A New Jersey Republican mayor ripped Jon Bon Jovi, saying the singer turned his town into “ground zero for homelessness.”
Toms River Township Mayor Dan Rodrick said a restaurant run by Bon Jovi’s nonprofit JBJ Soul Foundation, is causing more trouble than good, especially after it added a temporary pop-up location at the Ocean County Library, per <a href="https://www.nj.com/ocean/2025/04/nj-mayor-blasts-bon-jovis-soul-kitchen-for-homeless-gathering-near-library.html">NJ.com</a>.
He said the restaurant opening has led to homeless individuals being bused into the area, a move which the mayor claims is causing problems for the local community.
Per the outlet, the temporary restaurant is not a traditional soup kitchen or pay-what-you-can establishment, but instead, they serve three-course meals and allow diners to pay it forward and cover a future meal for anyone who can’t afford it. Patrons who can’t pay are offered the opportunity to volunteer in the community kitchen in exchange for food. 
The pop-up restaurant at the library opened in February and is slated to be shut down in May after its permit was extended from the initial closure date of March 31. The other location is permanent. 
&#8220;We don&#8217;t want to be ground zero for homelessness. We don&#8217;t want to be a dumping ground for the homeless problem in the state of New Jersey. The state of New Jersey needs to step up and take care of this problem. They have the resources, and bussing people in from all over to Toms River is not a safe situation,&#8221; Rodrick told Fox News Digital in an <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jon-bon-jovi-slammed-turning-nj-town-ground-zero-homeless">interview</a>.
The mayor also noted that many of the homeless people encountered are “from outside the town, outside the county and, in some cases, outside the state of New Jersey.”
Rodrick said he hasn’t spoken to Bon Jovi directly but is frustrated that the restaurant opened in the area, which already has been struggling with its homeless population. Per NJ.com, the municipality does not have a licensed shelter, and last year residents shot down a proposal to build a 17-bed facility on the property of a local church.
&#8220;[Bon Jovi’s] already operating … something in the Silverton section of town. But it was like a restaurant where people go, and they pay for their meal, and they feel good that the money&#8217;s going to be used for something. But this pop-up thing at the library was primarily geared toward making the library, the public library, ground zero for homelessness,&#8221; Rodrick told Fox News.
The mayor also said that the issue began when the Ocean County Board decided to open a warming center, which led to nonprofits &#8220;bussing people into town.&#8221;
&#8220;We wound up with dozens and dozens of people being dropped off downtown every single day at the library no less, where a mom should feel comfortable walking into the library with her daughter and get a book. You shouldn&#8217;t have to walk through gangs of two dozen intoxicated or mentally ill homeless individuals, and that&#8217;s the real issue here,&#8221; he said, noting that there have been several police and EMS calls from the library in recent weeks.
Rodrick also addressed a potential financial incentive for the nonprofits. “These people are being dropped by in our community by agencies pretending to be homeless advocates who get paid by the head to import homeless people into our town from all over the state and the East Coast,” he said, per <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/bon-jovi-feuds-with-jersey-shore-mayor-over-eatery-for-the-poor/">The New York Post</a>. “These agencies are making millions of dollars importing homeless. Their plan is not about compassion; it’s about people wanting to profit off the homeless issue.”
In a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/bon-jovi-feuds-with-jersey-shore-mayor-over-eatery-for-the-poor/">statement</a> to the New York Post, Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, who both run the nonprofit, said, &#8220;The JBJ Soul Foundation and JBJ Soul Kitchen are committed to ending homelessness through real solutions. We are not here to just move people around or force them into the shadows. Our Foundation has built nearly a thousand units of affordable and supportive housing.”
&#8220;Through our JBJ Soul Kitchen, we connect people to resources and services. Whether they need employment, mental health support, or housing, we try to remove the barriers that are keeping them from thriving, not just surviving,” it says.

Jon Bon Jovi

NJ GOP Mayor Says Jon Bon Jovi Turned His Town Into ‘Ground Zero’ For Homeless

NJ Mayor Says Jon Bon Jovi Turned His Town Into 'Ground Zero' For Homeless

Celebrities

Homeless

Homelessness

New Jersey

U.S.

