State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Homelessness Ruling: Sleeping on Streets Can't Be a Crime When No Shelters Are Available

Governing: Cities can't make it a crime to sleep on a public street or sidewalk when no homeless shelters are available, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case that could affect so-called "sit/lie" ordinances in San Francisco and elsewhere.

The constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment," under the Eighth Amendment, prohibits "criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter," said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The state, the court said, "may not criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless."

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