Columbia homeless shelters react to Supreme Court ruling that allows outdoor sleeping bans
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that cities can ban people from sleeping outside in public places, but homeless shelters in Columbia do not think it will affect them too much.
Supreme Court Justices voted 6-3, overturning the lower court ruling.
Room At The Inn Executive Director John Trapp said that while he doesn't agree with the Supreme Court's ruling, he's not worried about it.
"I think it's an unfortunate ruling, it wasn't what I was hoping for certainly," Trapp said. "I don't think it'll have a huge impact here in Columbia, because I don't think our (City) Council is going to pass any laws making it illegal to sleep outside."
Trapp said the Room At The Inn in Columbia has 71 cots available right now and increases that number to around 90 cots in the winter. If the ruling were to go into effect, it spacing could become a safety issue.
"Going beyond that is, we run into safety concerns but, I think if we did have such a law, we would have to increase capacity," Trapp says.
The Salvation Army Harbor House currently has 61 beds along with five available family rooms. It typically have six family rooms, but it currently has plumbing issues in one of them.
"This year, we've been turning the beds almost immediately, whether that be because of higher homelessness rates or more people trying to get out of homelessness we're not sure," said Amy Cedervall, who is one of the people in charge of the shelter.
Cedervall said the ruling is unfair for homeless individuals and cities.
"I wish there was an easy solution but, there really isn't so it's not fair," Cedervall said. "But at the same time, it's not fair to say that they can sleep wherever they want whenever they want," she said.
The city, its Parks and Recreation Department and the Missouri Department of Transportation have cleared out multiple homeless encampments during the past year. According to previous reporting, the City of Columbia spent more than $8,000 on clearing homeless camps in 2023.
Back in December, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a law threatening homeless people with jail time for sleeping on state land.