United States

The following is an excerpt from the new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">The Children We Left Behind: How Western Culture Rationalizes Family Separation &amp; Ignores The Pain Of Child Neglect</a>,” by Adam B. Coleman (Wrong Speak Publishing, April 1, 2025).
* * *
“I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail”. 
These were some of the final words spoken by Jordan Neely, a homeless thirty-year-old man who died inside a subway after threatening frightened riders and being subdued in a headlock by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-daniel-penny-found-not-guilty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Penny</a> on May 1, 2023.
Neely had a long 42-arrest history of criminal activity, involving four violent offenses spanning from 2013 to 2021, only to eventually die on the floor of an F train subway car.
While most of the public has focused on his threats before being taken down by Daniel Penny or the racial differences between Neely and Penny, I want to focus on Neely’s origin story.
My interest in sharing Neely’s story is twofold. Objectively, Neely was a troubled man who had a history of terrorizing riders and was riddled with mental health problems. But he wasn’t born that way. No child dreams of being a homeless person on the street. How did Jordan Neely go from an innocent child to dying on the subway? As I hope to illuminate for readers, it all stems from his abusive childhood.
The second reason why I want to share Jordan Neely’s story is more personal. In Jordan, I see something of myself: a child who was abandoned by his father. After my father left me, my mom, and my sister, my entire life was uprooted. By the age of six, I had lived in three states and various towns, residing with multiple family members and spending months in and out of homelessness. My father’s absence and my mother being left to raise me and my sister on her own led me to suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. At age eight, I was admitted to a mental hospital.
<div id="attachment_900349" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900349" class="size-large wp-image-900349" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Wrong Speak Publishing" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/71DC2oU2QoL._SL1360_.jpg 907w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Wrong Speak Publishing</div>
Would Jordan’s life have taken a different turn if he had a loving father in his life? Why could he not have been one of the lucky ones, like me, who by the grace of God overcame a traumatic childhood?
Neely grew up in an abusive household with his mother and stepfather. This violence from his stepfather escalated to the point of murdering Jordan Neely’s mother, Christine Neely, by strangulation, subsequently stuffing her body in a suitcase, and dumping her body on the Henry Hudson Highway in Bronx, NY, when Jordan Neely was 14 years old.
In <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/03/subway-chokehold-victim-jordan-neely-spiraled-after-moms-death-aunt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview</a> with The New York Post, Carolyn Neely, Jordan’s Aunt, stated that his mother&#8217;s murder was the pivotal starting point of his mental downfall.
“My sister Christie was murdered in ‘07, and after that, he has never been the same. It had a big impact on him. He developed depression, and it grew and became more serious. He was schizophrenic, PTSD.”
After his mother&#8217;s killing, Jordan bounced around from foster home to foster home for four years, being left behind in New York City’s dysfunctional foster care system.
After Jordan Neely’s death, New York’s PIX 11 News <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iX7lkOZA_g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed</a> Neely’s foster brother, Larry Smith. Larry Smith viewed Jordan Neely as his best friend, big brother, and mentor.
Eventually, both Smith and Neely aged out of the foster care system, leaving them homeless on the streets of New York City. In the early years of their brotherly relationship, Neely would perform Michael Jackson dance routines on subway cars for money to feed themselves.
“He would do the whole Billy Jean [dance routine], and I would sit there and have the one hat that he gave me for Michael Jackson and collect a couple of dollars. He used that because foster parents were abusing us.”
It is Smith&#8217;s final statement that encapsulates the deep desire of every child: “Jordan never wanted money … Jordan wanted a home.”
Every child wants a home, and not just in a physical sense. It’s not enough for a child to have a place of shelter; they also need a place where they know they belong and are safe.
In various articles I’ve read about Jordan Neely in his teenage years, he was described as a quiet child who enjoyed Japanese anime. However, this quiet child was hardened like the concrete streets he’d occasionally sleep on.
There are only so many chances you’ll give the world to hurt you before you acknowledge your hopelessness by outwardly exclaiming, “I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail.”
He gave his stepfather a chance, who ultimately murdered his mother. He gave the foster care system a chance, and they abused and abandoned him. If every adult you encounter lets you down, you’d probably go insane too and grow a deep hatred for mankind, including hatred for yourself.
Jordan Neely’s situation isn’t abnormal, and that’s the problem.
The only reason we even know his name is because of a fluke circumstance of being filmed by a journalist. But if he had overdosed alone on a street corner, he would be just another statistic.
Thousands upon thousands of Jordan Neelys all over America are on the street. They are adults now, but they were once children left behind by nearly every adult they encountered.
I once felt all the rage that Jordan felt. I sometimes still do. My father chose himself over me, my sister, and my mother and neglected me until the day he died. Thanks be to God, I made it, but my successes should never be a reason for parents to risk playing Russian Roulette with their children’s lives.
I am also a father now. And as a father, my job has been to raise my child to become greater than myself and to be a healthy and functional member of society. Over the years, I became incredibly conscious of how my actions and lack of actions could turn my son into the man you’d never want to be alone with on the streets at night.
Raising children isn’t just about feeding and housing them. How we treat them and what we teach them directly affects their likelihood of success in the world.
If you fail your children, don’t be surprised when they fail in our society.
* * *
Adam B. Coleman is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Children-Left-Behind-Rationalizes-Separation/dp/B0DSJZWMDL/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mHwt-SB0BE6Z4SuvSL8BpJGq0o4KZKefFX7qCk2QDecQdDECQ5sacSwFhvoqNh0G.3kO-vQO6MHEer2Op5JTvskog7q0WE0RCOw0_toT-nOM&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;qid=1738089124&amp;refinements=p_27%3AAdam+Coleman&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1">The Children We Left Behind</a>” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Follow him on X: @wrong_speak
This excerpt is published by permission from Wrong Speak Publishing.
The views expressed in this book excerpt are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-JUSTICE-TRANSPORT-FUNERAL-NEELY

Let Jordan Neely’s Story Be A Warning To Parents: We Must Always Put Our Children First

