Homeless shelter managers and support workers say a major U.S. Supreme Court case could have significant implications here in Maine.
Justices will soon decide whether the small Oregon city of Grants Pass enacted a “cruel and unusual” punishment when it fined and sometimes jailed hundreds of people sleeping outside, though the city had no shelter space available for those individuals. That would constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Though a lower court ruled the city’s camping ordinance unenforceable in 2022, during oral arguments Monday, a few conservative justices on the Supreme Court indicated they may take a different view. Decisions on whether homeless individuals can be fined or jailed for sleeping on public land should be up to individual cities and towns, several justices argued.
That contention will sound familiar here in Maine, where heated debates around the efficacy and humanity of sweeping homeless encampments have played out in the last year, especially in Bangor and Portland. Despite advocacy from the ACLU of Maine and homeless shelter leaders, public safety concerns about large encampments ended up killing a Portland proposal that would have paused these sweeps this past winter.
A final decision from the Supreme Court is not expected until June, but advocates here say they have one eye on the case and hope to see that lower court decision affirmed.
“The [lower court] had it right,” Terence Miller, director of advocacy at Portland-based shelter Preble Street, said. “To criminalize sleeping outside with fines or arrest strikes me as inhuman.”
Until access to shelters, rental assistance programs and affordable housing is expanded, Miller said many people will have no other option but to sleep outside. Nearly 300 people were found to be sleeping outside in Maine during last year’s annual point-in-time count, according to the Maine state housing authority.
“We talk about fines and jails which are so expensive, instead of returning that investment in shelters and support services. That just needs to be reversed,” Miller said.
The city of Portland, where dozens came together Monday to rally in support of those experiencing homelessness, is considering adding 50 more beds to its homeless service center as shelters near capacity, Miller said. It’s still not enough, he added.
Shelters could soon be in short supply in Bangor, too, as state lawmakers and local officials continue to pass the buck over who should save the Hope House Health and Living Center, the city’s low-barrier homeless shelter. This case underscores both the plight of people experiencing homelessness, advocates say, and the need for sustainable investments in such shelters.
“If they were fully and consistently funded, the question at hand before the Supreme Court would not need to be answered,” Lori Dwyer, president and CEO of Penobscot Community Health Center, which operates Hope House, said.
A Supreme Court decision upholding Grants Pass’ camping ban could galvanize Maine cities to treat homelessness with incarceration, Miller and other advocates fear.
“Every community is different, and I have to imagine that certain places might feel more empowered to have a ban like that,” Abigail Smallwood, a homelessness services coordinator in York County, said.
In that case, Smallwood said she and other homelessness service providers hope the Legislature would take up the issue and decide on whether to allow camping bans or sweeps for itself. A carceral response to homelessness can set those experiencing it back from finding permanent housing, she said.
“It makes the problem worse. If someone has a criminal record, it’s going to make it that much harder for them to find housing,” Smallwood said. “No one’s saying encampments are the solution. But sweeping them also isn’t the solution.”
