NORFOLK, Va. — Starting this week, the Supreme Court is weighing several issues connected to homelessness, a growing issue across the nation. That includes whether municipalities should be able to punish people for sleeping outdoors when shelter is not available.
In Hampton Roads, the conversation is catching the attention of local advocates who are concerned about what a ruling could mean for one of the area’s most vulnerable populations.
“I would say an issue that has been 2,000 to 7,000 years old is not going to change and become criminalized overnight,” said Jordan Brown, pastor of OV Church in Norfolk.
The church resides in the Ocean View area of Norfolk and is one of several groups that provide emergency shelter for hundreds of people in the winter months.
This past year, he said the number of people the church served rose far more than expected.
“We need more people to see it,” Brown said. “We need more people to care, especially now because some folks may not realize that they could be in that same group.”
Right now, he’s paying close attention to talks in the nation’s highest court over homelessness, which began on Monday.
Justices are looking over a case that started in a rural Oregon town, which began fining people $295 for sleeping outside as the cost of housing escalated and tents popped up in the city’s public parks.
“In the midst of finding ways to survive, [these people are] now being told that their being on the street is an act punishable of incarceration,” Brown said. “It just does not make sense.”
The debate comes as the number of Americans without a permanent place to live rose by 12% last year to more than 650,000 people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than half of those people sleep outside.
Brown says the focus should be on the housing crisis, impacting people at all levels and walks of life.
“It should be a conversation about one thing, which is housing and taking care of the housing,” he said. “Instead it’s turning into an issue where they think criminalizing the act of homelessness is something that is necessary, which I think is egregious.”
Brown said he understands the urgency in finding solutions, but he thinks communities should help people get back on their feet and not further handcuff them.
Supreme Court justices are expected to decide by the end of June.