What few constitutional rights the homeless enjoy may soon be on the line at the high court.
  • captainlezbian@lemmy.worldEnglish
    183·
    1 year ago

    “Will the Supreme Court make life worse for…” can generally be assumed to have yes as an answer until some turnover happens

  • Travalaaaaaaanche!@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    1 year ago

    “about one-third of the country’s homeless population, totaling more than 170,000 people”
    Whaaaat? They’re saying that there is only about 500,000 homeless people in the US. That seems like a really low estimate.

    • darkdemize@sh.itjust.works
      11·
      1 year ago

      There was a John Oliver segment discussing the homeless, and the method for counting them was mentioned. Basically, they pick 1 night a year and count people occupying a bed in a shelter. This obviously discounts a huge number of the homeless population, which is thought to be as much as 10 times the shelter count.

      • eek2121@lemmy.world
        5·
        1 year ago

        Just strolling through midtown in Atlanta, GA makes me believe that.

        The counts definitely aren’t accurate. Furthermore, some folks may technically be homeless, but couch surfing, sleeping in their vehicles, etc.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.eeEnglish
      15·
      1 year ago

      I travel a lot for work. Outside of Oregon, California and other large cities I rarely see homeless people.

      I think estimate is fairly accurate. Now if you take people living in their vans, not by choice, that number may be higher.

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    3·
    1 year ago

    It’ll be another line-crossing point as (proverbial) Titanic sinks, maybe the power going out.

    A lot of us are too close to homelessness ourselves. I’ve personally been lucky (other then maybe a month of sofa surfing) but I have close friends who’ve had to deal with hard sleeping and creative impovised protection against the elements.

    This is to say, when we unperson the homeless, a lot of us are going to be wondering if we’re next. And if cities start banning homless and law enforcement responds with brutality, well, hopefully we’ll see some social unrest. Otherwise these new laws will be used to reduce marginalized groups to homelessness before disposing of them.

    Its one of those Then they came for the trade-unionists moments, and hopefully enough of us will see it relatable enough to take action.

  • athos77@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    The court ruled in Martin v. City of Boise that the Eighth Amendment forbids criminal charges against people for sleeping outdoors on public property if they have nowhere else to go. The decision limited local governments’ powers to arrest and remove homeless people from public spaces.

  • ByteWizard@lemm.eeEnglish
    216·
    1 year ago

    Good. Public spaces should be reserved for functioning members of society. ‘Homeless’ are largely scammers and con men. They choose to reject civilization and they do not deserve to reap benefits that capitalistic societies provide.