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How Boise's Fight Over Homelessness Is Rippling Along The West Coast
NATIONAL
How Boise's Fight Over Homelessness Is Rippling Along The West Coast
December 13, 2019 5:00 PM ET
https://www.npr.org/people/158988722/leila-fadel
https://www.npr.org/people/188396171/kirk-siegler
https://www.twitter.com/kirksiegler
It's billed as one of the most livable places in the country with its good schools, leafy streets and safe neighborhoods. That's what makes Boise, Idaho, an odd backdrop for a heated legal fight around homelessness that is reverberating across the western United States and may soon be taken up by the Supreme Court.
It goes back nearly a decade to when seven homeless people sued Boise for repeatedly ticketing them for sleeping outside. Last year, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. The decision said it was "cruel and unusual punishment" to enforce rules that stop homeless people from camping in public places when they have no place else to go. That means in states across the 9th Circuit — including Washington, Oregon and California — cities and counties can no longer enforce similar statutes if they don't have enough shelter beds for homeless people sleeping outside.
Pam Hawkes was one of the original plaintiffs in the case. She now lives in Spokane, Wash., where she had been in and out of homelessness and only recently found stable housing. Seven years ago, she and her then-partner had nowhere to live in Boise, and many nights, they had no other choice but to pitch a tent in a wooded area along the river.
"I was like, 'I just need somewhere to lay my head overnight,' and it's not like we left camp up," she said. "We always packed up and we always kept it clean."
Even though she says she tried to keep herself hidden, police issued her more than a dozen tickets. Like most people living on the streets, Hawkes didn't have steady work and couldn't pay the fines. So she ended up in jail.
....
How Boise's Fight Over Homelessness Is Rippling Along The West Coast
December 13, 2019 5:00 PM ET
https://www.npr.org/people/158988722/leila-fadel
https://www.npr.org/people/188396171/kirk-siegler
https://www.twitter.com/kirksiegler
It's billed as one of the most livable places in the country with its good schools, leafy streets and safe neighborhoods. That's what makes Boise, Idaho, an odd backdrop for a heated legal fight around homelessness that is reverberating across the western United States and may soon be taken up by the Supreme Court.
It goes back nearly a decade to when seven homeless people sued Boise for repeatedly ticketing them for sleeping outside. Last year, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favor. The decision said it was "cruel and unusual punishment" to enforce rules that stop homeless people from camping in public places when they have no place else to go. That means in states across the 9th Circuit — including Washington, Oregon and California — cities and counties can no longer enforce similar statutes if they don't have enough shelter beds for homeless people sleeping outside.
Pam Hawkes was one of the original plaintiffs in the case. She now lives in Spokane, Wash., where she had been in and out of homelessness and only recently found stable housing. Seven years ago, she and her then-partner had nowhere to live in Boise, and many nights, they had no other choice but to pitch a tent in a wooded area along the river.
"I was like, 'I just need somewhere to lay my head overnight,' and it's not like we left camp up," she said. "We always packed up and we always kept it clean."
Even though she says she tried to keep herself hidden, police issued her more than a dozen tickets. Like most people living on the streets, Hawkes didn't have steady work and couldn't pay the fines. So she ended up in jail.
....
