The claim

““The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that homelessness is illegal nationwide.””

The Supreme Court did not criminalize homelessness nationwide, but it did allow cities to enforce bans on sleeping/camping in public even when shelter space is unavailable.

The viral framing implies the Court made it illegal to be homeless, but the actual ruling addressed whether the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment limits penalties for sleeping/camping in public. In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson (decided June 28, 2024), the Court held that such generally applicable public-camping penalties do not violate the Eighth Amendment, rejecting the prior Ninth Circuit approach that treated punishment of unavoidable outdoor sleeping as unconstitutional. The decision does not create a federal crime of “homelessness” and does not require cities to criminalize anyone; it leaves policy choices to state and local governments. However, it materially expands legal room for municipalities to ticket/arrest people for public sleeping/camping, which can be a significant practical impact on unhoused individuals.