Homeless Rights Upheld – Sleeping In Public Space OK

Feel like taking a snooze in a public space? Go right ahead, you can.  More rights affirmed for the homeless with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) saying that laws barring people from sleeping in public spaces are unconstitutional.The "statement of interest" from the DOJ comes after some homeless people in Idaho challenged a Boise city ordinance against sleeping or camping in public spaces.

The DOJ says that since the city lacks sufficient shelter space, these local laws effectively criminalize homelessness in violation of the Eighth Amendment. This amendment limits government's ability to determine which type of behavior can be treated as criminal.

Since there has been no court consensus, or a Supreme Court of the United States ruling that specifically deals with the anti-camping ordinances, the DOJ's long-held stance has been that you simply can't arrest people for sleeping in public if they have nowhere else to sleep.

Boise officials argued that their ordinance does not criminalize someone's status, but instead outlaws the conduct of being asleep in public spaces. Still, the DOJ says that for homeless people, sleeping in public is "precisely the type of 'universal and unavoidable' conduct that is necessary for human survival for homeless individuals who lack access to shelter space...[as] sleeping is a life-sustaining activity." (Consumerist)