A June 28 Supreme Court ruling has allowed cities to dismantle homeless encampments on public property, overruling previous lower court decisions that characterized these measures as violating the Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment.)
“This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on commonsense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
The ruling has brought conflicting views about homelessness to the fore, with some framing the removal of camps as an act of cruelty.
“As the Chair of [the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority] and the Board of Supervisors I want to be crystal clear: The criminalization of homelessness and poverty is dangerous. It does not work. And it will not stand in Los Angeles County,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement.
Benjamin Henwood, director of the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research at the University of Southern California, also raised questions about whether strict enforcement in one area would simply push homeless residents to another area with more lax rules.
Ninth Circuit rulings citing the Eighth Amendment stopped some jurisdictions from regulating encampments unless they had enough shelter beds for the entire homeless population.
California spent more than $24 billion combatting homelessness from 2018 to 2023, but much of that cash was unaccounted for according to a statewide audit; California’s Interagency Council on Homelessness simply stopped tracking and reporting data in 2021.
Much of Los Angeles County saw a tiny decline in homelessness since the beginning of 2024. But Antelope Valley, an “end-of-the-line” destination where transit bus and train lines terminate, has seen a 42 percent increase in homeless population since last year.
A similar situation exists in Santa Monica and Long Beach, two other terminus destinations where transient homeless end up after the train tracks run out.
Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock said the city receives an estimated six homeless people almost every hour of the day, and an additional 50 to 75 from the last train each night. “That’s an extra hundred people or more a day wandering around our city. So we are in crisis in Santa Monica,” Mr. Brock said.
Mr. Brock also told The Epoch Times that his city had already been enforcing a ban on encampments, as it was not subject to the lower court’s rulings because it had enough available beds for the homeless.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors in October 2023 anticipated the Supreme Court ruling by drafting the Unsafe Camping Ordinance; the policy utilizes “progressive enforcement,” beginning with a warning about the law and moving to possible arrest.
“We all know homelessness is not a crime, but we cannot ignore the criminal fallout that is spurned from allowing encampments to go unchecked. It only served to increase overdosing, sexual assaults and exploitation, drug and weapons sales and the degradation of the quality of life, not just for the homeless but for all,” 20-year law enforcement veteran Deon Joseph said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
—Beige Luciano-Adams and Stacy Robinson
LASTING PIECE THROUGH NATO
After 10 years of war in Ukraine, NATO leadership now considers membership for Kyiv to be a vital part of ensuring peace in eastern Europe.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said membership of the alliance was the only surefire way to ensure that Russia did not attack Ukraine again after a ceasefire to the current conflict was reached.
The Epoch Times spoke with U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington, who affirmed that the Biden administration had a similar view of the issue.
“We absolutely believe that NATO is in Ukraine’s future,” Mr. Kirby told The Epoch Times.
“One of the things you’re going to see is a reaffirmation of that here at the summit and, you know, a deeper discussion about the path to NATO and what that bridge needs to look like.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made keeping NATO out of Ukraine a key war aim, and said last month that a ceasefire would be contingent upon Ukraine agreeing to never join the alliance.
Were Moscow to relent on that issue, it is still uncertain how Ukraine would secure the unanimous support of all NATO member states that is required for the accession of new members.
Questions of membership aside, NATO has unveiled several key deliverables this week to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russian aggression.
Among them is the establishment of a new military command in Germany that will take over some training and equipping of Ukrainian forces that has thus far been handled by the United States.
Likewise, the alliance announced that it is delivering several F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine this week, which will be operating in Ukrainian skies before the end of summer.
“The F-16s are a very sophisticated aircraft,” Mr. Kirby said.
“Ukrainians are working hard to learn to not only fly, but operate and maintain them, and we expect that they will make a significant difference in helping the Ukrainians protect their skies.”
—Andrew Thornebrooke
BOOKMARKS
The Biden Administration has plans to eliminate a loophole that allowed China to export steel and aluminum into the United States through Mexico. The loophole was meant to avoid tariffs on Chinese imports.
North Carolina election officials have delayed ballot certification of Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornell West’s parties, for a second time. Election board Chairman Alan Hirsch said the delays are meant to give officials enough time to perform “due diligence.”
South Carolina, Texas, and Alaska have all petitioned the Supreme Court to halt President Joe Biden’s student loan relief program. The program would cut some student payments in half.
A Chinese student has pleaded guilty to espionage after photographing docked naval ships with a drone. Shi Fengyun was caught after one of the drones was stuck in a neighbor’s tree and they called the police.
Israel has urged Palestinians to evacuate Gaza, signaling that it plans to continue its assault on Hamas in the region. The military dropped leaflets from planes warning that the region was still a combat zone.
—Stacy Robinson