Let Jordan Neely’s Story Be a Warning to Parents: We Must Always Put Our Children First

Books

Children

Daniel Penny

Foster Care

Jordan Neely

New York City

Opinion

Parenting

Subway

Dawn Robinson, best known for her role in the popular 1990s R&amp;B group En Vogue, recently revealed on YouTube that she is homeless and has been living in her car for three years.
The 58-year-old said in the video clip shared on Tuesday, “You guys, for the past three years, I have been living in my car.” She sighed with apparent relief, adding, “I said it, oh my gosh, it’s out.”
She mentioned that some people had told her not to tell the truth about her living situation. Robinson said they said, “You shouldn’t talk about it because you’re a celebrity and what if they judge you?”
“I’m like ok and what if?” the singer continued. “What if they judge me? So what? We’re all judged. Life is life.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YOUR NEW LIFE IS IN THE SCARY 🫣" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s7MU-2VBN2w?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Robinson went on to explain how it all happened. She told fans she’d been living with her parents in Las Vegas in 2020 but then took her manager’s advice to move to Los Angeles. She stayed with him briefly before moving into a hotel for eight months. 
The En Vogue singer said her manager was the reason she never made the move from the hotel to an apartment, claiming he was “playing games” and coming up with excuses for why the potential rentals she found wouldn’t work out.
“Sometimes &#8230; people want to trap you and keep you in a situation where you’re vulnerable and depending on them,” she said in the YouTube video. “So I got out of there.”
That’s when Robinson started looking into adopting a “car life” instead of renting a traditional apartment. “I felt free,” she said. “I felt like I was on a camping trip. It just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
The singer stressed that her purpose for sharing the video wasn’t to earn pity from fans.
“It’s not ‘Woe is me,'&#8221; Robinson said. “I’m learning about who I am. I’m learning myself as a person, as a woman.&#8221;
&#8220;I miss my family. I miss everybody I was connected to,” she added. “But I needed to do this alone. &#8230; I needed to do this for me.” 
The En Vogue singer said she’s happy with her choices. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished out here,” she told viewers.
“Be spontaneous,” Robinson concluded. “Do the scary. F*** fear.”

Dawn Robinson

En Vogue Singer Says She’s Been Living In Her Car For Three Years

En Vogue Singer Admits She's Been Living In Her Car For Three Years

Entertainment

singer

President Donald Trump gave an ultimatum to Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday to clean up the rampant homeless encampments around Washington, D.C., or face intervention from federal authorities. 
Trump posted on Truth Social that Bowser should take action to clean up camps around the State Department and the White House. If she doesn’t take action, Trump said that he would step in and do it. 
“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114112430549537723" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a>. “If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her! Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE!” 
“We want to be proud of our Great Capital again,” he added. “Thank you Mayor Bowser for your efforts on behalf of the Citizens of our Country. Hopefully you will be successful!”
The demand comes as the Trump administration has floated taking more aggressive action to cut down on homelessness and crime in the nation’s capital, including taking over governance of the district.  
“I think that we should govern the District of Columbia,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/law-and-order-trump-says-feds-should-take-over-washington-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters last month. “I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawless.” 
“And I think we should take over Washington, D.C. We could save people from getting killed,” Trump added. “The federal government should take over the governance of D.C. and run it really, really properly.”
Bowser previously <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2025/02/mayor-bowser-responds-to-report-of-trump-executive-order-targeting-dc-homeless-encampments-local-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that homeless encampments are “not technically permitted in the District” and seemed open to working with the White House to be tougher on crime.
The D.C. Democrat has also been facing pressure in recent weeks from congressional Republicans, who have introduced bills targeting lawlessness in the city. 
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) <a href="https://clyde.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> a bill on Monday that would force D.C. to rename its Black Lives Matter Plaza to Liberty Plaza, saying “we are not a defund the police nation.” 
In response, Bowser suggested that the plaza could be renamed and redesigned ahead of America&#8217;s 250th birthday, but offered few specifics, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dcs-mayor-defends-her-decision-to-have-black-lives-matter-plaza-painted-over/3859704/">according</a> to local media.
&#8220;The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period, but now we can&#8217;t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference,&#8221; Bowser <a href="https://x.com/MayorBowser/status/1897039109434364388" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern.&#8221;
Last month, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced a bill that would end “home rule” established decades ago for District residents to control their own local affairs, and bring the district under the management of Congress. The lawmakers cited violent crime and the city council’s push to allow non-citizen voting as reasons for the legislation.

