City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson

Access Services is heartbroken at the recent Supreme Court decision on City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, which will allow local governments to criminalize homelessness when no other shelter exists. As a provider of Street Outreach, Street Medicine, and Mobile Crisis, we have a front row seat to the deleterious impact of living outside and to the harm of having no place to legally exist.  The Supreme Court has shifted the decision-making power about criminalizing homelessness to local government entities.   We believe that investing in all community members is in the interest of the whole community. We know that often, fear presents as opposition.

We hope to continue to name strategies to address homelessness itself and the fear that gets in the way of innovative and collaborative solutions that are already being proven successful in other communities, including some of our local communities.  We must lead past fear in this call to action. We join many other community partners in the hope that our local governments will choose to care for and protect homeless constituents, and we are committed to continuing our efforts to provide quality services and to serving as a catalyst for compassionate community response.

To learn more about the housing crisis and how it’s affecting our community, please visit our page Understanding Homelessness.

Please direct all requests for comments to: marketing@accessservices.org