WASHINGTON.’The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that city officials can prohibit homeless people from sleeping outdoors in areas of the West Coast where shelter space is lacking.
The case is the most important to come before the high court in decades on the issue and comes at a time when a growing number of people in the United States do not have a permanent place to live.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court that found the ban on sleeping outdoors amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
A bipartisan group of leaders had argued that the ruling made it harder for them to manage open-air encampments that are encroaching on sidewalks and other public spaces in nine Western states. That includes California, which is home to a third of the country’s homeless population.
Source: Wolfgang van de Rydt from Pixabay
