Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf
Page Number: 47

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

3 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

A 
Over 600,000 people experience homelessness in America
on any given night, meaning that they lack “a fixed, regu-
lar, and adequate nighttime residence.”  Dept. of Housing 
and Urban Development, T. de Sousa et al., The 2023 An-
nual  Homeless  Assessment  Report  to  Congress  4  (2023
AHAR).  These people experience homelessness in different 
ways.  Although 6 in 10 are able to secure shelter beds, the
remaining 4 in 10 are unsheltered, sleeping “in places not 
meant  for  human  habitation,”  such  as  sidewalks,  aban-
doned  buildings,  bus  or  train  stations,  camping  grounds,
and  parked  vehicles.    See  id.,  at  2.  “Some  sleep  alone  in
public places, without any physical structures (like tents or
shacks) or connection to services.  Others stay in encamp-
ments, which generally refer to groups of people living sem-
ipermanently  in  tents  or  other  temporary  structures  in  a 
public space.”  Brief for California as Amicus Curiae 6 (Cal-
ifornia  Brief )  (citation  omitted).  This  is  in  part  because 
there has been a national “shortage of 188,000 shelter beds 
for individual adults.”  Brief for Service Providers as Amici 
Curiae 8 (Service Providers Brief ). 

People  become  homeless  for  many  reasons,  including
some beyond their control.  “[S]tagnant wages and the lack
of affordable housing” can mean some people are one unex-
pected  medical  bill  away  from  being  unable  to  pay  rent.
Brief for Public Health Professionals and Organizations as 
Amici  Curiae  3.  Every  “$100  increase  in  median  rental
price” is “associated with about a 9 percent increase in the 
estimated homelessness rate.”  GAO, A. Cackley, Homeless-
ness: Better HUD Oversight of Data Collection Could Im-
prove Estimates of Homeless Populations 30 (GAO–20–433,
2020).  Individuals with disabilities, immigrants, and vet-
erans  face  policies  that  increase  housing  instability.    See 
California  Brief  7.  Natural  disasters  also  play  a  role,  in-
cluding  in  Oregon,  where  increasing  numbers  of  people