Demonstrators from across the country listened to speakers that included the Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) and Rev. William J. Barber II during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the debate on criminalizing homelessness unfolded inside on April 25, 2024. Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (third from right), Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) (2nd from right) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) (far right) participated.
Photo from Rep. Cori Bush’s Instagram
It’s a scene that plays out far too often across America — people living on the streets, with nowhere to call home, face fines, tickets, and even jail time simply for existing in public spaces. This cruel reality was at the heart of a recent protest at the steps of the Supreme Court, where advocates demanded an end to the criminalization of homelessness.
Rev. William J. Barber II, president of Repairers of the Breach, an organization that builds and supports moral movements for social change, Congresswoman Cori Bush of Missouri and several other groups that advocate for unhoused people, rallied outside the court, raising the cry for “Housing, Not Handcuffs.”
“Instead of arresting unhoused people and fining them for sleeping in parks, we should be investing in more affordable housing and less tax cuts for the greedy,” Barber said.
“Instead of trying to push poor people to the next town, we need to demand living wages in every town, city, and county because nobody making the current minimum wage of $7.25 can afford a basic two-bedroom apartment anywhere in this country.”
The case driving the protest centers on a series of laws passed in Grants Pass, Oregon, which included banning people from wrapping themselves in a blanket. And now Grants Pass, along with other jurisdictions, want the Court to overturn a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled punishing homeless people for sleeping on the street when they have no option violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The protesters shared statistics that speak volumes about the housing crisis in America:
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In 2022, over 12 million households spent more than half their income on rent.
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On a single night in January 2023, 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, up 12% from a year earlier.
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Chronic homelessness can cost taxpayers over $83,000 per year per person, including the cost of legislating and enforcing criminal ordinances and potential lawsuits.
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People of color represent over 60% of the nation’s unhoused population, despite making up only a third of the general U.S. population.
“We slept in our car and so often I couldn’t sleep for fear that if I closed my eyes too long and the temperature dipped for too long, I’d wake up and my children would not be alive,” said Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), who shared her own experience of being unhoused and living on the streets.
She said she had to mix baby formula in the bathroom of McDonalds, and finding available public restrooms in general was a constant source of stress.
“Should my children and I have been fined for sleeping in a car? For using public restrooms? It is inhumane to punish people for not having access to a toilet,” Bush said.
Bush noted that she and 18 of her colleagues, along with sponsoring organizations, filed an amicus brief for the Court’s consideration protesting the application of public camping laws against unhoused people is cruel and unusual punishment.
Barber also called out the “lies people tell on the homeless, characterizing them as alcoholics and dope addicts, rather than people who have no place of their own to live.”
He said a young man recently asked why he had been entrusted to operate million-dollar equipment in Iraq but couldn’t be trusted to flip hamburgers at home, debunking the myth that the homeless don’t want to work.
“We can’t be silent anymore. We have to call out the lies,” Barber said.
