One year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, a ruling that stripped unhoused people of vital constitutional protections and signaled a retreat from the belief that everyone deserves safety and dignity. The court held that cities can punish people for sleeping outside — even when they have nowhere else to go. For people experiencing homelessness, the message was clear: your existence is a problem to be erased.
At the ACLU of Washington, we understood what this ruling would mean. And over the past year, we’ve seen our worst fears come to life.
What has happened in the past year?
Across the country, some cities have used Grants Pass as a green light to increase the policing and punishment of people living outdoors. We’ve seen ordinances that make survival acts — like resting or seeking shelter from the elements — civil violations or crimes. These policies don’t solve homelessness. They simply push people out of view and deeper into harm.
In Washington state, the response has been mixed. Some jurisdictions accelerated sweeps and enforcement actions, citing the decision to justify clearing encampments without offering real alternatives. We’ve heard directly from people who lost medication, identification, and community during these forced displacements. These actions perpetuate cycles of instability and trauma — and fail to address the root causes of homelessness: unaffordable housing, structural racism, underfunded health systems, and low wages.
How can we push back?
Here in Washington, we are showing what it means to push back. After Grants Pass, communities, advocates, and lawmakers came together to fight for a different approach — one rooted in housing, public health, and human rights. In 2025, HB 1380 was introduced to set statewide standards that ensure local ordinances are “objectively reasonable” and offer people legal protections when shelter isn’t available. The bill didn’t pass — but it sparked a critical conversation and helped shift the narrative.
HB 1380 is more than a piece of legislation. It’s part of a growing movement to stop treating poverty as a public nuisance and start addressing it with compassion, evidence, and justice. It reflects what communities across the state have been demanding for years: stop criminalizing people for being poor and invest in long-term solutions.
What other protections do people who are unhoused have?
We’re also seeing people use every tool available to defend their rights. The Washington State Constitution offers strong protections — protections we’re fighting to assert through litigation, advocacy, and community partnership. Our focus now includes not only fighting unjust laws in court but challenging the narratives that uphold them: the myth that homelessness is a moral failure, the false promise that enforcement equals safety, and the dangerous belief that punishment creates change.
What we need is a different story — one that centers the experiences and leadership of unhoused people, and one that calls out the truth: criminalization is a policy choice. It is a decision to spend public resources on punishment instead of housing. It is a refusal to see unhoused people as neighbors, workers, parents, and community members.
Housing is not a reward for good behavior. It is a human right. And when we criminalize survival, we are not protecting our communities — we are deepening inequality.
It’s time for a different narrative
The ACLU of Washington is committed to a future where no one is punished for being poor, and where the law reflects our shared values of dignity, safety, and belonging. That means ending harmful enforcement practices. It means advancing policies that prioritize care and housing. And it means amplifying the voices of those most impacted by our legal system.
One year after Grants Pass, the Supreme Court has made its position clear. But here in Washington, the fight is far from over — and our movement is growing. We will continue to organize, advocate, and litigate until every person has the freedom to rest, recover, and live with dignity.
Because no one should be arrested for trying to survive. And no court can take away the truth that housing — not punishment — is the solution.
