
"Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. For some people, sleeping outside is their only option," Justice Sonia Sotomayor countered in her dissent. "The City of Grants Pass jails and fines those people for sleeping anywhere in public at any time, including in their cars, if they use as little as a blanket to keep warm or a rolled-up shirt as a pillow. For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional. Punishing people for their status is ‘cruel and unusual’ under the Eighth Amendment."
The ruling comes as record numbers of people are without a permanent place to live. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. jumped 12 percent—the largest yearly increase since the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) started collecting data in 2007, according to a 2024 article published by the Haravard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
On any given night, more than 600,000 people are homeless, according to U.S. government estimates.
Homelessness continues to be a complex problem for public officials. Causes vary from financial hardship to income inequality, substance abuse, lack of affordable housing, and so much more.
In a statement, Dickens highlighted the efforts Atlanta has made to find solutions for people without housing.
"Our Administration has been focused on housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness since day one. Falling on hard times is not a crime," the mayor's statement reads. "Since taking office we've humanely relocated hundreds of individuals from encampments throughout the city. Those folks are now working their way back to self-sufficiency. We have shown that resources are better spent on initiatives like The Melody and the Ralph David House to provide families a safe and secure place to call home—and that is exactly what our Administration will continue to do."
Members of the Concerned Black Clergy camped outside local churches to gain awareness on the growing homeless situation in metro Atlanta as well as what they say is a lack of affordable housing.
Earlier this year, Mayor Dickens released a "long-term" plan to end homelessness in Atlanta, allocating $4.6 million to help the city's unhoused population.
When it comes to Atlanta, the city is home to over a quarter of the state’s homeless population, totaling nearly 10,000. That's according to the Atlanta Mission.
According to national statistics, roughly 8 percent of homeless people in America are military veterans. America’s youth accounts for about 50,000 of its homeless and over 200,000 homeless people in the United States are families with children.