Trump calls for federal control over Washington DC as homelessness and crime rise

Trump Gives D.C. Mayor Ultimatum On ‘Unsightly Homeless Encampments’

Crime

Donald Trump

Muriel Bowser

Washington D.C.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the federal government should “take over” Washington, D.C., to crack down on crime and address widespread homelessness.
Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that federal authorities should bring law and order to the nation&#8217;s capital and wrest control away from local Democrat leaders who he said aren’t doing their jobs. He is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-set-to-sign-executive-order-targeting-homelessness-and-crime-in-d-c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> set to sign an executive order in the coming days to demand D.C. authorities take steps to clean up homeless encampments and address crime. 
“I think that we should govern the District of Columbia,” Trump said, per the White House pool. “I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawless.” 
“And I think we should take over Washington, D.C. We could save people from getting killed,” Trump added. “They have a great police department there. Somehow they’re not utilized properly. We should govern D.C. The federal government should take over the governance of D.C. and run it really, really properly.”
Trump said that he liked Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser but that local authorities are “not doing the job.” 
“Too much crime, too much graffiti, too many tents on the lawns, there’s magnificent lawns and there’s tents,” he said. “It’s a sad thing, homeless people all over the place, we’ve got to take care of the homeless.”
He said that with foreign leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keith Starmer visiting, there shouldn’t be so many homeless camps around the city. 
“You can’t have tents all over your beautiful, your once magnificent houses and lawns, you just can’t do it,” he said. 
The comments echoed his remarks on the campaign trail when he promised to revitalize the city. 
“We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said last year. 
Trump’s pending executive order related to D.C. would reportedly involve pushing for harsher punishments for violent gun crimes and petty crimes like public urination. It would also enhance protections for national monuments and federal parks. 
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced a bill earlier this month that would end “home rule” established decades ago for District residents to control their own local affairs, and bring the district under the management of Congress. The lawmakers cited violent crime and the city council&#8217;s push to allow non-citizen voting as reasons for the legislation.

The Inauguration Of Donald J. Trump As The 47th President

‘Law And Order’: Trump Says Feds Should ‘Take Over’ Washington D.C.

Air Force One

Executive

Politics

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as this week that would demand D.C. authorities clean up homeless camps and reduce crime.
Crimes mentioned in the executive order to receive harsher penalties include violent crimes involving guns and petty crimes like public urination, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/10/trump-dc-crime-homeless-camps-graffiti-crackdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported.</a> The White House is in talks with the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, regarding what is contained in the order.
The directive would also reinstate an executive order Trump signed in 2020 that protected national monuments in particular, focusing on federal parks run by the National Park Service, the Post reported.
“It’s hard to argue with the Park Service doing more to help the city,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, told the Post. “Although the federal government needs to follow that up with resources that the Park Service would need.”
Crime decreased in D.C. in 2024 compared to 2023, a particularly violent year, but there are questions about the District’s crime reporting methods. The Metropolitan Police of Washington, D.C. (MPDC)’s <a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported crime data</a> does not include “crime totals as reported to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System&#8221;, which itself has reporting issues.
Still, the MPDC’s website shows that homicides are on the rise in 2025 compared to this point in 2024 – seeing a 57% increase.
Trump has derided D.C. as a crime-ridden city, but on some issues, he and Bowser appear to be aligned, the Post reported, including a more aggressive approach to crime and increased resources for law enforcement.
“We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said on the campaign trail last year.
Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/02/11/trump-dc-crime-kennedy-center-home-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the White House has been reaching out to members of the D.C. community to find individuals who have been victims of violent crimes to attend an event on Friday, which could be the signing of the executive order.
The Post, meanwhile, expressed concerns that Trump could take away some of D.C.’s ability to govern itself, with two Republican members of Congress recently <a href="https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-vows-to-defeat-lee-s-latest-attack-on-dc-home-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introducing a bill</a> that would repeal “home rule” – giving the federal government more control over how D.C. operates.

President Trump

Trump Set To Sign Executive Order Targeting Homelessness And Crime In D.C.

Executive Orders

The number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/homelessness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homeless</a> people in the U.S. exploded over the last year by 18%, according to newly released federal data.
More than 770,000 people were homeless in January 2024, according to the data released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman claimed in a statement.
Nine out of the 10 states with the highest rate of homelessness were states run by Democrats.
California and New York have the largest populations of homeless people in the country and their homelessness rate (48 per 10,000 in CA and 81 per 10,000 in NY) is significantly higher than the U.S. national average (23 per 10,000).
The one positive highlight from the report was that the number of homeless veterans dropped the lowest-level on record.
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&#8220;This is the devastating state of affairs under the Biden Admin,&#8221; said Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) in response to the staggering number of homeless people in the U.S. &#8220;I’m committed to advancing real solutions to end the affordable housing crisis and give every hardworking American the opportunity to thrive. That’s why I’m proud to cosponsor @SenatorTimScott’s ROAD to Housing Act.&#8221;
Robert Greenway, Director at the Allison Center for National Security at the Heritage Foundation, posted on X: &#8220;The Biden administration’s policies allowing millions of illegal immigrants into our country and provided them shelter has turned its back on the citizens they are responsible for.&#8221;

California Gov. Newsom To Order State Officials To Begin Dismantling Homeless Encampments

