Next City, August 8, 2024, The Supreme Court’s Grants Pass Decision Has Lit A Fire Under Homeless Advocacy Groups
This alarming acceleration of threats to unhoused people has pushed homeless advocacy groups to craft a menu of strategies to protect unsheltered residents. This includes developing new model legislation to prevent criminalization and calling for more federal funding to provide affordable housing.
Some advocates believe the ruling may open possibilities to further push governments to revitalize the social safety net whose fraying created the modern homeless crisis. “I do think it may serve as a catalyst for the kind of organizing that has been absent from the sector for the better part of 30 years,” says Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, who was once homeless himself. “I see a new level of excitement about grassroots organizing, elevating the voices of people with lived experience and real, real action in the community.”
