Supreme Court can fix the homeless crisis that the government caused [Video]

On Monday, April 22, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The question before the justices is: did the Ninth Circuit correctly hold that the Eighth Amendment prevents cities from enforcing civil or criminal restrictions on the homeless sleeping or camping on public property? Underlying the specific legal question in the case is a larger social question: How did our country get to where hundreds of thousands are homeless? 

Reasonable people agree that the homeless crisis presents a serious public policy problem. Growing homeless populations encroaching on public and private property and the resulting conflicts among people who use or own those spaces have forced the nation and the courts, like the Ninth Circuit here, to grapple with the problem. But the solution won’t be found in the courts. Courts can’t build housing. And more affordable housing will solve the homeless crisis.  

Many believe that it’s entirely mental illness and drug use that drive the homeless …