1

March 30, 2025 | 10:30 AM-11:30 AM

Understanding Impact, Overcoming Precedent, Advancing Alternatives

CM Law

GRANTS PASS

2

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction:

Our Speakers

Don Elliott, FAICP

Senior Consultant

Clarion Associates

Chasidy Miles

Fellow, Partnership for the

Bay’s Future Fund

Coro Northern California

Lauren Ashley Week

Attorney and Urban Planner

San Francisco, CA

3

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction

Moderator: Don Elliott, FAICP

Senior Consultant, Clarion Associates

• Assisted over 85 communities with zoning updates, with emphasis on affordable housing
• Teaches land use regulation at CU Denver
• Member of Denver Planning Board
• Bachelors in Urban Planning, Yale
• Juris Doctor and Masters of City and Regional Planning, Harvard

4

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction

Why this session?

Due to the affordable housing crisis, the number of homeless living outside, i.e., unsheltered, has grown dramatically. Due to public complaints, many local governments have responded by restricting the ability to sleep outside – particularly on public property.

​

771,480

individuals

36%

unsheltered

*Based on data collected in January 2024

7%

growth

5

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Agenda

Grants Pass

• Understanding Impact
• Legal
• Social
• Economic
• Overcoming Precedent
• Underscoring Obligations and Tensions
• Constitutional
• Community
• Evolving Federal Framework
• Contrasting State Jurisprudence

• Advancing Alternatives
• Policy Approaches
• Case Studies
• Community Collaborations

6

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Poll

Participation Instructions:

1. Open a web browser on your mobile phone/laptop
2. Log on to https://apa.cnf.io/
3. Scroll to and select our session under the Sunday, March 30 header:
1. Grants Pass: Understanding Impact, Overcoming Precedent, Advancing Alternatives

4) OR scan the QR code located on the left side of this screen

7

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

“Have officials in your community discussed the Grants Pass case and considered changing policies or regulations based on the decision?”

Live Content Slide

When playing as a slideshow, this slide will display live content

Poll: Have officials in your community discussed the Grants Pass case and considered changing policies or regulations based on the decision?

9

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Terminology

Homeless

We will use terms interchangeably, but note some terms have specific legal and policy definitions. We encourage you to use the terminology preferred by the individuals/community you’re working with.

Unhoused

Housing Insecure

Unsheltered

Houseless

People experiencing homelessness

10

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Terminology

Someone sleeping in a public or private place not meant for human habitation

• Street or sidewalk
• Park or open space
• Tent or encampment
• Vehicle
• Abandoned building
• Other makeshift shelters

Unsheltered

11

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction

The Grants Pass Questions

Q: Does restricting the right to sleep outside violate the U.S. Constitution prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishment”?

​

Q: Does it make a difference if the regulating community does not have enough shelter beds to accommodate all those sleeping outside?

12

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Obligations and Tensions

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

nderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”

— Eighth Amendment, U.S. Constitution

​

13

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Obligations and Tensions

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

nderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

— Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. Constitution

​

14

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Police Power and Standards

The “police power” is the general power of local governments to regulate behavior to promote public health, safety, and welfare within the limits of state and federal constitutions and laws

• General standard = “rational relationship” to a legitimate governmental purpose – a very low bar

​

• If “fundamental rights” are involved 🡪 sometimes requires the least restrictive means available – a higher bar

15

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Public health, safety, and welfare

Unsheltered

Pedestrians

Environmental Concerns

Disabled Residents

Building Safety

Infectious Disease Risk

Cyclists

Waste Management

Business Owners

Property Owners

16

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Police Power in Context

“Like many local governments across the Nation, Grants Pass has public camping laws that restrict encampments on public property.”

