this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
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If it is, it needs to be challenged in the courts. In the US you have a constitutional right to be homeless.
Do you have a constitutional right to occupy space that you down own?
My understanding is that you basically are at the whims of whoever owns the land, be that an individual, city state, or federal government. Even the fed doesn’t allow you to live at their parks over a certain amount of time, even if you’re paying for camping permits.
There's a very large percentage of land that isn't owned by anyone, around 10% of the country (which amounts to millions of acres still affected by The Homestead Act,) and while you're kinda correct that you can't camp indefinitely in one spot on state or federal land, the requirements are that you keep your camp site clean, and move to a new site once a week.
That’s absolutely incorrect. You can be incarcerated for homelessness in Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, San Diego, and Portland, where it is considered a criminal act. It has been challenged and deemed a state’s right to criminalize homelessness.
Johnson v. Grants Pass disagrees. 2018 SCOTUS upheld your right to be homeless.
They didn’t mandate that the state or county cannot charge and prosecute homelessness. You can appeal if you can afford to, but you can’t, because you’re homeless.
They outlawed charges or even tickets. The only reason these unconstitutional laws are on the books is that they haven't been challenged.
I can't challenge them because I own a home in California, so I'm not harmed by these laws. The ACLU would be perfectly happy to take these cases without a fee, that's what they're there for.
I’ve been reading up on this since I read your reply. You’re right that they can no longer charge one with homelessness. However, it seems the workaround is to target the homeless with panhandling, loitering, or trespassing charges. I also just learned that in many cities it’s illegal to give food, water, clothing, or money to a homeless person. So it’s better, but not by much.
They've tried that (panhandling, encroachment, etc. tickets) three times so far in San Diego, every time it gets challenged and struck down by the state supreme court. This has only happened because homeowners like myself have been doing homelessness outreach, and the lawyers work for free
The new constitution is spelled T-R-U-M-P