USA Today reports that the Supreme Court “is weighing a case from Grants Pass, Oregon, which banned homeless residents from public camping. The penalty is a fine and jail time.”

KEITH McHENRY, keith@foodnotbombs.net, @keith_mchenry
McHenry is co-founder of the global Food Not Bombs movement, which provides free meals to anyone who needs them. He is also a regular contributor to the ongoing series “Food Fight” on “Flashpoints.”

McHenry said today: “HUD claims they can end homelessness for $20 billion and we just sent” billions for war to Ukraine and Israel.

“This while 78 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

“We in California defeated SB 1011, the statewide ban on sleeping outside on public land.

“The Supreme Court will decide whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when there is a lack of shelter space is deemed cruel and unusual punishment.”

While many depict these anti-homeless moves as funding driven, the group Food Not Bombs has been prevented by local governments from feeding the homeless at no expense to them, often engaging in prolonged battles against such efforts. See past IPA news releases.

McHenry notes: “Kentucky Passed HB 5, the ‘Safer Kentucky Act’ which decriminalizes the use of deadly force against individuals engaging in ‘unlawful camping.’ Under this law, if a property owner believes an unhoused trespasser is attempting to commit a felony or attempting to ‘dispossess’ them, they can shoot the homeless person.”