Homelessness Skyrockets During Biden’s Final Year In Office

Biden Administration

California

General

New York

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> has wasted no time in cracking down on homeless encampments after a Supreme Court decision in June gave cities more authority to deal with the issue.
City authorities have been working quickly to clear tent cities &#8212; but keeping public areas clear has proven to be no simple task.
Cleanup crews removed several tent cities last week, but tents popped up again in those areas within days. Some of the new campers <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/tents-return-san-francisco-streets-cleared-homeless-sweep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could</a> be seen using drugs, a persistent problem in the city.
The City by the Bay also continues to bus homeless people to other California counties and even other states, including Texas.
Over the last two years, the city has sent at least 857 homeless people to other states and counties, The San Francisco Standard <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/08/06/journey-home-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
At least a few homeless people have been sent to Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, and Indiana, according to data from the city&#8217;s new program, Journey Home, which was launched in September.
The data is unclear for the city&#8217;s older Homeward Bound program, which has relocated hundreds of people in recent years.
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1722714742764000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XzmEsRwzti1RFNuISwYgd">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Mayor London Breed issued an executive directive on Thursday ordering city employees to point homeless people in the direction of these relocation programs before offering shelter and other services.
Breed said San Francisco is no longer able to support the influx of homeless people moving to the city and taking advantage of free services.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places even if there is not enough shelter space to accommodate them, saying such laws do not violate the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The original case involved the Oregon town of Grants Pass, which tried to fine people $295 for sleeping outside when tents began crowding the town’s public parks.
Before the court’s decision, homeless encampments continued to spread in California, Oregon, and Washington while city officials remained limited in what they could do to address the problem, especially since homeless people often refuse shelter beds.
San Francisco has struggled for years with rampant homelessness, crime, and open-air drug use driven by fentanyl, all of which have driven people and businesses out of downtown. About 38,000 people <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rising-crime-homelessness-leave-residents-of-san-francisco-and-oakland-on-edge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are homeless</a> in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019.
California <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-issues-executive-order-to-remove-homeless-encampments-across-california">has</a> the highest homeless population in the country by far. About 180,000 people were homeless last year across the state, and about 123,000 are unsheltered on a given night, according to the latest homeless count.
Homeless encampments near freeways, under overpasses, and near exit ramps have also become so common that California’s transportation department now has its own protocol and workers for clearing encampments.

