By Wes Duncan, Reno Gazette Journal, July 10, 2024
In a decision that will have far reaching impacts on cities in the American West, the United States Supreme Court on June 28 overturned the Ninth Circuit’s injunction in City of Grants Pass Oregon v. Johnson that prevented cities from enforcing camping and parking laws in cases where the number of homeless exceeded the number of available shelter beds.
Prior to this ruling and because of the Boise v. Martin decision in the Ninth Circuit, cities were placed in an untenable position by not being able to enforce camping laws in their jurisdictions, even when there were widespread public health and public safety issues. The results spoke for themselves, as many American cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland saw miles of homeless encampments in their jurisdictions with no solution because of the Ninth Circuit’s rulings. Cities and states from across the West filed numerous “friend of the court” briefs and asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Although the situation in the City of Sparks was certainly not as widespread, our jurisdiction was seeing a concerning increase in public health and public safety issues stemming from the homeless who refuse services. Our city takes an innovative and compassionate approach as it relates to the homeless by utilizing our Homeless Outreach Proactive Engagement (HOPE) team from the Sparks Police Department. This team of dedicated officers deal only with the homeless population and make connecting the homeless to services in a compassionate way their priority to keep the community safe. In fact, over the last three years the HOPE team has connected approximately 500 homeless to services.
However, despite the HOPE team’s efforts, our community also was seeing an increased number of homeless camps, people living in RVs, RV fires, homeless blocking sidewalks and out-of-control warming fires from those who are resistant to services. Increasingly, things like raw sewage, trash, hypodermic needles and other types of refuse were being dumped in the Truckee River and into city streets. In one instance, a warming fire caught a homeowner’s house on fire.
Unchecked, homeless camps increase the likelihood of communicable diseases and vulnerable populations are frequently exploited in these camps. To combat these public health and safety issues, the HOPE team requested more tools to increase public safety.
In response, the Sparks City Attorney’s Office teamed up with the Sparks Police Department to pass new ordinances aimed at prohibiting camping along the Truckee River, prohibiting the blocking of sidewalks, living in vehicles on public property, and preventing out-of-control fires. These measures were unanimously supported by the City Council in August of 2023.
With the passage of these ordinances, the city recognized, and the United States Supreme Court has now agreed, that local jurisdictions must be able to enforce laws to protect public health and safety. In their majority opinion, the Supreme Court remarked, “policymakers need access to the full panoply of tools in the policy toolbox” to “tackle the complicated issues of housing and homelessness.” Further, it is the role of cities and counties to determine what policies are best for their jurisdictions when it comes to tackling homelessness.
The City of Sparks, along with every American city, is wrestling with this issue. The Supreme Court recognized that cities — through their elected officials and not the courts — should be making these determinations. Sparks will continue to strike the right balance by continually trying to connect the homeless to services, but also enforcing the law when their conduct negatively impacts the public. The Supreme Court did the right thing by allowing cities to do so.
Wes Duncan is the 17th city attorney in the City of Sparks.