‘It’s hard’: Louisville man describes being homeless amid Supreme Court debate over public camping

By Randall Kamm

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    LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — The U.S. Supreme Court is deliberating a significant case regarding the enforcement of public camping bans against homeless individuals.

That high court debate sparked rallies by homeless coalitions around the country including here in Louisville.

It will be interesting to see how a Supreme Court decision would impact the Safer Kentucky Act.

The recently passed law includes a street camping ban with penalties including fines and potential jail time.

Supporters of Safer Kentucky have previously said the law nudges the homeless population toward treatment and removes them from dangerous and unhealthy situations.

“Being homeless is hard. It’s very hard,” said Mauro Jones, 65, while attending a Coalition for the Homeless rally outside the federal courthouse Monday afternoon.

A crowd gathered to call for an end to homelessness through “Housing Not Handcuffs.”

The rally came as the Supreme Court hears a case, Johnson v. Grants Pass, which will decide if it’s cruel and unusual punishment to penalize people for sleeping outside.

The gathering was also a response to the Safer Kentucky Act, which makes it a misdemeanor to sleep on the street.

“I just find that cruel and unusual punishment. And I cheer up when I hear how these laws that they make you, as a homeless person, you some people look at you just like you’re nothing. Like you’re just trash,” Jones said.

Supporters of the Safer Kentucky Act believe there’s nothing compassionate about allowing people to remain living on the street, untreated, as they spiral down to premature death.

But U.S. Congressman Morgan McGarvey, who spoke at the rally, says criminalizing homelessness will cost taxpayers more in the long run.

“What we know is we can actually provide better housing for people cheaper than we can incarcerate them. That’s part of the reason this isn’t going to work,” McGarvey told WLKY News.

As the congressman and others at this gathering call for local solutions to Louisville’s homelessness, Mauro Jones shared some encouraging news.

After living on the streets of Louisville for nearly a year, Jones and his are moving into a two-bedroom house later this week.

“That’s why I’m crying. It’s hard. It’s been so hard. That’s why I’m so grateful,” Jones said.

Louisville’s rally was one of four across the state, emphasizing that regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, it is cruel to criminalize homelessness.

On the flip side, the Safer Kentucky Act is now law in the state, and street camping, as it’s known, is banned in most public areas.

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