U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear Boise homeless ruling. Here’s what it means for Sacramento
Sacramento police and sheriff’s deputies will continue to be barred from issuing citations to homeless people sleeping in public places for “unlawful camping” unless a shelter bed is available – for now.
The United States Supreme Court will not take up the city of Boise’s appeal in the controversial case of Martin v. Boise, which largely prohibits local governments from ticketing homeless people for illegal camping, filings showed Monday.
Shortly after September 2018, when the Boise ruling was first issued, the city and county stopped citing homeless people for unlawful camping on public property unless police could find them an open shelter bed, offer transportation to it, and the person rejected the offer.
Both the city and county of Sacramento in September of this year joined dozens of other cities and counties across the west asking for the Supreme Court to review the decision, arguing the ruling lacked clarity.
“Some would argue it’s very broad and would be difficult for a local county or jurisdiction to balance the needs of homeless residents and other residents,” county counsel Lisa Travis said.
One way to achieve that balance might be to approve a new policy outlining the specific locations and times of day a homeless person could sleep on public property. The Boise decision does not explicitly ban making these kinds of restrictions.
For example, the city of Sacramento allows homeless to sit or sleep on the ground outside City Hall at night, but not during the day.
To that effect, several cities and counties in the region – Yuba County, Sutter County, Woodland, Marysville, Placerville and more – had already begun passing emergency ordinances doing as much before the Supreme Court decision.
But as counties and cities start making policy adjustments, jurisdictions will have to brace themselves against new challenges under the Boise ruling.
“We’ll probably be sued over this,” Yuba County Board of Supervisors Chair Mike Leahy previously told The Sacramento Bee. “That’s just me being candid, but if you do nothing – I’m sorry, I just can’t do nothing.”
The potential for lawsuits “puts us at a disadvantage,” Travis said, but subsequent rulings from those legal challenges will ultimately give local governments more definition for how broad or narrow the Boise decision is.
“Just because the Supreme Court said, ‘We’re not hearing Boise’ doesn’t mean the issue is resolved and over,” Travis said. “It just means we’re at the next step.”
Sacramento County will now begin reviewing its local policies related to camping and enforcement to determine whether it’s complying with the Boise decision, Travis said.
“We think we are, and are confident we are, but we may need to do some tweaking,” Travis said.
Sacramento focuses on homeless shelters
Although the city of Sacramento signed on to the brief, Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said he would rather the city focus on opening shelter beds so it can enforce the camping ordinance, rather than fighting the Boise decision.
Steinberg, who also co-chairs a statewide homelessness commission, is pushing for the state to adopt a “legally-enforceable mandate,” which he formerly called a “right to shelter” mandate, he said.
If the state legislature adopted the mandate, it would require communities to have enough shelter beds or permanent housing units to accommodate their homeless populations. After a certain period of time, municipalities could face court action if they don’t comply, Steinberg said.
“Until we require what we all know is necessary, this isn’t going to get better statewide,” Steinberg said Monday. “The idea is to require what is now voluntary by government.”
Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who represents many homeless people, said Monday’s Boise news was “very positive” because it will force cities to create shelter beds and affordable housing units.
“(Municipalities) are not being thrown a lifeline by the Supreme Court,” Merin said. “That means that the cities and counties are going to have to address homelessness through means other than just using the police to move people from here to there.”
City officials have said they need to open more shelter beds partly because they will be able to again cite people for unlawful camping, as a city ordinance allows them to do. The city plans to open more than 500 new beds in 2020.
But it’s unclear when the city of Sacramento will have enough shelter beds available to allow police to start issuing citations for camping at a higher rate.
There are more than 5,570 homeless living in Sacramento County on any given night, mostly in the city, according to the most recent estimate this year.
New shelter beds open
The city earlier this year opened a shelter at the Capitol Park Hotel downtown, which as of Friday was sheltering and providing services to 114 people and had five beds available, according to a report by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, which runs the shelter.
But police who encounter homeless campers on patrol do not have the ability to directly place the homeless in Capitol Park, said Officer Karl Chan, police spokesman. The shelter is by “referral only,” meaning homeless individuals must be referred to the facility by a service organization.
That also means that the opening of the Capitol Park shelter does not make it easier for police to enforce the city’s anti-camping ordinance.
Steinberg said he did not know police could not directly place people in Capitol Park.
“If that’s the case, that’s something we need to fix,” Steinberg said. “The idea, of course, is that it is a referral system but that ought to mean quick referral.”
Police are able to suggest potential candidates to Sacramento Steps Forward, the homeless service organization, Chan said. Along with the police, the Downtown Partnership and SSF employees can identify homeless people living downtown to go in the shelter, said Lisa Bates, CEO of SSF.
The city is also planning a “referral only “ system for its 100-bed shelters planned to open this spring in Meadowview and under the W/X freeway. It’s unclear if police will be able to immediately place people in those. Steinberg said he would look in to it.
Officers have a list of other shelters run by organizations that they call to see if there is an open bed before issuing a citation. On any given night, city shelters are at capacity. Beds are sometimes available but are rejected by the homeless.
From August through Nov. 26, the department issued three misdemeanor citations for unlawful camping, Chan said.
Merin said some homeless refuse beds if they are referred to shelters that won’t let them bring their possessions, partners or pets.
