By Vanguard Staff
It has been a year since the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a landmark case that would determine whether unhoused people can be ticketed, fined, or arrested simply for sleeping outside when no shelter is available. But for people like Helen Cruz—a lifelong resident of Grants Pass, Oregon—the past year has brought not relief, but worsening conditions.
“Homelessness in Grants Pass—and nationwide—has gotten worse,” Cruz wrote in a reflection published by the Western Regional Advocacy Project. “And it didn’t need to.”
On April 22, 2024, Cruz stood in front of the Supreme Court with over 700 advocates demanding real solutions: housing, not handcuffs. But what followed was a decision that, in her words, “shamefully decided that homeless people are not included in the Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.” The ruling has allowed cities across the country to double down on anti-homeless ordinances that fine or jail people simply for existing in public spaces.
The effects have been brutal. Cruz describes the situation in Grants Pass, where over 300 unhoused residents were forcibly relocated to a large fenced-off area with no shelter from extreme heat or cold. “Many of them experienced skin burns from their bare contact with overheated pavement since they no longer had tents to protect them,” she writes. Others lost shoes and personal belongings during the sweeps.
Rather than use the year since the ruling to build housing or expand services, the City of Grants Pass continued down a punitive path. In January 2025, the new mayor and city council passed a resolution to shut down the temporary site—again without offering a plan to house those displaced.
“Policies like this criminalize the poor and homeless, make homelessness worse, and remind me of the days when Grants Pass was a sundown town,” Cruz wrote.
Across the country, local governments have increasingly relied on criminalization rather than solutions. The Ninth Circuit had previously ruled in Martin v. Boise that cities could not punish people for sleeping outside if no shelter was available. But the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass rolled that protection back, giving cities a green light to push unhoused residents further to the margins.
According to Cruz, these policies sever people from the very resources that could help them get back on their feet. “Evicting encampments makes it harder for people to connect with service workers. Throwing away people’s IDs makes it harder for them to apply for housing and secure essential benefits,” she explained. “Lack of basic sanitation and shower facilities impacts people’s ability to show up to school or a job interview.”
The criminalization of homelessness, she argues, is not just cruel—it’s counterproductive and expensive. “Using taxpayers’ hard-earned money to throw homeless people in jail is cruel, counterproductive, and wasteful,” she said. “We need to focus on real solutions like housing and healthcare.”
Her call for systemic reform is rooted in lived experience. Cruz spent years living unhoused in Grants Pass, sleeping under tarps and in tents. She has seen firsthand how encampment sweeps tear apart communities and how arrests only deepen the trauma. “To live as a person experiencing homelessness does not make me or my neighbors any less human,” she wrote.
Advocates warn that the Grants Pass ruling risks turning back decades of progress in housing rights litigation. Without federal protection, the burden falls on state and local governments—and grassroots movements—to ensure humane treatment for unhoused people.
Cruz urges lawmakers to invest in permanent supportive housing, public bathrooms, legal aid, and rent relief. She emphasizes that this is not just about the visibly unhoused, but the millions of Americans living on the edge.
“Whether you are someone who has spent time on the street, or are one of the millions of people one missed paycheck away from homelessness, this is about all of us,” she wrote. “When we actually ensure that everybody has the housing they need, everybody will be healthier, safer, and better off. When we solve homelessness, we all win.”
A year after Grants Pass v. Johnson, the need for action has only grown more urgent. Cruz and her fellow advocates are still demanding what should be a basic right: a place to call home.
