The Supreme Court has let stand a previous ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that found it unconstitutional for cities such as Santa Clarita and local governments to pass laws prohibiting sleeping on sidewalks or public places as well as removing homeless encampments, officials said.

The City of Santa Clarita Municipal Code prohibits camping in parks or public spaces, as well as sleeping on sidewalks or in public areas. Those rules have not been enforced since mid-2018, according to Jerrid Mckenna, assistant to the City manager.

“Right now if we get a call from a resident saying there’s an individual experiencing homelessnness, we’ll actually do some outreach to Bridge To Home in conjunction with our Sheriff’s Station, who has a designated sergeant and deputy,” Mckenna said. “They’ll provide outreach to get them in touch with the various local nonprofits that provide services. But they do not issue citations. And that is consistent compliant with the ruling.”

The 9th Circuit Court ruled in Martin v. City of Boise that as long as homeless people have no alternatives, such as available shelter beds, it is unconstitutional to criminalize sleeping outside, according to court documents.

“So long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors on public property,” wrote Judge Marsha Berzon.

Between 2007 and 2009, five homeless residents of Boise were cited for violating the City’s ordinance against camping or sleeping in public places. The five filed a lawsuit against the City in 2009. They argued that the City’s law violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment, according to the ruling.

The district court originally ruled in favor of Boise after the City modified enforcement of their ordinance to only take effect if all three shelters in the City reported being full.

Boise appealed to the 9th Circuit. They argued that empty beds are not the same as available beds. Shelters often have limits to how long a person can stay, so someone who has exceeded that limit will be turned away, and those beds, while unoccupied, are not available to that individual.

See Related: Santa Clarita City Council To Discuss Fighting Homelessness With Public Sleeping Ban

It was also demonstrated in Boise that some private, religious shelters had mandatory religious programs and people could be denied services for refusing to participate, according to the 9th Circuit court documents.

For those reasons, the court agreed that empty beds are not the same as available beds, and therefore the City’s modified enforcement did not rise to a high enough standard to overcome the plaintiffs’ argument. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, overturning the previous district court’s ruling in favor of the City of Boise.

The case was appealed by Boise to the Supreme Court with cities, counties and states joining Boise by filing amicus briefs in support. Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by groups or individuals not directly involved in the case, but with a strong interest in its outcome. That effort has been joined by law enforcement associations, chambers of commerce and various cities and counties, including Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also filed an Amicus brief in support of Boise. Katheryn Barger, representing LA’s 5th district, which covers the Santa Clarita Valley, expressed her disappointment after the Supreme Court’s decision.

“A review by the Supreme Court providing clarity to the Boise ruling could have added one more tool in our set of strategies to combat this humanitarian crisis,” Barger wrote in a public statement. “Nonetheless, we continue to move forward with a sense of urgency.”

On Dec. 16, the Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an appeal of the 9th Circuit’s decision. Denying the appeal made the 9th Circuit decision the final decision. Cities will have to find a way to interpret the Boise decision and enforce their laws concerning the homeless that fit within the framework of that ruling.

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