Newsom Orders Crackdown On California Homeless Encampments

San Francisco Aggressively Clearing Tent Cities, Busing Homeless Out

San Francisco

Imagine being a homeless guy in the state of California. For most of the year, you&#8217;re untouchable. You can sleep completely naked right outside of an art gallery, and if the gallery owner sprays you with a hose to get you to move, he&#8217;s the one who gets <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/art-galley-owner-collier-gwin-arrest-warrant-san-francisco-homeless-watered-down-sprayed-by-water/12717643/#:~:text=SAN%20FRANCISCO%20%2D%2D%20Collier%20Gwin,a%20misdemeanor%20battery%20arrest%20warrant." target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> — as happened recently. The district attorney will issue statements about how &#8220;unhoused folks&#8221; have the right to sleep wherever they want, wearing — or not wearing — whatever clothes they want.
On top of that, the state <a href="https://sf.curbed.com/2018/5/9/17336090/san-francisco-needles-syringes-exchange-numbers-sf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provides</a> millions of free syringes to help facilitate your drug habit — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/san-francisco-drug-injection-sites/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complete</a> with &#8220;safe injection sites&#8221; that function like open-air drug markets. Plus the weather&#8217;s always nice. So generally speaking, as a homeless person in the Golden State, you have it pretty good.
But every once in a while, on a dime, California&#8217;s government completely changes its approach. It&#8217;s quite a role reversal. The politicians suddenly become the schizophrenic ones. They decide, without any warning, that all homeless encampments have to be dismantled. They hose down the sidewalks themselves. They clear the place out like it&#8217;s Tiananmen Square. And they issue statements about the importance of orderly streets and ending the scourge of lewd behavior in public libraries.
You might remember that this is what happened late last year, when the leader of China&#8217;s communist party, Xi Jinping, visited the Bay Area. Ahead of the visit, Gavin Newsom <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-defends-san-francisco-homeless-sweep-before-international-summit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> a crackdown on homeless encampments and drug markets. And he admitted he was only doing it because Xi Jingping was in town: &#8220;Anytime you put on an event — by definition — you know you have people over at your house, you’re gonna clean up the house.&#8221; That&#8217;s what he said. 
Effectively, Gavin Newsom was admitting that California&#8217;s decline is a choice. The only reason they have so many homeless people — more than any other state by far — is that they tolerate it. In an instant, Gavin Newsom can make it all go away. Someone might have answered Newsom by pointing out that, yes, you want to clean up your house for guests but you also want to keep it orderly and clean for the people who actually live there every day.
But Xi Jinping eventually left the Bay Area, so the homeless people filed back in. They started doing meth and defecating on the sidewalks again, as if they&#8217;d never been interrupted. And that continued until yesterday, when once again, out of the blue, Gavin Newsom decided to put an end to it. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Newsom Removes Homeless Camps" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EHR3gjmT1QY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
In that news report, you heard that the reason that California is suddenly able to clear all these encampments is that the Supreme Court recently allowed them to do it. That&#8217;s a reference to the Grants Pass case, which was decided a few weeks ago. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that it&#8217;s not &#8220;cruel and unusual punishment&#8221; to prevent homeless people from camping out on public property, even if there&#8217;s no shelter they can go to.
Gavin Newsom himself made the same argument in a video posted to social media. He said that he&#8217;s been doing everything he possibly can to clear out the homeless, and now that the Supreme Court has given him the green-light, he can finally do it:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Newsom Blames Others" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kV1gsYsLk2g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Before I go any further, it&#8217;s important to give credit where it&#8217;s due. Solely on the merits, Gavin Newsom&#8217;s order is obviously the right thing to do. The homeless have no right to make our communities into unlivable garbage dumps. As unpopular as it is to say it, for the most part, the homeless are not mere victims of circumstance. These are not always but very often aggressive and dangerous vagrants who actively make our communities unsafe. There&#8217;s been a huge excess of sympathy for them and not nearly enough anger at what they’re doing to our cities.
It was a good idea for Newsom&#8217;s administration to file a <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/03/04/governor-newsom-statement-on-amicus-brief-filed-with-the-united-states-supreme-court-on-homeless-encampments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brief</a> at the Supreme Court during the Grants Pass case, on the side of the city against the homeless encampments. And it&#8217;s good that Newsom is sticking with that position now.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1410-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
At the same time, what Newsom is doing is disingenuous. And we know that because his excuse — blaming the &#8220;courts&#8221; for hamstringing him until now — doesn&#8217;t make any sense. First of all, he was able to clean out the homeless encampments just a few months ago, for China&#8217;s president. No court stopped that. Additionally, for well over a decade, Gavin Newsom has been vowing to end homelessness in California. And courts in California didn&#8217;t say it was &#8220;cruel and unusual punishment&#8221; to evict homeless people from their encampments until 2018. 
So what was the excuse pre-2018? Newsom&#8217;s going to need one, because as far back as 2008, he was saying he would end chronic homelessness in San Francisco by building more housing. He said that was the solution to chronic homelessness — not clearing encampments. And he said it again and again. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Newsom History On Homelessness" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nt1fO-KkrEs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Newsom said &#8220;shelters solve sleep&#8221; repeatedly, for several years. I&#8217;ve talked about this before on this show, but it bears repeating because it doesn&#8217;t make any sense whatsoever. People in shelters still need to sleep. Shelters do not &#8220;Solve sleep.&#8221; But apparently Newsom thought it was a compelling catchphrase. 
He started saying it in 2008 and he was saying it as late as 2014. It was the line that Newsom used to justify spending tens of billions of dollars to &#8220;fix chronic homelessness.&#8221; And his strategy didn&#8217;t work, as this chart demonstrates:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
California homeless population 2011 &#8211; 2022
The state is spending over 14 billion dollars to fight homelessness.
If we round the homeless population up to an even 200,000, that amounts to $70,000 per person. <a href="https://t.co/V3cBvAc0tm">pic.twitter.com/V3cBvAc0tm</a>
&mdash; The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRabbitHole84/status/1662125298157228037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Homelessness in California has only increased in the past decade. The courts in California didn&#8217;t cause this — at least they didn’t cause it on their own. It&#8217;s a product of a few things — mainly the state&#8217;s refusal to prosecute and imprison criminals, its encouragement of drug use, and the glut of NGOs and law firms that work full-time to keep these people on the streets.
It&#8217;s true that the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling makes it easier to clear homeless encampments. But that ruling is not why Newsom is suddenly reversing course.
He&#8217;s reversing course because Democrats are now realizing they have to pretend to care about the basic security and safety of American communities if they want to win in November. It’s pretty telling that they only care about crime and homelessness during elections and if foreign dignitaries are visiting.
I&#8217;m reminded of some of my teachers in public school growing up. They were awful, incompetent and angry all the time — but they suddenly became chipper and on the ball when the parents were visiting. It&#8217;s a similar phenomenon here. Last November, Newsom sprang into action because he got a call from Xi Jinping. Maybe this time he got a call from Kamala Harris.
That would make sense, because right on cue, Harris is also acting more like a centrist Republican than the most liberal senator in Congress, which is what she really is. She&#8217;s even disavowing rioters. The woman who raised bail money for BLM thugs is now claiming to be appalled by vandalism and political violence.
After her silence on Wednesday, Harris posted <a href="https://x.com/VP/status/1816490945501708660">this statement</a> on social media on Thursday:
<blockquote>Yesterday, at Union Station, we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric. I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas. &#8230; Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation. I condemn the burning of the American flag. The flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America.</blockquote>
Obviously everything she says there is true. But like Newsom, she&#8217;s saying it for transparent and cynical reasons — which will immediately become null and void the moment the election is over. You&#8217;ll notice that nowhere in her statement does Harris mention the police officer who was violently dragged on the ground at Union Station yesterday. She also doesn&#8217;t demand any kind of accountability. She doesn&#8217;t call for an FBI dragnet like the one after January 6 — which she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YnYHO4_98A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compared</a> to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.
That&#8217;s notable because, in this case, Harris is effectively the sitting president. She has the authority to order the DOJ to create a &#8220;sedition and conspiracy task force,&#8221; like the one the Biden administration oversaw after January 6. Harris could ensure that every single one of the vandals and rioters yesterday is hauled to prison, just like the grandmothers from January 6. She could ensure consequences for the rioters who raised a foreign flag a half a mile from the nation&#8217;s capital. That would ensure nothing like this ever happens again. But she&#8217;s not doing any of that because she understands that those rioters are her voters. They are her base. She can wag her finger at them, but she&#8217;ll never touch them.
We&#8217;re seeing this kind of faux moderation all over the place. It&#8217;s the same reason Democrats are pretending Harris was never named the &#8220;border czar.&#8221; They know she was put in charge of the border for the sole purpose of making sure it stayed open. The corporate press, including the entirety of Left-wing media, reported on that at the time. But they know that open borders don&#8217;t play well in the general election. So now they&#8217;re pretending she had nothing to do with the border.
You’d think if the Left thought their position was tenable in election, they’d play this differently. Harris would come out and say “Hell yeah, I was in charge of the border and I opened it for everyone. America is an idea, after all. And everyone has a right to participate in this idea!” She’s not saying that. Instead she’s disavowing the whole mess, and the media is helping her.
Along the same lines, they&#8217;re reacting with outrage that conservatives are calling Kamala Harris a DEI hire. They&#8217;re claiming this is a Right-wing conspiracy theory to make people afraid of the DEI bogeyman. But they know that Joe Biden explicitly limited his VP search to women. And they know that, just a few months ago, Biden publicly called Harris a DEI hire. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why did Joe Biden refer to Kamala Harris as a DEI hire?
&quot;To me, the values of diversity, equality, inclusion are literally the core strengths of America. That&#39;s why I&#39;m proud to have the most diverse administration in history that taps into the full talents of our country. It… <a href="https://t.co/rpaWILblpI">pic.twitter.com/rpaWILblpI</a>
&mdash; Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) <a href="https://twitter.com/OwenGregorian/status/1816442039044636816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;To me, the values of diversity, equality, inclusion are literally the core strengths of America. It starts at the top with the Vice President.&#8221; Now Democrats are pretending Joe Biden never said this. They&#8217;re pretending they never demanded that Joe Biden pick a black woman during the summer of George Floyd.
There are obvious signs of weakness here that Republicans can exploit. Democrats understand that their policies simply aren&#8217;t popular among normal people. They understand no one wants rampant homelessness, or DEI hiring, or unchecked illegal migration, or rioters who wave terrorist flags while assaulting police officers. They understand that leftist policies actively make people’s lives worse. They actively destroy the well being of millions of people. That&#8217;s why, with just a few months to go until the election, Democrats are pretending to disavow all of those things. They do this all the time before elections, and normally it works.
This time, though, they&#8217;re saddled with the single least authentic politician imaginable. Kamala Harris, of all people, is trying to convince Americans that she&#8217;s tough on Left-wing rioters and illegal immigration. She&#8217;s using Gavin Newsom&#8217;s schtick with a fraction of his charisma. And the reason Democrats are panicking right now, as they look at the polls, is that they realize most people see right through her.

