Supreme Court case has big implications for homeless people

Supreme Court case has big implications for homeless people / NJ Spotlight / June 3, 2024

By Bobby Brier

In late April, Heriberto Molina Jr. began staying at a motel in Atlantic County. His mother, Molina said, kicked him out of her house in Hammonton following a dispute. About a month later, he was still in the motel, hoping to find a one-bedroom apartment.

“I’m so old to be going through this,” said Molina, 40, who grew up in Vineland.

Molina was among several people facing housing instability who received assistance with medical care, substance use, housing and other services at a resource fair held recently in the parking lot of the opens in a new windowHammonton Family Success Center, a neighborhood gathering place that is part of AtlantiCare Behavioral Health.

The event included the distribution of harm reduction supplies for people battling drug addiction and blood pressure screenings. And it was necessary, advocates said, because the town, like many others, lacks resources for people who are homeless or who are at risk of becoming homeless.

Hammonton has a law that opens in a new windowdoes not allow people to sleep or camp on streets, sidewalks or in public parks at any time. Violators face a fine of up to $1,000 or 90 days in prison, among other penalties.

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on a case that could allow towns and cities across the country to create and enforce similar laws.

Mayor: Law protects everyone

“The ordinance is in place to protect the homeless or residents that don’t have shelter with the winter coming and the residents of the town of Hammonton,” Steve DiDonato, mayor of Hammonton, said in a recent interview with NJ Spotlight News. “It was [meant] to protect everyone, all of our citizens.”

When a Code Blue alert is issued by Atlantic County, Hammonton police officers will go out and let homeless people know of the impending weather while offering them assistance, including bus tickets, to get to shelters in Vineland and Atlantic City, according to DiDonato.

opens in a new windowWell over 400 people were homeless in Atlantic County on a single night in late January 2023, according to a summary of NJ Counts, the state’s annual point-in-time homlessness count, which also tallied opens in a new window10,267 people statewide, according to a summary of that count.

‘If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, this gives license to localities to pass laws that essentially forbid homeless people from existing within a town’s borders.’

— Kathryn Sabbeth, Rutgers Law School

In New Jersey, a opens in a new windowCode Blue alert is declared when temperatures drop below freezing and weather conditions pose a danger to homeless people, according to Legal Services of New Jersey, a nonprofit offering free legal assistance to low-income people. These alerts allow city and county officials to take people who are homeless to warming centers at local shelters and other agencies. Shelters make additional beds and space available until conditions improve and the alert is called off.

DiDonato also noted that police officers in Hammonton have not issued any summons under the ordinance since it was amended and enacted last September.

‘Disappointing’

But faith leaders and housing advocates, including Tiffany Travia, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Hammonton, remain concerned about the law and expected the town to be more willing to help people.

“It’s disappointing,” Travia said of the ordinance. “We could do better and we should do better.”

Hammonton is not the only town in South Jersey that has laws prohibiting people from sleeping on streets, sidewalks or in public parks. In opens in a new windowMiddle Township in Cape May County, a person convicted of violating its law can be fined up to $2,000 or be incarcerated for 90 days. And in opens in a new windowEgg Harbor Township, violators of a similar measure face a fine between $100 to $2,000 or up to 90 days in jail.

“These towns are either intentionally, or by effect, saying we don’t want within our borders, people who don’t have private property in which to sleep,” said Kathryn Sabbeth, a professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark. “Basically, ‘we don’t want unsheltered people within our borders,’” she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling later this month in the legal test of such laws, opens in a new windowCity of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The case has opens in a new windowsweeping implications for how cities across the country address homelessness and is opens in a new windowthe most consequential case in decades concerning the rights of homeless people.

Grants Pass v. Johnson

A ruling upholding the ordinance in place in Grants Pass, Oregon would make it easier for communities across the nation to clear out tent encampments, opens in a new windoweven if no available housing or shelter exists. In late April, the court heard oral arguments on the case, with opens in a new windowa majority of the justices appearing to side with the city.

“If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, this gives license to localities to pass laws that essentially forbid homeless people from existing within a town’s borders,” said Sabbeth of Rutgers Law. This is troubling on “multiple levels” because if people are living on the street, they are not in a position to pay fines and going to jail is not going to help them get money to pay those fines, she added.

“Criminalizing homelessness just makes life that much more difficult for folks who are already trying to survive under difficult circumstances,” Sabbeth said.

In Hammonton, Travia said she would like to see the town create “safe spaces” for people experiencing homelessness, instead of just trying to move them out of the area.

“I love this town. I’ve grown up in this town. And I would hope we would be a better town in that we would care for all people, not just people who look and think and act like us,” Travia said.