17

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

Grants Pass, OR – RO 24-5910 (passed post-decision):

• Defines camping, campsite, camp facilities, and camping materials and prohibits camping or storage of related materials for any period of time in any public place except certain locations designated by City Council

​

• Sanctions removal from premises for sleeping on public sidewalks, streets, and alleys and the entrances to both private and public property abutting a public sidewalk at any time
• Violation = $50 fine or other alternative remedies decided by judge; imprinsonment not allowed

Police Power in Context

Regulation & Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors

• City Council designated four sites

18

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

Denver, CO – RMC 38-86 to 86.2:

• Defines camping and prohibits camping on public property (e.g., sidewalks, bike paths, open space) or private property (including HOA lands) except with the express consent of the agency or owner
• Camping in parks is prohibited by another law
• Prohibits obstruction of streets and public passageways but places time and place restrictions on prohibition of sitting or lying down in public right-of-way
• Requires officer to first orally request individual to move, then in writing, as well as assess need for and coordinate mental health and addiction services, before citation or arrest for violation

Police Power in Context

Regulation & Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors

19

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

Albuquerque, NM – RO 2024-049 (passed post-decision):

• Defines camping, encampment, camp facilities, and camp paraphernalia and prohibits camping, establishment of an encampment, or storage of personal property on any publicly owned area
• Creates caveat for “merely sitting, sleeping, or lying . . . on a temporary basis”
• Doesn’t address camping on private land – though general trespass laws require owner permission
• Violation = petty misdemeanor 🡪 fine of up to $500 or imprisonment up to 90 days

Police Power in Context

Regulation & Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors

20

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Obligations and Tensions

Introduction (Elliott, 5 min)-- Topic: Issue, Case, and Holding-- Speakers-- Audience Poll and ReflectionUnderstanding Impact -- Legal Obligations and Tensions (Elliott, 10 min) - Eighth Amendment - Fourteenth Amendment - Police Power - Standard Regulation and Enforcement of Sleeping Outdoors/Encampments - Housing Production (not a traditional city legal obligation)

Housing Production?

• Not usually considered a local government obligation

​

​

• Fair Housing Act decisions have held that the Act requires that local governments not “make unavailable” housing for protected groups under the same conditions applicable to housing for the general public

• BUT does not create an obligation on local governments to provide that housing if it does not exist

​

• BUT note some states, e.g., California (state-level legislation) and New Jersey (Mount Laurel “fair share” doctrine), do obligate affordable housing development

21

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Overcoming Precedent

Speaker: Lauren Ashley Week

Attorney and Urban Planner, San Francisco, CA

• Currently practicing natural resources law
• Clerked in Hawai‘i’s specialized environmental court
• Studied economic development in India as Fulbright-Nehru Scholar
• Bachelors in Legal Studies and Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley
• Juris Doctor and Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Michigan

22

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Evolving Federal Framework

1. Status v. Action?
2. Involuntary or not?

23

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Robinson v. California

370 U.S. 660 (1962)

Facts:

• Convicted for violating LA ordinance prohibiting addiction to narcotics

Legal Reasoning:

• Addiction = status

Holding:

• Criminalization of status constitutes“cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of 8th and 14th

Impact:

• Can use police power to prosecute action, i.e., use of narcotics, but not“mere status”

“Even one day in prison would be a cruel and unusual punishment for the ‘crime’ of having a common cold”

Note: Powell v. Texas,

392 U.S. 514 (1968)

​

“Status” v. “Involuntary Conduct”

24

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Jones v. Los Angeles

444 F.3d 1118 (9th Cir. 2006)

Facts:

• Cited for violating LA ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks

Legal Reasoning:

• Homelessness = status
• Cannot criminalize at all times in all places

Holding:

• Criminalization of status constitutes“cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of 8th and 14th

Impact:

• Can use police power to prosecute actions but not “unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless” so long as there are not enough shelter beds

“Had no choice other than to be on the streets”

25

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Martin v. Boise

902 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2018)

Facts:

• Cited for violating Boise camping & disorderly conduct ordinances
• Police later promulgated “Shelter Protocol” conditionally stopping enforcement when shelters were full

Legal Reasoning:

• Homelessness = status
• Cannot criminalize at all times in all places with broad language

Holding:

• Criminalization of status constitutes“cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of 8th and 14th

Impact:

• Does not require city to provide shelter, but so long as not sufficient, cannot use police power to prosecute “involuntary sitting, lying, and sleeping in public,” reaffirming Jones

“That is, as long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter”

26

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Evolving Federal Framework

“After Martin, suits against Western cities like Grants Pass proliferated.”