Cleaning Out The Homeless Encampments Just In Time For The Election

2024 Election

Democrats

Gavin Newsom

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

Leftists

Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered homeless encampment sweeps across the state after a Supreme Court decision last month gave cities more authority to deal with the issue.
Newsom&#8217;s <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/07/25/governor-newsom-orders-state-agencies-to-address-encampments-in-their-communities-with-urgency-and-dignity/">executive order</a> advises county and city officials to clean up thousands of homeless encampments, although the order does not force officials to do cleanups, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/us/newsom-homeless-california.html#:~:text=The%20directive%20from%20Gov.%20Gavin,authority%20to%20remove%20homeless%20campers." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets,” Newsom <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/us/newsom-homeless-california.html#:~:text=The%20directive%20from%20Gov.%20Gavin,authority%20to%20remove%20homeless%20campers." target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
“There are simply no more excuses,” he said. “It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
The Supreme Court ruled last month that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places even if there is not enough shelter space to accommodate them, saying such laws do not violate the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The original case involved the Oregon town of Grants Pass, which tried to fine people $295 for sleeping outside when tents began crowding the town’s public parks.
Before the court&#8217;s decision, homeless encampments continued to spread in California, Oregon, and Washington while city officials remained limited in what they could do to address the problem, especially since homeless people often refuse shelter beds.
Newsom&#8217;s order reportedly requires state agencies to work with local governments to house homeless people and provide them with services, not simply move them along. Newsom&#8217;s administration has poured about $24 billion into the homeless issue since 2019.
After the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision, Newsom <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/06/28/governor-newsom-statement-on-supreme-courts-homeless-encampments-decision/">said</a> the ruling &#8220;provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets.&#8221;
&#8220;This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,&#8221; the governor said at the time, adding that California remains &#8220;committed to respecting the dignity and fundamental human needs of all people.&#8221;
Homelessness has plagued California for years. The state has the highest homeless population in the country by far. About 180,000 people were homeless last year across the state, and about 123,000 are unsheltered on a given night, according to the latest homeless count.
Last week, San Francisco Democratic Mayor London Breed announced the city plans to be “very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments.”
The city has struggled for years with rampant homelessness, crime, and open-air drug use driven by fentanyl, all of which have driven people and businesses out of downtown. About 38,000 people <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rising-crime-homelessness-leave-residents-of-san-francisco-and-oakland-on-edge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are homeless</a> in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019.
Homeless encampments near freeways, under overpasses, and near exit ramps have also become so common that California&#8217;s transportation department now has its own protocol and workers for clearing encampments.

