Without comment, the US Supreme Court has refused to overturn a lower court’s ban on discarding the goods and property belonging to the homeless on Skid Row. The City had hoped to overturn the ban in the sake of “public safety.” Last year, the 9th Circuit ruled that the City could not discard individuals’ possessions when they went to fill a water bottle, stand in line for food, or other short-term abandonment.
The City had argued that by preventing its workers from clearing possessions, public safety would be jeopardized. However, attorneys representing eight homeless individuals said that the City couldn’t prove that the temporary abandonment of property posed a risk.
The City can still clear property that has been abandoned, poses a public health risk, and is evidence of a crime. A non-profit operating on Skid Row provides free storage the homeless and provides nearly 1,100 plastic storage containers.
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times.