No favor

The U.S. Supreme Court is doing western cities, including Anchorage, no favor in declining to hear a landmark case on homelessness that could have allowed communities to deal differently with homeless people sleeping on their streets.

Without comment or dissent, it let stand a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Martin v. City of Boise that curbs city police powers in nine western states to block people from sleeping on public property if no other shelter is available.

The appeals court ruling held that punishing people for sleeping on public property when there are no shelter beds or housing available is unconstitutional because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

All of which leaves cities across the West wondering: What to do now? The Boise ruling hogties them. It would appear that when available shelters are full to capacity, the homeless can sleep just about anywhere they like on public property.

That would appear to mean about the only options left under the Boise decision would be the addition of new shelters and housing. But at what cost?

At what point do our cities become unlivable? Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and a host of other cities are well on their way, with huge homeless camps and their attendant health and welfare problems. Anchorage already has more than its share of homeless camps that pop up here and there, leaving huge messes, health problems and public expense – and beggars on many of its street corners.

While the high court severely has limited what cities, including Anchorage, can do to address the homeless camp problem, it has almost ensured taxpayers will be tapped to provide more housing and shelters.