Statement on June 28, 2024 Supreme Court Ruling: 

Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson in favor of the City of Grants Pass. The crux of this case hinged on whether issuing civil citations and criminal charges, per the City of Grants Pass’s municipal ordinances, on those sleeping in designated public spaces constitutes cruel and unusual punishment if no practical shelter option exits or it does not have sufficient capacity. While many cities across the U.S. have similar ordinances which apply to the general population, these ordinances disproportionately and negatively affect the homeless population without addressing long term solutions. You can read the Supreme Court’s decision here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf.

The Brevard Homeless Coalition, serving as the Lead Agency for the Brevard Continuum of Care (CoC), believes that homelessness is a symptom of a greater housing crisis. As a community, our best path forward towards making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring is to address the root cause – a lack of affordable housing. Housing is the solution to homelessness. While the development of new affordable housing units is a multi-year effort, an immediate and critical need is to connect those living unsheltered to resources and a safe place to stay. Currently no drop-in shelters exist in the County. We are advocating for three drop-in centers located in the north, central and south parts of the County.

We invite the community to join the Brevard Continuum of Care, a free membership organization, to become educated on the issues impacting our homeless residents and to become an informed advocate for the development of more affordable housing units and drop-in shelters. To learn more, please see here: https://brevardhomelesscoalition.org/coc/join-the-coc/.