Homelessness in Kentucky After Grants Pass

Blog Post | 113 KY. L. J. ONLINE | March 7, 2025

Homelessness in Kentucky After Grants Pass

By: Casey Parker-Bell, Staff Editor, Vol. 113 

A Supreme Court ruling allowing laws preventing homeless people from sleeping outside has allowed local governments to address homeless encampments in public places. Still, the need for reform to address a rising homelessness crisis remains paramount.

Last summer, the Court ruled an ordinance passed by the small Oregon city, Grants Pass, which punishes people for sleeping and camping in public places, was constitutional.[1] Allowing states and municipalities to prohibit public camping gives local governments flexibility, but it also has a significant influence on the homeless population nationwide. People without a home can now be fined or imprisoned for attempting to find a place to sleep.[2] Although homeless encampments are often associated with the western United States, this issue also impacts Kentucky, where those camping outdoors are already worried about what a new law will mean for them.[3]

Homelessness in the United States is on the rise, reaching its highest recorded level in 2024.[4] A Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) study shows an 18 percent increase in homelessness from 2023 to 2024, attributing the trend to a lack of affordable housing and increased migration.[5] Counts of homeless individuals in Kentucky also indicate rising numbers. A statewide count showed a nine percent increase in the homeless population,[6] and a count in Lexington revealed the city’s homeless population rose more than 26 percent.[7]

The Court’s 6-3 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruled the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause does not bar ordinances that restrict public camping—even to those lacking  “access to alternative shelter.”[8] Justice Neil Gorsuch’s majority opinion stated the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Martin v. Boise, which held the Eighth Amendment prohibited criminal penalties for public camping,[9] had not helped alleviate homelessness and struck down injunctions on laws preventing homeless encampments.[10] The ordinance at issue in Grants Pass created a “stepped up” penalty process for violations of the camping ban in city parks, which two homeless individuals challenged.[11] The majority opinion said the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments pertains to the method or severity of punishment a government may impose and not whether governments “may criminalize particular behavior in the first place.”[12] The dissent, authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, argued that for some “sleeping outside is their only option” and punishing people for homelessness is “cruel and unusual.”[13]

The Kentucky General Assembly moved to prevent camping in public spaces before the Court issued the Grants Pass ruling. Last year, the legislature passed the “Safer Kentucky Act.”[14] The new law prevents “unlawful camping” in public areas.[15] Second and subsequent violations of the law result in a Class B misdemeanor.[16] One of the bill’s cosponsors, state Representative Jason Nemes, told Louisville Public Media that Louisville would “become San Francisco” if changes were not made to prevent homeless encampments.[17] But organizations that provide assistance to homeless people have indicated the new law will make it harder to offer support.[18]

The Safer Kentucky Act has already had an impact. More than 40 people in Louisville have been cited for violating the law.[19] In one case, a woman in labor was cited for unlawful camping in Louisville.[20] Despite these citations, Louisville city officials say there are no projects planned to provide additional safe spaces for the city’s homeless population until 2027.[21] This disparity shows the issue with laws preventing homeless encampments—they address the visibility of the encampments but fail to resolve the underlying causes of homelessness.

While some question if Grants Pass will improve homelessness nationwide,[22] the ruling has also created an opportunity for municipalities to support the unhoused. In Louisville, officers have attempted to connect people receiving citations with services that provide assistance.[23] Lawmakers must consider the factors contributing to homelessness and develop innovative solutions to address them. This includes tackling the housing affordability crisis,[24] considering restarting or establishing new aid programs similar to those created during the COVID-19 pandemic,[25] and revising zoning laws to allow for the construction of more affordable housing units.[26] One example of a potential solution is just outside Austin, Texas, where a 51-acre community of tiny homes provides shelter and support.[27] Even with potential solutions like the one found in Austin, challenges related to local ordinances and the need for a larger scale remain.

Despite Grants Pass establishing a legal framework for communities to address homeless encampments in public spaces, local governments will still need to consider changes to help alleviate the trends of rising homelessness across the country, and to provide help to those in need.

[1] See City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, 603 U.S. 520 (2024).

[2] See Id.

[3] See Emma Goldberg, When Kentucky Bans Homeless Camps, Where Do People Go?, N.Y. Times, (Nov. 5, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/05/business/kentucky-homeless-camps.html.

[4] Jason DeParle, Migrants and End of Covid Restrictions Fuel Jump in Homelessness, N.Y. Times (Dec.27, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/27/us/homelessness-hit-record-level-in-2024.html.