27

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Peery v. Miami

977 F.3d 1061 (11th Cir. 2020)

Facts:

• City consent decree, aka “Pottinger Agreement,” from 1998 to offer available shelter before arrest for “life sustaining activity” misdemeanors; procedures for respectful custody of unhoused individuals’ property
• City sought to end decree in 2018

Legal Reasoning:

• Government programs led to 90% countywide decrease
• Any violations (“move-on” orders) are exceptions to compliance and not systemic

Holding:

• Affirmed termination of consent decree

Impact:

• City reported to resume sweeps, courts stayed

“Because the homeless failed to make the necessary prima facie showing, the burden never shifted to the City to explain its noncompliance”

See Cooper-Levy v. Miami

(S.D. Fla.)

28

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Grants Pass v. Johnson

603 U.S. 520 (2024)

Facts:

• Unhoused individuals challenged city camping ordinance
• City’s homeless population surpassed available shelter beds

Legal Reasoning:

• Camping ordinances do not criminalize status
• Prohibit actions that can be taken by anyone
• Powell already declined to extend status to involuntary acts

Holding:

• Enforcing ordinances that penalize sleeping outdoors does not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” under 8th and 14th

Impact:

• Overruled 9th Circuit precedent and sanctioned use of local camping and other related ordinances nationally

“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”

29

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

“Have officials in your community discussed the Grants Pass case and considered changing policies or regulations based on the decision?”

Live Content Slide

When playing as a slideshow, this slide will display live content

Poll: Have officials in your community discussed the Grants Pass case and considered changing policies or regulations based on the decision?

31

Post-Grants Pass Reality

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

190

​

laws

145+

45+

passed

introduced

32

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Over half of post-Grants Pass laws are in California

• Right to Shelter

​

​

• Pro Camping Ordinance

​

​

​

​

​

• Anti Camping Ordinance/Sweeps

33

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Legislation

Case Law

Executive Orders

Contrasting State Jurisprudence

• Homeless Bill of Rights

​

​

​

• Right to Shelter

​

​

• Humane Treatment

​

• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• Illinois

• Massachusetts
• Washington, D.C.

• New York, Callahan v. Carey (1979)

• Encampment Clearance

• California (EO N-1-24)

• Oregon (§ 195.500)

• Alaska, Honing v. Homer (1993)
• California, Tobe v. Santa Ana (1995); Allen v. Sacramento (2015)

• Hawai‘i, State v. Beltran (2007); Davis v. Bissen (2024)

​

​

34

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

“If your community has a camping or public sleeping/sitting/lying ordinance, is it being actively enforced?”

Live Content Slide

When playing as a slideshow, this slide will display live content

Poll: If your community has a camping or public sleeping/sitting/lying ordinance, is it being actively enforced?

36

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Understanding Impact &

Advancing Alternatives

Speaker: Chasidy Miles

Fellow, Partnership for the Bay’s Future | Coro

• Currently overseeing lead hazard abatement and proactive rental inspection at City of Oakland
• Led anti-displacement initiatives at HEART
• Financed LIHTC projects at JPMorgan Chase
• Bachelors in Social Welfare, Minor in Urban Planning, University of California, Berkeley
• Masters of City and Regional Planning, Cornell AAP and Masters in Real Estate, Cornell SC Johnson

37

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Responses to Grants Pass

01

Housing First

Provides immediate housing without preconditions, offering stability so individuals can address other needs

02

Interim Housing

Temporary housing options like tiny homes or hotel conversions offer transitional shelter while people await permanent housing

03

04

05

Social and Medical

Wraparound support services address mental health, addiction, and medical needs, helping people stay housed and regain stability

Designated lots provide sanitation, security, and case management for people living in vehicles, linking them to housing resources

Sweeps

Displaces people without solving homelessness, worsening trauma and fueling cycles between streets, jail, and emergency systems.

