Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 57

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

13 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

IV 
Grants  Pass’s  Ordinances  criminalize  being  homeless.
The status of being homeless (lacking available shelter) is
defined  by  the  very  behavior  singled  out  for  punishment 
(sleeping  outside).    The  majority  protests  that  the  Ordi-
nances “do not criminalize mere status.”  Ante, at 21.  Say-
ing so does not make it so.  Every shred of evidence points 
the other way.  The Ordinances’ purpose, text, and enforce-
ment  confirm  that  they  target  status,  not  conduct.    For 
someone with no available shelter, the only way to comply 
with the Ordinances is to leave Grants Pass altogether. 

A 

Start with their purpose.  The Ordinances, as enforced, 
are  intended  to  criminalize  being  homeless.    The  Grants 
Pass City Council held a public meeting in 2013 to “ ‘identify 
solutions to current vagrancy problems.’ ”  App. to Pet. for
Cert. 168a.  The council discussed the City’s previous efforts 
to  banish  homeless  people  by  “buying  the  person  a  bus 
ticket to a specific destination,” or transporting them to a 
different jurisdiction and “leaving them there.”  App. 113– 
114.  That was unsuccessful, so the council discussed other 
ideas, including a “ ‘do not serve’ ” list or “a ‘most unwanted 
list’ made by taking pictures of the offenders . . . and then 
disseminating  it  to  all  the  service  agencies.”  Id.,  at  121. 
The council even contemplated denying basic services such 
as  “food,  clothing,  bedding,  hygiene,  and  those  types  of 
things.”  Ibid. 

The idea was deterrence, not altruism.  “[U]ntil the pain
of staying the same outweighs the pain of changing, people
will not change; and some people need an external source
to  motivate  that  needed  change.”  Id.,  at  119.    One  coun-
cilmember opined that “[m]aybe they aren’t hungry enough 
or cold enough . . . to make a change in their behavior.”  Id., 
at  122.  The  council  president  summed  up  the  goal  suc-
cinctly: “ ‘[T]he point is to make it uncomfortable enough for