G rants Pass, Ore., wants homeless people out of sight. So policy-makers passed an ordinance that criminalizes camping on public land. People guilty of unauthorized sleeping sued, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on April 22, 2024. The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, tests how far cities can go to regulate what happens on public property. But cities would not have so much homelessness in the first place if they did not actively stop affordable housing on private property.
This is what happened to Chasidy Decker, who lives 500 miles east of Grants Pass in Meridian, Idaho. Her problem is not that she lacks a bed. She already has one inside her tiny home on wheels, a 252-square-foot vehicle that she parks on private property. Her landlord leases space to her behind a fence in his side yard, which has hookups for water, sewer, and electricity. Yet Meridian will not let Decker sleep under her own roof. They warned her about expensive fines the day after she moved in. So, she has been homeless since August 2022.
Her trailer sits empty, while she scrambles for other accommodations.
Decker and her landlord sued to be left alone on private property. Our public-interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, represents them. A district-court trial ended in April, and they expect a decision by late summer.
Meanwhile, similar zoning disputes are unfolding nationwide. Many cities and counties oppose private housing solutions, which has contributed to a crisis affecting nearly every part of the economy. One charity, Tiny House Hand Up, tried to build affordable housing on its own land in Calhoun, Ga. But zoning officials stopped the project because of square-footage minimums. Calhoun residents must pay for bigger homes, even if they want smaller homes.
Anita Adams encountered a different roadblock when she tried to build a house in Seattle for her family. Zoning laws allowed construction, but the permit price included a $39-per-square-foot “housing affordability” fee—which added $80,000 to the project. Seattle demanded this payment to its public-housing fund before Adams could break ground. She and her family cannot afford the expense, meaning the city is effectively preventing them from building on their own property.
Amanda Root, a disabled, older resident living on a fixed income in Sierra Vista, Ariz., just wants to stay put on the same lot she has owned and occupied for more than 20 years. But code enforcers want her gone, citing a technicality: Her trailer has axles, and her street is zoned for mobile homes without axles. “I have looked at different options,” Root says. “There is nothing out there that I can afford. A tent? Where am I going to go? Behind Food City?”
Tiny House Hand Up, Adams, and Root all sued with representation from our firm. Lower-income families suffer the most from misguided policies such as these. Common tactics include occupancy caps, prohibitions on multifamily housing, and overregulation of accessory dwelling units, or “granny flats.” Shawnee, Kan., even criminalizes roommates. A 2022 ordinance makes it illegal for friends to split rent in single-family homes.
Multiple studies show what must be done: Let people build and operate housing on their own property. Yet real reform remains elusive — hindered on one side by not-in-my-backyard activists who think they should have control over how their neighbors live, and on the other side by people who believe it is immoral for developers to earn a profit — as if there were some other reason they would be willing to build.
Meanwhile, millions of ordinary families are getting pushed past their limits as the cost of living rises. People with mortgages are downsizing or consolidating. People who lease are falling behind. And those on the fringes are becoming homeless. Already, half of U.S. homeowners and renters are struggling to keep up.
The Grants Pass case deals with the fallout. Zoning reform could address homelessness before it happens. The Constitution provides the necessary firepower through the due-process clause of the 14thAmendment. State constitutions use similar language. Put in simple terms, these provisions mean the government cannot restrict activity on private land without good reason.
Decker does not want to sleep in a park. She has a bed. She just needs permission to use it.
Suranjan Sen is an attorney and Daryl James is a writer, both at the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.