If your municipality has considered an ordinance banning camping on public property, your municipal attorney likely warned that enforcing such a ban could give rise to a lawsuit from persons experiencing homelessness or groups representing them. Indeed, Eighth Amendment jurisprudence previously suggested camping bans impermissibly criminalized “status” when applied to the unhoused community—at least in jurisdictions where the number of persons experiencing homelessness exceeds shelter beds available.

Read CIRSA’s new Blog Post for more information on the US Supreme Court ruling on June 28, 2024, which does not prohibit the enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property.