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By Lindsay Whitehurst

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON 鈥斅燭he Supreme Court on Friday聽cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on聽homeless people聽sleeping outdoors in public places, overturning a ruling from a California-based appeals court that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking.

This is the high court鈥檚 most significant ruling on the issue in decades and comes as a rising number of people in the U.S. are聽without a permanent place to live.

In聽a 6-3 decision聽along ideological lines, the high court found that outdoor sleeping bans don鈥檛 violate the Eighth Amendment.

Western cities had argued that the ruling made it harder to manage聽outdoor encampments in public spaces, but homeless advocates said punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness.

In California, which is home to one-third of the country鈥檚 homeless population, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said the decision gives state and local officials the authority to clear 鈥渦nsafe encampments鈥� from the streets while acting with compassion.

鈥淭his decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years,鈥� he said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged those concerns in the opinion he wrote for the majority.

鈥淗omelessness is complex,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚ts causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it. A handful of federal judges cannot begin to 鈥榤atch鈥� the collective wisdom the American people possess in deciding 鈥榟ow best to handle鈥� a pressing social question like homelessness.鈥�

Gorsuch suggested that people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors could raise that as a 鈥渘ecessity defense,鈥� if they are ticketed or otherwise punished for violating a camping ban.

Homeless advocates, on the other hand, have said that allowing cities to punish people who have no other place to sleep would ultimately make the crisis worse. Cities had been allowed to regulate encampments under a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling but couldn鈥檛 completely bar people from sleeping outdoors.

鈥淪leep is a biological necessity, not a crime,鈥� said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reading from the bench a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues. 鈥淗omelessness is a reality for so many Americans.鈥�

Punishing people for something they can鈥檛 control, like homelessness, is cruel and unusual, she said. She warned that striking down Eighth Amendment arguments against camping bans likely won鈥檛 end the fights over the ordinances in court.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, criticized the majority ruling, saying cities shouldn鈥檛 鈥渁ttempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail.鈥� The only way to truly address it, she said, is to connect people with housing and services.

The case came from聽the Oregon city of Grants Pass, which appealed a ruling striking down local ordinances that fined people $295 for sleeping outside after tents began crowding public parks. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over the nine Western states, since 2018 has held that such bans violate the Eighth Amendment in areas where there aren鈥檛 enough shelter beds.

Grants Pass Mayor Sara Bristol told The Associated Press that the city will not immediately start enforcing those local ordinances fining people for sleeping outside and that the city council will need to review the decision and determine the next steps.

鈥淭his lawsuit was about whether cities have a right to enforce camping restrictions in public spaces, and I鈥檓 relieved that Grants Pass will be able to reclaim our city parks for recreation,鈥� said Bristol, who serves in a nonpartisan position. 鈥淗omelessness is a complex issue, and our community has been trying to find solutions.鈥�

Attorney Theane Evangelis, who represented Grants Pass before the high court, applauded the ruling, saying the 9th Circuit decision had 鈥渢ied the hands of local governments.鈥�

鈥淵ears from now, I hope that we will look back on today鈥檚 watershed ruling as the turning point in America鈥檚 homelessness crisis,鈥� she said.

In Portland, meanwhile, a spokesperson for the mayor鈥檚 office said the effect of the ruling would likely be muted since the state has separate legal limits on how cities can manage encampments. Seattle officials also expected a limited impact.

An attorney for homeless people who live in Grants Pass bemoaned the decision.

鈥淲e are disappointed that a majority of the court has decided that our Constitution allows a city to punish its homeless residents simply for sleeping outside with a blanket to survive the cold when there is nowhere else for them to go,鈥� said Ed Johnson, director of litigation at the Oregon Law Center.

Friday鈥檚 ruling comes after homelessness in the United States聽grew a dramatic 12 percent聽last year to its highest reported level, as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more people.

More than聽650,000 people are estimated to be homeless, the most since the country began using a yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. A lack of access to mental health and addiction resources can contribute to the crisis. Older adults, LGBTQ+ people and people of color are disproportionately affected by homelessness, advocates said.

Nearly half of people without housing sleep outside, federal data shows.

Derrick Belgarde, executive director of the nonprofit Chief Seattle Club, said some people may simply choose to sleep outside. Before his organization was started, members of the local Native American community weren鈥檛 using shelters because they didn鈥檛 feel either safe in them or as though they belonged.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to cause a lot of pain, a lot of misery to deny people the right to safety, to feel safe, to feel a sense of belonging,鈥� said Belgarde, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be devastating for a lot of people.鈥�

The 9th Circuit decision had governed nine states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Editor鈥檚 note: Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C., John Antczak in Los Angeles, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Adam Beam in Sacramento, California, contributed to this story.