The United States Supreme Court will soon rule on City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which will decide whether local governments can legally remove unhoused individuals from public property without providing alternative shelter.

In the upcoming decision, Justices could overturn precedent set by Martin v. City of Boise — a 2018 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that prevents states from removing homeless encampments without offering adequate alternative shelter. 

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A decision in favor of Johnson would create a nationwide precedent preventing the criminalization and forced removal of unhoused residents, and could significantly impact which steps the Los Angeles Police Department can take to relocate people experiencing homelessness. South Central has the second-highest unhoused population in the county.

Ricardo Estrada, co-owner of downtown L.A.’s Cesar Haro Floral Design, said he hopes the city will take steps to remove encampments from the area. Estrada said the influx of unhoused individuals in Skid Row has taken a toll on his business in the neighboring Flower District. 

Cesar Haro Floral Design has operated out of L.A.’s Flower District for the past eight years, but recent robberies have prompted the flower shop to consider relocating. Estrada said his clients are wary of walking around the area, especially after dark, which has led to a decline in foot traffic to his business. 

“We don’t get customers like we used to,” Estrada said. “The main reason is the homeless.” 

Estrada said the store now closes earlier after his clients expressed feeling unsafe visiting his store at night. 

The case centers around a 2013 ordinance that imposed civil and criminal penalties on residents of Grants Pass, Oregon who were found using blankets or bedding in public. To work around the Martin v. City of Boise precedent, the ordinance did not outlaw sleeping in public outright but had the same effect. 

A group of unhoused Oregonians has been successful thus far in challenging the law, with the 9th Circuit limiting the scope of the anti-camping ordinance in a 2022 ruling. 

However, if the Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, the decision could overturn Martin v. City of Boise, empowering cities to remove encampments as they see fit without providing shelter beds to displaced individuals.  

Dennis Johnson has been unhoused for two years and has experienced forced relocation in the past. Now, he said he finds relative stability in his tent on Skid Row.

LAPD officers don’t force Johnson to relocate anymore, they only ask him to keep his belongings off of the street for Friday street sweeping. If the police ask him to move, he’ll have to find shelter somewhere else. 

“Police gotta do their job, too,” Johnson said. “But the government could go a little lighter on the people that’s out here on the streets,” 

Zeke Sandoval, a public policy manager with the advocacy group People Assisting The Homeless, said he worries overturning Martin v. City of Boise would make homeless outreach more difficult.

“Putting money into enforcement is not just a waste of money, it’s actively counterintuitive,” Sandoval said. “It makes it really hard for outreach workers like the folks employed by PATH to go out and find that person again. And when they do find them, to rebuild the relationship.” 

Sandoval said investments in housing are more effective than law enforcement. 

“It is completely possible to bring people out of dangerous encampments and into safe and stable temporary housing with a pathway to permanent housing without resorting to law enforcement,” he said.  

Oral arguments are set to begin on Grants Pass v. Johnson in April.