SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Betty Young has been through a lot in the last year.
“I’ve been here all my life. Six weeks old when I came here, and I never knew anything about homelessness until now,” Young said.
Last year, she lost her apartment in National City, had trouble finding Section 8 housing and had to stay on the streets for a month or so.
“The things that you see out there, the people that you meet; there’s a whole lot of people there that shouldn’t be. They want to have housing. They don’t want to live out there. People think that we just want to be outside; it’s not that way,” Young said.
She now lives out of her car.
“It’s terrifying because it takes forever for tomorrow to come,” Young said.
There’s a new tomorrow for communities when it comes to tackling the homelessness crisis.
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a homeless camping ban that prevents the unhoused from sleeping outside in Grants Pass, Oregon, doesn’t violate cruel and unusual punishment.
“The Supreme Court recognizes that it is perfectly reasonable for cities to regulate encampments on public property, and it’s necessary that we do so,” Councilmember Steve Whitburn, City of San Diego, said.
Whitburn penned the City’s unsafe camping ordinance, which the City approved a year ago.
He told ABC 10News that the high court’s decision validates what the City is doing and has on the books.
“In Grants Pass, they don’t require shelter and they’re regulating individuals who might be in a park. The City of San Diego goes further than that. We actually do, in most cases, [have] access to a shelter bed,” Whitburn said.
San Diego’s ordinance bans homeless encampments from camping on public property if shelter beds are open. However, shelter beds withstanding, police can kick people out of camping within a two-block radius of a school, transit hub, shelter, parks and any open space.
In the Supreme Court’s decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch writes, in the opinion of the court, "Nothing in today's decision prevents states, cities, and counties from going a step further and declining to criminalize public camping altogether."
ABC 10News asked Whitburn if he thinks the City will revisit its ordinance, given that the Supreme Court is giving communities carte blanche to enforce it regardless of shelter bed access.
“There is no reason at this point to change the ordinance. It certainly is constitutional; the Supreme Court recognizes its constitutionality,” Whitburn said. We will continue to provide shelter and housing for people in need. And we will continue to require that people not camp on the streets when we have a better option available for them.”
