The U.S. Supreme Court has upended one of the most foundational principles of American law - the rule that someone can’t be charged with a crime simply because of who they are, (“Supreme Court reverses Oregon homelessness case, finds Grants Pass public camping laws aren’t ‘cruel and unusual,’” June 28). As a candidate for Portland City Council in District 2, I am terrified on behalf of the unhoused for what may come.
Portland spent millions in the last year on pointless encampment sweeps that keep people constantly houseless. The extremist majority of the Supreme Court has expanded a housing and affordability crisis that our justice system and social safety net are simply not equipped to solve. You can’t criminalize existence. I’m calling on all candidates for Portland City Council to call for and commit to an end to tent sweeps. I call on them to use the sweep funding to pay for emergency temporary shelters instead, and to pass my Pro-Portland Plan’s Renters Bill of Rights. It’s time to view housing inequities not as a public nuisance requiring policing, but rather as a public need that requires empathetic and cost-effective services.