California Governor Gavin Newsom Campaigns Against The Recall Attempt In Bay Area

Newsom Issues Executive Order To Remove Homeless Encampments Across California

Courts

Drugs

Fentanyl

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco</a> is planning to ramp up sweeps of homeless encampments after a pivotal Supreme Court decision last week gave cities more authority to deal with the issue.
The court ruled Friday that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places even if there is not enough shelter space, deciding that such laws do not violate the Constitution&#8217;s prohibit on cruel and unusual punishment.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said that thanks to the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling, the city will better be able to clean up the tents that line the city&#8217;s streets.
“With this opportunity, we’ll be able to do more to clean and clear our streets — especially for those who are refusing shelter and services,” Breed said during a press conference at City Hall. “This is very helpful to us as a city.”
“My hope is that we can clear them all,” she said when <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240630182830/https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/san-francisco-encampment-case-19539764.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> by the San Francisco Chronicle how many tents might be cleared as a result of the court&#8217;s decision.
The city will continue to offer “shelter and support” to homeless people, but law enforcement could be more involved in clearing encampments, Breed said.
The 6-3 Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision</a> overturned a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that for the last six years had prohibited cities from enforcing anti-camping ordinances whenever the homeless population outnumbered shelter beds.
The original case involved the Oregon town of Grants Pass, which tried to fine people $295 for sleeping outside when tents began crowding the town&#8217;s public parks.
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Homelessness in the San Francisco area has only gotten worse since before the pandemic. About 38,000 people <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rising-crime-homelessness-leave-residents-of-san-francisco-and-oakland-on-edge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are homeless</a> in the Bay Area on a given night. That’s up 35% since 2019. More than 7,000 people are homeless in San Francisco itself.
San Francisco also has a deadly drug crisis driven by fentanyl, and the city saw record fatal overdoses last year. A total of 752 people died from drug overdoses in San Francisco between January and November, more deaths than in any other year, preliminary data from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/01/05/san-francisco-drug-users-tenderloin-posters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a>.
Harrowing scenes of homeless people engaging in open-air drug use and living in filth on city streets continue to come out of the neighborhoods most in need of help.
Overall crime was down last year, but certain types of crime were up, including car thefts, San Francisco police data <a href="https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/stay-safe/crime-data/crime-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>. Compared to 2019 before the pandemic, however, many types of crime are still elevated, including murders, robberies, burglary, and arson.

Homelessness and Fentanyl Crisis in San Francisco

San Francisco Planning To Escalate Homeless Sweeps After Supreme Court Decision

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Supreme Court</a> ruled 6-3 on Friday that an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/oregon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oregon</a> city’s law restricting camping on public property does not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against enacting cruel and unusual punishments under the Eighth Amendment. 
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the courts did not have the right to strike down laws enacted by the city of Grants Pass in response to the homelessness crisis. Gorsuch was joined by Justices Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett, with Clarence Thomas writing a concurring opinion. 
“The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people and in their place dictate this Nation’s homelessness policy,” Gorsuch wrote. 
Previously, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Grants Pass could not enforce its restrictions on sleeping on public property if the number of publicly available beds for the homeless was less than the number of homeless estimated in the area. The city’s laws, including fines of $295 for sleeping on public property, were challenged under the Eighth Amendment on behalf of a group of homeless people in the area. 
“Yes, people will disagree over which policy responses are best; they may experiment with one set of approaches only to find later another set works better; they may find certain responses more appropriate for some communities than others,” Gorsuch wrote. “But in our democracy, that is their right. 
“Nor can a handful of federal judges begin to ‘match’ the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding ‘how best to handle’ a pressing social question like homelessness,” he added. 
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan all dissented. 
“Sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime. For some people, sleeping outside is their only option,” Sotomayor wrote. “For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional.”
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Grants Pass Mayor Sara Bristol <a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-homeless-camping-bans-506ac68dc069e3bf456c10fcedfa6bee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Associated Press she was grateful for the court’s decision. 
“This lawsuit was about whether cities have a right to enforce camping restrictions in public spaces, and I’m relieved that Grants Pass will be able to reclaim our city parks for recreation,” she said. “Homelessness is a complex issue, and our community has been trying to find solutions.”
Cities across the country have grappled with how to handle increasing homelessness in recent years, with an estimated 582,000 homeless in 2022.

Homeless in Skid Row

SCOTUS Rules In Favor Of Oregon City’s Ban On Homeless Encampments

Oregon

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