[5] HUD Releases January 2024 Point-in-Time Count Report, U.S. Dep’t of Hous. & Urb. Dev. (Dec. 27, 2024), https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_24_327.

[6] Hannah Saad, Kentucky Groups Are Counting the Number of People Experiencing Homelessness. What Is That Data Used for?, WKMS (Jan. 28, 2025), https://www.wkms.org/housing/2025-01-28/kentucky-groups-are-counting-the-number-of-people-experiencing-homelessness-what-is-that-data-used-for (stating there are more than 5,200 Kentuckians experiencing homelessness).

[7] Beth Musgrave, Report: Lexington homeless population is up 26%. Advocates worry new law will make it worse, Lexington Herald-Leader (Sep. 26, 2024, 5:30 AM), https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article292972359.html (stating Lexington’s homeless population is greater than 3,000).

[8] Grants Pass, 603 U.S. at 533 (quoting Martin v. Boise, 920 F.3d 584, 615 (2019)).

[9] Martin v. Boise, 920 F.3d 584, 616-17 (2019).

[10] Id. at 536.

[11] Id. at 537-38.

[12] Id. at 541-43.

[13] Id. at 563-64 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).

[14] Sylvia Goodman, The Kentucky General Assembly Passes the Safer Ky. Act, Louisville Pub. Media (Mar. 28, 2024, 3:25 PM), https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-03-28/the-kentucky-general-assembly-adopts-the-safer-ky-act.

[15] See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 511.110 (West 2024).

[16] Id.

[17] Divya Karthikeyan, Safer Kentucky Act, Which Punishes Homelessness, Will Take Effect Soon, Louisville Pub. Media (July 11, 2024, 6:00 AM), https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-07-11/safer-kentucky-act-which-punishes-homelessness-will-take-effect-soon.

[18] Divya Karthikeyan, Unhoused Residents, Service Providers in Louisville Concerned about Safer Kentucky Act, Louisville Pub. Media (Apr. 22, 2024, 4:54 PM), https://www.lpm.org/news/2024-04-22/unhoused-residents-service-providers-in-louisville-concerned-about-safer-kentucky-act.

[19] Eleanor McCrary, Dismissed: Homeless Woman Cited for Street Camping while in Labor Cleared of Charge, Courier J. (Jan. 29, 2025, 3:07 PM), https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2025/01/29/street-camping-charge-against-pregnant-kentucky-woman-dismissed/77968455007/.

[20] Id. The charges were later dismissed by a Louisville judge.

[21] Marina Johnson, Dozens of ‘Unlawful Camping’ Citations Issued in Months after Safer Kentucky Act Begins, Courier J. (Dec. 17, 2024, 5:01 AM), https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2024/12/17/unlawful-camping-safer-kentucky-act-house-bill-5-louisville/75689330007/.

[22] Times Editorial Board, Grants Pass Ruling Will Do Nothing to End Homelessness, Los Angeles Times (June 29, 2024, 3:00 AM), https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-06-29/editorial-grants-pass-ruling-will-only-make-it-harder-to-end-homelessness.

[23] Katrina Nickell, Louisville Police Balance Enforcement and Assistance Under New Public Camping Ban, WDRB (Dec. 19, 2024), https://www.wdrb.com/news/louisville-police-balance-enforcement-and-assistance-under-new-public-camping-ban/article_38043a0a-b27c-11ef-87f8-c32eb0221b05.html.

[24] Drew Dresilver, A Look at the State of Affordable Housing in the U.S., Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Oct. 25, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/25/a-look-at-the-state-of-affordable-housing-in-the-us/ (stating more than 31 percent of households in the U.S. were “cost burdened”); Conor Dougherty, Why Too Few Homes Get Built in the U.S., N.Y. Times (Aug. 22, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/briefing/us-housing-crisis.html (stating too few homes are being built to align with population growth).

[25] Erika Bolstad, As Pandemic Rent Relief Ends, States Struggle to Prevent Homelessness, Stateline (Jan. 23, 2023, 12:00 AM), https://stateline.org/2023/01/23/as-pandemic-rent-relief-ends-states-struggle-to-prevent-homelessness/.

[26] Carl Smith, Few Mayors Connect the Dots Between Zoning and Homelessness, Governing (Jan. 30, 2023), https://www.governing.com/community/few-mayors-connect-the-dots-between-zoning-and-homelessness.

[27] Lucy Tompkins, Can a Big Village Full of Tiny Homes Ease Homelessness in Austin?, N.Y. Times (Jan. 9, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/headway/homelessness-tiny-home-austin.html.