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Disability Rights Groups Say Oregon City’s Camping Laws Discriminate Against the Homeless


— January 30, 2025

“It wants to make being homeless in Grants Pass so unpleasant that people go elsewhere,” Disability Rights Oregon said in the lawsuit. “Despite the presence of numerous elderly, ill, and disabled people on site, the city increased its draconian restrictions in the dead of winter leaving hundreds of people with no legal option for their continued survival.”


A disability rights advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against the small Oregon city of Grants Pass, claiming that local ordinances against outdoor camping are discriminatory.

According to The Associated Press, the complaint was filed on behalf of five homeless residents by Disability Rights Oregon and the Oregon Law Center. It challenges a recently-enacted ordinance that limits outdoor camping within city limits to a single site, which is open daily between 5pm and 7am. Anyone found in violation of the ordinance is subject to fines of up to $50.

One of the plaintiffs in the claim, Jeffrey Dickerson, said that he has lived in Southern Oregon his entire life, but lost his home after the apartment that he rented was sold.

“It’s hard for me just to even walk, let alone pack up and move,” Dickerson told Jefferson Public Radio. “Weather has been brutal, cold. There should be a place for us with disabilities.”

The Associated Press notes that Grants Pass has attracted legal scrutiny in the past.

Earlier this year, for instance, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a lawsuit alleging that the city’s prohibition on outdoor camping was tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. In a split 6-3 ruling, the justices found that bans on sleeping outdoors are not in violation of the Eight Amendment.

Gavel on copy of lawsuit; image by Wirestock, via Freepik.com.
Gavel on copy of lawsuit; image by Wirestock, via Freepik.com.

Although Grants Pass designated two publicly-owned properties wherein camping would be permitted, the city’s new council recently closed the larger of the two sites; it also revised the remaining site’s hours, stipulating that it would only be accessible for camping between 5pm and 7am.

“It wants to make being homeless in Grants Pass so unpleasant that people go elsewhere,” Disability Rights Oregon said in the lawsuit. “Despite the presence of numerous elderly, ill, and disabled people on site, the city increased its draconian restrictions in the dead of winter leaving hundreds of people with no legal option for their continued survival.”

Janine Harris, 57, told The Associated Press that she became homeless four years ago. She said that she struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Harris had been living at the larger of the city’s two campgrounds, which was ordered closed last week.

“A lot of us do not have any idea where to go,” Harris told The Associated Press. “I really am hurting, physically and mentally.”

Disability Rights Oregon claims that, by imposing rules that predominately and near-exclusively affect homeless Grants Passs residents, the city has engaged in disability-based discrimination.

“The City has discriminated against people with disabilities by imposing standards for participation in its camping program that would require people to move themselves and their own belongings frequently and for no good purpose,” the lawsuit alleges. “People with physical disabilities affecting their movement or chronic illnesses that make frequent lifting, carrying, and walking distances difficult or even impossible have been and will be cited and prosecuted for violating city ordinances regarding camping.”

The lawsuit requests a court order prohibiting enforcement of the new camping rules.

Sources

Disabled homeless residents sue Grants Pass over camping restrictions

Divided Supreme Court rules in major homelessness case that outdoor sleeping bans are OK

Fresh lawsuit hits Oregon city at the heart of Supreme Court ruling on homeless encampments

New lawsuit thrusts Oregon city once again into national spotlight on homelessness

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