Statement on Johnson v. Grants Pass Ruling

Jul 2

Last Friday, June 28th, The Supreme Court released its opinion on Johnson V. Grants Pass, upholding the criminalization of homelessness by allowing cities to prohibit our most vulnerable neighbors from using blankets, pillows, or boxes to shelter themselves while sleeping outside. It is a heartbreaking decision in a country that is short several hundred thousand shelter beds each night, where many people have no choice but to sleep outside.

At The Delores Project, we are extremely disappointed in the Court’s failure to recognize the decades of policy failure and economic inequality that have led to our nation’s homelessness crisis and the lack of understanding or care about how this decision will negatively impact the lives of those already living in crisis. Further, the Court’s decision demonstrates a troubling trend in our country of failing to recognize the humanity of those experiencing homelessness and blaming them for their poverty rather than focusing on systemic solutions such as increasing the amount of truly affordable housing in cities across our country. The choice that this decision leaves with our houseless neighbors is an impossible one; to stay awake, or be arrested and what kind of choice is that?

While we are committed to being and staying a low-barrier, trauma-informed environment that prioritizes serving populations and identities that are unsafe or underserved in other shelter settings, we are but one small drop in the bucket of the hundreds of thousands of shelter beds needed across the country to meet the scale of need of the crisis. Of additional concern to us, is the added strain this decision puts on women and transgender people in particular who are more likely to be victims of gender-based violence and harm when unsheltered.

We are reaching out to ask for your help in humanizing the homelessness crisis and working to find solutions that meet all of our neighbors in need. Please click on this link to let your state representatives and legislators know you support increased funding for shelter programs for women, children, and transgender people in our fight to end homelessness.

If you would like to support the life-changing work of The Delores Project to ensure everyone is safe and belongs, and to help us move even more Denverites from homelessness to housing, click here.

In gratitude,