{"id":27971,"date":"2024-04-26T19:56:05","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T01:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-watches-supreme-court-homeless-case\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:16:58","slug":"farmington-watches-supreme-court-homeless-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-watches-supreme-court-homeless-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington watches Supreme Court homeless case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Frank
Frank sits in his tent with a river view in Pofrtland, Oregon, in June 2021. A case regarding homeless encampments that is before the U.S. Supreme Court could have major implications for cities nationwide. (Paula Bronstein\/The Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Farmington City Council was being proactive when adopting ordinances addressing homelessness, but now the constitutionality of those codes are being determined by the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

In a historic case addressing the criminalization of homelessness, the Supreme Court will decide City of Grants Pass, Oregon vs. Gloria Johnson, et al., in June. The case challenged the legality of the municipal code in Grants Pass, Oregon, which prohibits camping in public places, such as sidewalks, streets, alleys, public rights of way, benches and other publicly owned property.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re monitoring the Supreme Court case, and we\u2019re looking forward to seeing what opinion they may issue to determine what guidelines they are going to provide on how to deal with a problem that every community is dealing with which the homeless encampments,\u201d said Farmington City Attorney Jennifer Breakell.<\/p>\n

Farmington\u2019s city code closely mirrors that of Grants Pass by prohibiting camping in public areas, which are defined as \u201cstreet, highway, park, parking lot, pedestrian way, and the common areas of a school, hospital, apartment building, office building, public building, transport facility or business,\u201d according to Sec. 18-3-17 of the municipal code.<\/p>\n

Sec. 18-3-18 of Farmington\u2019s code also prohibits \u201csitting or lying down on public sidewalks or sleeping outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city code of Grants Pass prohibits \u201csleeping on sidewalks, streets or alleyways at anytime as a matter of individual and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

The code was challenged and went to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in a 2-1 opinion struck down the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt basically found that under the Eighth Amendment that it was cruel and unusual punishment to basically charge someone with a crime and incarcerate them for the simple fact that they had nowhere to sleep,\u201d said civil rights lawyer Luis Robles of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

A brief filed in the case by the Biden administration, which is \u201cin support of neither party\u201d states there are more than 6,000 homeless individuals in the U.S. and that \u201cin 2023, nearly 40% of homeless individuals slept in unsheltered, public locations \u2013 under bridges, in cars, in parks, on the sidewalk or in abandoned buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brief does argue against the criminalization of homelessness stating that studies show \u201claws that effectively criminalize the inability to obtain shelter often serve only to exacerbate the problem of homelessness,\u201d and \u201ccan also harm the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Albuquerque
Albuquerque closed Coronado Park, pictured above, in August 2022. About 100 unhoused people were living in the park, and were evicted amid a housing shortage afflicting the city and state. (Photo by Gino Gutierrez \/ Source NM)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Criminalization based on status has been the argument against the Grants Pass code, and the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that \u201cyou could not impose a criminal penalty on someone because they were a heroin addict\u201d in Robinson vs. California. \u201cYou can\u2019t criminalize someone\u2019s status,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a distinction between your status and your conduct,\u201d Robles said, using the analogy of a drunken driver, who would say they could not be charged with DWI, because, \u201cI\u2019m an alcoholic, that\u2019s my status. You can\u2019t criminalize it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you\u2019re an alcoholic doesn\u2019t mean you get to engage in conduct otherwise illegal. Thus, that\u2019s why you can arrest and charge and convict someone who\u2019s an alcoholic driving under the influence,\u201d Robles said. \u201cJust because you have a certain status doesn\u2019t mean that you get to go and engage in conduct and have your status protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robles said he believes the same would apply to the homelessness issue as the Supreme Court \u201cfocused on this whole distinction about whether being homeless is a status that allows you basically to force the government into this Hobson\u2019s choice that you provide me housing or you let me sleep in the park was giving people who are homeless this right that no one else has \u2013 government give me housing or let me sleep wherever it is on city property that I want to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Louis
Louis Robles of the Robles, Rael and Anaya law firm of Albuquerque. (Courtesy photo)<\/span>\u00a9 Craig Wood<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Robles worked on the state\u2019s opioid litigation for five years, and through that he came to learn about the nature of homelessness in New Mexico. \u201cHomelessness is so many different things\u201d in this state, he said.<\/p>\n

There is the domestic violence survivor, who is homeless with her children because she was beaten by her husband and had to leave home. \u201cThey do not seek to live on the streets,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

But then, there are those who are addicted to opioids or methamphetamine or they might suffer from bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the folks who want nothing more than to stay out of those confines which are homeless shelters. \u2026 They would much rather live on the streets,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat essentially is a choice, even if there is government housing available to them, they will voluntarily choose, because of the nature of their addiction, to live out on the streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This leads to another set of legal problems, according to Robles. The city of Albuquerque ran into this when officials seized the property of homeless people who were camping on the streets. The homeless had everything they owned with them when they were arrested and then, the city had nowhere to store their belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to take all of those belongings and keep them in storage and safeguarded,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n

With the Supreme Court set to decide in June, Robles said he thinks the high court will overturn the 9th Circuit\u2019s opinion, \u201cfinding that the ordinance in Grants Pass is constitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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