Safe RV Parking

The Cost of Encampment Sweeps

Encampment Related Expenditures Across the United States in 2019

Source: HUD Department. (2020, February), “Exploring Homelessness Among People Living in Encampments and Associated Cost”

38

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

39

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Belongings Swept Away

Sentimental Items

Medical

Supplies

Identification

Documents

Clothes and Survival Wear

40

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

An Endless, Whack-a-Mole Problem

Addressing Encampment Closures in East Palo Alto, California

41

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Our Approach

P: Procure Shelter Options for Encampment Residents First

​

A: Adequate Notice and Outreach

​

R: Resources and Storage Support

​

T: Trauma-informed Responses Led by Lived Experience

Sweeps are inhumane and costly, but if they must happen, here are some steps you should consider:

As you establish protocols with your team, ask yourself: is my jurisdiction doing their PART ?

42

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Anti-Displacement Solutions

43

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

The 4 P’s of Housing Policy

Production

Preservation

Protection

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), deeply affordable housing development (0–30% AMI), adaptive reuse (e.g., hotel/motel conversions), density bonuses and zoning reform for affordable projects, ministerial approval

Preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH), acquisition funds for nonprofits to buy at-risk buildings, rehabilitation grants/loans for older buildings, rent stabilization policies, TOPA/COPA

Right to counsel in eviction cases, rental assistance and eviction prevention programs, tenant anti-harassment and retaliation law, rent control and just cause eviction ordinances, rental registries

Prosperity

Workforce development and training for unhoused/formerly unhoused, guaranteed income/basic income pilots, pathways to homeownership, community land trusts and cooperative ownership, local hiring requirements for housing developments

44

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Built for Zero helps communities reach functional zero by uniting agencies around real-time data and measurable goals. It functions like an “air traffic control system” to ensure no one falls through the cracks

Built for

Zero Movement

Partnerships between housing agencies and healthcare providers (e.g., Medicaid waivers, street medicine, recuperative care) prevent hospitalizations and support long-term recovery

Housing as

Healthcare

Restorative policies like right to rest laws, alternatives to arrest, and community responder programs foster safety, dignity, and housing connections without punishment

Restorative Laws Over Criminalization

Solutions Leveraging Housing First Frameworks

$8.5 Million

Annual Savings in Public Safety Costs

CALHOOTS Program

Restoring Livelihoods and Budgets

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

45

46

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

National

Examples

Hennepin County, MN

Developed a comprehensive homelessness response system, reducing unsheltered homelessness by 27% from 2020 to 2023

​

Milwaukee, WI

Implemented a housing first program nearly a decade ago, which resulted in a 92% decrease in its homeless population

​

Houston, TX

Integrated permanent supportive housing with social services, reducing homelessness by over 60% since 2011

​

47

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

“In your opinion, what has been your community’s reaction to any post-Grants Pass legislative or regulatory changes your jurisdiction has made?”

Live Content Slide

When playing as a slideshow, this slide will display live content

Poll: In your opinion, what has been your community’s reaction to any post-Grants Pass legislative or regulatory changes your jurisdiction has made?

49

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

“We know how to end homelessness. We've known for a long time. We just lack the political and public will

to make it happen.”

​

— Mark Horvath, Invisible People

50

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Resources

• Alternatives to Criminalization, National Coalition for the Homeless
• Decriminalizing Homelessness, HUD Exchange
• Effective Homelessness Advocacy Messaging Toolkit, Invisible People
• Beyond the Bridge: A Solution to Homelessness, Documentary
• Encampment Resolution Guide, The Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative
• 19 Strategies for Communities to Address Encampments Humanely and Effectively
• Rapid Response to Homeless Encampments, Corporation for Supportive Housing
• “According to Need,” 99 Percent Invisible

51

APA NPC 2025 | Grants Pass

Thank You!

Q&A

• Don Elliott, delliott@clarionassociates.com
• Lauren Ashley Week, laurenaweek@gmail.com
• Chasidy Miles, cmiles@coronorcal.org