Grants Pass, Oregon—

On a rainy weekend morning in this tree-lined Oregon community, a pickleball game is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of an ambulance. Paramedics rushed across the park to a tent, one of dozens set up illegally by hundreds of homeless people in the town, and the game resumed as if nothing had happened.

Just a few feet away, volunteers helped dismantle tents and move an 80-year-old man and a woman who was blind in one eye and risked being fined for staying too long. In the distance, a group of boys are climbing on a jungle gym.

The scenes are emblematic of the crisis facing the Oregon mountain town of Grants Pass, where a fierce battle for park space has become a battleground in a larger national debate on homelessness, which has been submitted to the United States Supreme Court.

The town’s case, set to be heard on April 22, has broad implications not just for Grants Pass but for how communities across the country address homelessness, including whether people who camp in public spaces can be fined or jailed. That makes the town of 40,000 an unexpected poster child for the national homelessness crisis and further fuels debate over how to deal with the problem.

“I certainly hope this isn’t what my town is known for,” Mayor Sarah Bristol told The Associated Press last month. “That’s not why I became mayor. However, it has dominated everything I’ve done for the past 3 1/2 years.”

Officials across the political spectrum — from California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who accounts for nearly 30% of the nation’s homeless population — to 22 conservative-led states, have weighed in. The lawsuit filed a brief saying the lower court ruling hampered their efforts. Ability to handle campsites.

Like many Western communities, Grants Pass has struggled with a growing homeless population for years. A decade ago, City Council members discussed how to make our city “uncomfortable enough… so that they would want to move on.” From 2013 to 2018, the city said it had implemented regulations to ban people in public places, including cars. 500 tickets were issued for camping or sleeping inside), and fines can run into hundreds of dollars.

But a 2018 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit changed that. The court, whose jurisdiction includes nine Western states, held that while communities were allowed to ban tents in public places, it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment for sleeping outdoors when they had nowhere to go. persons are subject to criminal penalties.

Four years later, in a case challenging Grants Pass’s restrictions, the court expanded that ruling, holding that civil subpoenas could also be unconstitutional.

Civil rights groups and attorneys for homeless residents who challenged the restrictions in 2018 insisted that people should not be penalized for lack of housing. They believe officials in Western countries exaggerated the impact of the court’s decision to distract from their own mistakes.

“For years, political leaders have chosen to tolerate encampments as an alternative to effectively address the critical housing shortage in the West,” the attorneys wrote. “It is easier to blame the courts than to accept responsibility for finding solutions.”

In Grants Pass, the town’s parks, many of which sit along the picturesque Rogue River, are a bone of contention. Popular for their open spaces, picnic tables, playgrounds and sports fields, they host events ranging from an annual boat regatta and antique car show to Easter egg hunts and summer concerts.

It’s also home to encampments ravaged by illegal drug use and crime, including a shooting at the park last year that left one person dead. Tents were clustered along the river bank, adjacent to tennis courts and jungle gyms, and were protected from rain by tarps. When the sun comes out, clothes and blankets are hung on the branches to dry. Used needles littered the floor.

Grants Pass has only one adult overnight shelter, Gospel Rescue Mission. It has 138 beds, but rules including attending daily Christian services, no drinking, taking drugs or smoking and no pets mean many people will not live there.

Nurse Cassy Leach leads a team of volunteers providing food, medical care and other basic items to hundreds of homeless people in town. They helped relocate the tents to comply with city rules.

Last month, she checked on a man who had overdosed on fentanyl and burned his leg after falling on a lighter at a park, and brought him naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. In another photo, she hands out cans of beans, peas and Chef Boyardee mini ravioli from a pickup truck.

“Love, hope, community and a safety net are really just as important as showers and water,” Leach said.

Dre Buetow, 48, of Northern California, had been living in his car for three years after being diagnosed with bone cancer and racking up $450,000 in medical bills. He said the illness and treatment prevented him from returning to his old tree-trimming job.

Laura Gutowski, in her 50s, suddenly found herself without an income when her husband died of a pulmonary embolism. They had no life insurance or savings, and within a month she was sleeping outside the city where she grew up.

“I used to love camping,” she said through tears. “Now I can’t take it anymore.”

Volunteers like Leach came to her rescue. “They are angels,” she said.

But some residents want aid limited because of the trash left behind after camps are relocated or food is distributed. The City Council proposed requiring outreach groups to register with the city. The mayor vetoed the bill, exposing the discord in Grants Pass.

Last month, before the council tried unsuccessfully to overturn the veto, a group calling itself “Park Watch” rallied outside City Hall, holding signs that read “Parks are for kids.” Drivers of passing vehicles honked their horns to show their support.

The organization regularly posts images of trash, tents and homeless people on social media. On Sundays, they will set up camping chairs, supposedly to reclaim park space.

Brock Spurgeon said he once took his grandchildren to the park and it was so crowded that it was difficult to find a picnic table. Now, public drug use and discarded needles have scared away families, he said.

“When campers started using the park, we lost that feeling,” he said.

Still, Spurgeon said his own brother died while homeless in a nearby city, while his son lived in a park and battled drug addiction. At one point, he said, he realized with a shock that the homeless man covered in a blanket when he walked into a grocery store was his son.

“I miss my son every night and I hold my breath hoping he doesn’t do drugs in the park,” Spurgeon said.

Bristol’s mayor and supporters are trying to open a shelter with fewer rules or designate a campsite for homeless people. But questions about where the project will be located and who will pay for it have sparked fierce debate.

While support for designated campgrounds appears to be growing, a problem remains: Many of Grants Pass’s homeless people have nowhere to stay. Some advocates worry that the return of strict anti-camping enforcement will push people into forests outside cities and away from help.

Even if the Supreme Court overturns the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, Bristol said, “we still have 200 people who have to go somewhere.”

“We have to accept that homelessness is a reality in America,” she said.