Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 51

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

7 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

This is a big game of whack-a-mole.’ ”  Id., at 24.  Consider 
Jerry Lee, a Grants Pass resident who sleeps in a van.  Over 
the  course  of  three  days,  he  was  woken  up  and  cited  six 
times for “camping in the city limits” just because he was 
sleeping in the van.  App. 99 (capitalization omitted).  Lee 
left the van each time only to return later to sleep.  Police 
reports eventually noted that he “continues to disregard the 
city  ordinance  and  returns  to  the  van  to  sleep  as  soon  as
police leave the area.  Dayshift needs to check on the van 
this morning and . . . follow up for tow.”  Ibid. (same).

Shelter beds that are available in theory may be practi-
cally unavailable because of “restrictions based on gender, 
age, income, sexuality, religious practice, curfews that con-
flict  with  employment  obligations,  and  time  limits  on 
stays.”  Social  Scientists  Brief  22.    Studies  have  shown, 
however, that the “vast majority of those who are unshel-
tered would move inside if safe and affordable options were 
available.”    Service  Providers  Brief  8  (collecting  studies). 
Consider CarrieLynn Hill.  She cannot stay at Gospel Res-
cue Mission, the only entity in Grants Pass offering tempo-
rary beds, because “she would have to check her nebulizer 
in  as  medical  equipment  and,  though  she  must  use  it  at 
least once every four hours, would not be able to use it in 
her  room.”  Disability  Rights  Brief  18.    Similarly,  Debra 
Blake’s  “disabilities  prevent  her  from  working,  which 
means she cannot comply with the Gospel Rescue Mission’s
requirement that its residents work 40-hour work weeks.” 
Ibid. 

Before I move on, consider one last example of a Nashville
man  who  experienced  homelessness  for  nearly  20  years.
When an outreach worker tried to help him secure housing,
the worker had difficulty finding him for his appointments
because he was frequently arrested for being homeless.  He 
was arrested 198 times and had over 250 charged citations,
all for petty offenses.  The outreach worker made him a t-
shirt  that  read  “Please  do  not  arrest  me,  my  outreach