Can cities fine unhoused people for sleeping outside?
Post Reports22 Apr 2024

Can cities fine unhoused people for sleeping outside?

Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most significant legal challenge to the rights of unhoused people in decades. On “Post Reports,” we hear from a correspondent who visited the city at the center of the debate.


Read more:


In the small city of Grants Pass, Ore., hundreds of people are living outside, with many camping in the public parks. The anti-camping laws in Grants Pass allow the city to fine those living in public spaces. But unhoused people in the city say that the fines are a violation of the Eighth Amendment and amount to cruel and unusual punishment, since the city has no homeless shelters and they have nowhere else to go.


“The more I've been out here, the more angry I get, because I've noticed that they're trying to push us out altogether,” said Laura Gutowski, who has been unhoused since 2021. “They're just trying to push, push, push until we give up and say, ‘Fine, I'll leave town.’”


Reis Thebault is The Post’s West Coast correspondent and traveled to Grants Pass to talk with unhoused people at the center of the case.


“If the Supreme Court were to agree with the 9th Circuit, then cities across the country would find their hands tied as they work to address the urgent homelessness crisis,” argues Theane Evangelis, the lead attorney for Grants Pass.


Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks also to Ann Marimow.


Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1939)

Goodbye from "Post Reports"

Goodbye from "Post Reports"

Just over seven years ago, we launched this daily news podcast from The Washington Post.Our goal was to bring you inside our newsroom, sharing our reporting with listeners to help make sense of what w...

6 Feb 8min

A surprise Kennedy Center makeover

A surprise Kennedy Center makeover

In his second term, President Donald Trump has gone on a mission to reinvent the Kennedy Center, the beloved performing arts venue in Washington, D.C.Trump promised to overhaul the center’s programmin...

3 Feb 18min

A teddy bear, an ice skate: What remains from last year's deadly D.C. plane crash

A teddy bear, an ice skate: What remains from last year's deadly D.C. plane crash

In late January of last year, an American Eagle flight and a U.S. Army helicopter collided above the Potomac River, killing everyone aboard both aircraft. It was the deadliest flight disaster in the U...

2 Feb 15min

Jason Rezaian, Iran and the costs of press freedom

Jason Rezaian, Iran and the costs of press freedom

Ten years ago this month, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was freed from Iran’s Evin prison. He and his wife, Yeganeh, had been arrested at their home in Tehran and falsely accused of espiona...

31 Jan 37min

Is Minneapolis a turning point in Trump's presidency?

Is Minneapolis a turning point in Trump's presidency?

Since the killing of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota, President Donald Trump and his administration are feeling the pressure — not only from Democrats, but also from members ...

30 Jan 35min

The quest to ‘destructively scan’ all the world’s books

The quest to ‘destructively scan’ all the world’s books

In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet. It was code-named Project Panama, and internal documents filed in cour...

29 Jan 27min

Why smaller houses can make us happier

Why smaller houses can make us happier

Houses in the United States keep getting bigger, but the people in bigger houses aren’t necessarily happier. Bigger homes often come with higher costs and more maintenance and can pull people further ...

28 Jan 20min

How Kristi Noem transformed immigration enforcement

How Kristi Noem transformed immigration enforcement

After both Renée Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by Department of Homeland Security officers in Minneapolis this month, the story from the agency’s secretary, Kristi L. Noem, was that these ...

27 Jan 24min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

aftonbladet-krim
svenska-fall
motiv
p3-krim
aftonbladet-daily
flashback-forever
spar
rss-sanning-konsekvens
rss-expressen-dok
rss-krimreportrarna
rss-aftonbladet-krim
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-frandfors-horna
svd-ledarredaktionen
rss-flodet
rss-svalan-krim
krimmagasinet
dagens-eko
spotlight
olyckan-inifran