We can solve homelessness: but first, do no harm

By TINISCH HOLLINS
Guest Columnist

California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered state officials to dismantle homeless encampments across the state. The decision comes weeks after the Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows states to limit the rights of homeless people.

The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, focused on Grants Pass, Ore., where the city fined homeless people for sleeping on public land. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Grants Pass, giving cities and states the green light to fine or arrest homeless people without any obligation to address the underlying conditions that made them homeless. This ruling will exacerbate a crisis that city governments and residents are desperate to solve.

City governments tend to think of homelessness as a problem to be solved by law enforcement. A survey of mayors of the 100 largest U.S. cities found that it’s more common for police departments to influence homelessness policy than housing authorities or health agencies.

Criminalizing homelessness doesn’t help solve it. It’s been tried over and over. Currently, all but two states have anti-homeless laws. Some ban sleeping in public, while others prohibit loitering or sleeping in vehicles.

These laws aren’t working. Penalizing people who are sleeping outside because they have nowhere to go leaves them, still, with nowhere to go and worse off than before.

A 2024 survey found that after cities cleared encampments or issued tickets, 76 percent of homeless people lost ID cards or birth certificates, while 83 percent of community leaders surveyed said sweeps caused people to end up with criminal records. Lacking ID can make it difficult to access counseling or medical help, while criminal charges make it harder to get housing or a job.

Forcing homeless people into the criminal justice system is counterproductive, since homelessness is often a result of poor re-entry infrastructure for the previously incarcerated. In California, more than 80 percent of unsheltered homeless people report spending at least one night in jail over the last six months, and average 42 contacts with police each year.

Communities should focus on improving re-entry, rather than putting at-risk individuals back in the situations that helped make them homeless.

Making homelessness a crime also costs more than providing housing. One report found that counties in central Florida shelled out $31,065 per homeless person per year to arrest, incarcerate, or hospitalize them. That’s three times more than it would’ve cost to provide those individuals with supportive housing for the year.

Nationwide, homelessness increased 12 percent from 2022 to 2023, to the highest rate on record. Yet it isn’t increasing everywhere. In some places, it’s declined nearly to eradication. These communities are tackling homelessness the right way.

In Sacramento County, officials work to collect data on every unsheltered person that includes their name, age, health problems, and history with homelessness. Keeping the data updated monthly will allow the organizations involved to match people with housing and support services based on their needs and make sure no one falls through the cracks.

The approach is making a difference. According to the county’s Point-in-Time count, there were 29 percent fewer people experiencing homelessness in 2024 compared to 2022.

To solve homelessness, we need to go further. Law enforcement can’t build houses. Cities need to roll back ineffective laws that turn our neighbors into criminals – and invest in housing and infrastructure that provides immediate and long-term support to people experiencing homelessness.

After the Supreme Court ruling, expect more officials to follow in Governor Newsom’s footsteps. Cities must avoid over-policing people who need support the most.

Tinisch Hollins is the executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice.