Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Press Release
PHOENIX - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld an Oregon city’s laws aimed at banning homeless residents from sleeping outdoors, saying they did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Senator Anna Hernandez (LD24) released the following statement regarding the opinion:
“I want to be very clear that you cannot arrest and criminalize your way out of our homelessness crisis. The lack of compassion and empathy the Republican legislative majority has shown is devastating and should serve as a reminder that a vast majority of Arizonans are closer to being homeless than our state would like to admit. Decades of failed policies led by the Republican majority, and a failure to invest in affordable housing, drug use prevention, and social safety net programs have left us with a near total reliance on the criminal justice system that cannot save us here. It is more critical than ever before to recognize the weaponization of the nation’s highest court and place blame directly on the shoulders of Republican con men, like Donald Trump, who have consistently preached that our worst enemy is our struggling neighbors and not billionaires and corporations that do not pay their fair share in our country.
Today’s decision by the US Supreme Court will only result in keeping those that are struggling the most in a perpetual cycle of homelessness and poverty by compounding the barriers those struggling to find housing already face. It is past time that we, at every level of government, invest into root cause solutions. Homelessness is not a crime; it is a policy failure.”
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