Supreme Court homelessness case could impact tent encampments

A person walks with carts in the rain near an encampment of unhoused people in Skid Row as a powerful long-duration atmospheric river storm, the second in less than a week, impacts Southern California on Feb. 6, 2024 in Los Angeles.

A homeless encampment in downtown Seattle seen in November 2021.

A pedestrian walks past an encampment of tents after crossing Hoyt Street in Portland, Ore. on Jan. 24, 2024.

A person walks past a homeless encampment near a Target store on Sept. 28, 2023 in Los Angeles. State and local lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, are seeking to overturn lower court decisions which currently block their power to clear encampments with unhoused people. Dozens of leaders, many from Western states including California, have turned to the Supreme Court to overturn the rulings. Skid Row is home to thousands of people who either live on the streets or in shelters.

A sidewalk filled with tents is shown on July, 31,2023 as enforcement begins of San Diego's Unsafe Camping Ordinance that prohibits tent encampments in all public spaces throughout the city if shelter beds are available.

A person sits between tents belonging to homeless people who were removed from an encampment on East 9th Street earlier this week and have relocated a block adjacent to Tompkins Square Park in New York City, April 8, 2022.

A person walks past tents in "The Zone," a vast homeless encampment where hundreds of people reside, during a record heat wave in Phoenix on July 18, 2023.

Roni and John pour water on themselves to cool off from extreme heat while residing in "The Zone," a vast homeless encampment where hundreds of people reside, during a record heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona. on July 19, 2023.

Park Police talk to a man who refused to leave after members of the US National Park Service cleared a homeless encampment from McPherson Square, two blocks from the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 15, 2023.

A man packs a tent before members of the National Park Service clear a homeless encampment from McPherson Square, two blocks from the White House, on Feb. 15, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Belongings that occupants have left behind are seen as the National Park Service clear the homeless encampment at McPherson Square on Feb. 15, 2023 in Washington, DC. The National Park Service, under the request of the DC government, cleared the largest homeless encampment in the city that was once occupied by about 70 people.