The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has reaffirmed its commitment to ending the criminalization of homelessness following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“Homelessness is a humanitarian crisis, not a moral failing,” stated Kirsten Anderson, deputy legal director for economic justice at the SPLC. “The Supreme Court held that it is a crime to be homeless — at a moment in which housing is unaffordable for half the people in the country — proving that it continues to be out of touch with the American public. As a country, we must stop arresting, fining and jailing people for not having housing, and instead address the issues that are causing housing to be unaffordable.”
The SPLC submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting plaintiffs experiencing homelessness. The brief scrutinizes the history behind vagrancy laws, which were used as tools of economic and racial subjugation, particularly in the Deep South, and cited as justification in this case.
In April, the SPLC joined forces with the National Homelessness Law Center’s Housing Not Handcuffs coalition to rally in support of people experiencing homelessness as the Court heard oral arguments.