EVERETT — A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday will allow cities to ban homeless people from sleeping in public places, a decision that could have implications in Snohomish County.
As officials across the county grapple with how to shelter more than 1,000 homeless people, cities like Everett have already implemented laws to try to steer homeless people away from sleeping or sitting in certain outdoor public spaces.
In 2021, Everett passed a “no sit, no lie” law, making sitting or lying down in certain places a misdemeanor. Marysville and Monroe have similar laws on the books prohibiting people from sitting or lying down on public sidewalks.
Everett City Council member Liz Vogeli called the Supreme Court’s decision “disturbing and reprehensible.” She cast the sole no vote against Everett’s “no sit, no lie” law in 2021.
Last year, the Everett law was expanded, taking up much of downtown and parts of Evergreen Way near Fred Meyer.
In three years, loitering arrests skyrocketed in Everett, with 29 in 2021, then 427 last year.
“People on the streets believe the City of Everett government wants to punish them for being out there on the streets for people to see,” Vogeli said. “I find it hard to disagree with them.”
In a statement, city spokesperson Simone Tarver said this week’s ruling won’t help the city address homelessness, but rather it “allows one tool to remain available for encouraging the acceptance of services and support.”
“This is not about being able to arrest people for being unsheltered; the City’s goals have always been to help those who are struggling and to keep our community safe,” Tarver wrote.
Before the Everett City Council passed the law three years ago, a D.C.-based legal nonprofit sent a letter to the city urging the council not to pass it, on the basis it may be unconstitutional.
The city defended the law, since it only covered some streets, not the entire city.
Friday’s 6-3 decision from the country’s highest court was split along ideological lines with the liberal bloc of the court dissenting. It reversed a decision from a Ninth Circuit appellate court ruling that says banning homeless people from sleeping outside is cruel and unusual, violating the Eighth Amendment.
In an opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the majority ruled Americans have the right to choose which policies they use to address the homelessness crisis, caused by “complex and interconnected issues.”
The Eighth Amendment, barring the use of cruel and unusual punishment, “does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people,” the opinion wrote.
“People will disagree over which policy responses are best; they may experiment with one set of approaches only to find later another set works better,” Gorsuch wrote. “But in our democracy, that is their right.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissenting opinion, arguing sleep is “a biological necessity, not a crime.”
It is cruel and unusual to prohibit sleeping outside when someone has nowhere else to go, Sotomayor wrote.
“This Court, too, has a role to play in faithfully enforcing the Constitution to prohibit punishing the very existence of those without shelter,” Sotomayor wrote.
Snohomish County’s most recent annual point-in-time count showed homelessness was down by nearly 10% since the year prior.
County officials credited the drop in homelessness to partnerships with local police and social workers, along with investments in affordable housing and drug treatment via local and federal dollars.
“We are encouraged by this Supreme Court decision that supports the common-sense solutions that Marysville and many other cities throughout the Puget Sound have been trying to implement,” Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said in a statement on the ruling.
Over two years, Everett’s population of people who reported sleeping outside in the city dropped by about 50, based on this year’s point-in-time count.
While numbers are shifting, hundreds of people are without shelter on Everett streets on any given night.
“I’m not sure where the hope lies,” Vogeli said.
The city can’t build a Pallet shelter for every person, she said.
“And it’s not even going to matter anymore because, according to the Supreme Court, you don’t need to have available shelter in order to jail someone for not having shelter,” she said.
Vogeli predicts other cities in the county will try to expand laws criminalizing homelessness following the court’s ruling.
“That is disturbing,” she said.
The Supreme Court case originated out of Grants Pass, a city in southern Oregon that gave homeless people sleeping outside a $295 fine. Multiple violations of the law would result in arrest.
The city appealed a decision from a District Court, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the ban violated the Eighth Amendment if no shelter space was available.
Jenelle Baumbach: 360-352-8623; jenelle.baumbach@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jenelleclar.
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