Maine cities applaud Supreme Court ruling that allows public camping bans

Leaders in Bangor and Portland supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s Friday ruling that cities can punish people for public camping, although they underscored that arrests are still seen as a last resort in those communities.

The 6-3 decision by the court’s conservative majority came in a case from the small city of Grants Pass, Oregon, which fined and sometimes jailed homeless people even when shelter space was unavailable.

A lower court ruled this violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, but that finding was overturned on Friday.

Advocates for Maine’s homeless population have seen high stakes in the decision , particularly after high-profile encampment sweeps over the past two years. At least seven cities here have bans on public camping in effect, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine.

Policymakers said that the ruling would have little practical effect in Maine, where law enforcement agencies already follow a “ homelessness crisis protocol ” established by Attorney General Aaron Frey in 2022 that diverts homeless people from the criminal justice system when they are accused of low-level crimes like trespassing, disorderly conduct or public drinking.

That’s long been the approach in Bangor , which has struggled to address its homeless population in recent years and has routinely swept homeless encampments. It came under scrutiny from the ACLU of Maine just this past week for banning loitering in certain medians , but Council Chair Cara Pelletier said that was a free-speech issue Grants Pass won’t affect.

The ruling won’t lead homeless people to be jailed or fined for sleeping outside, but it does affirm a municipality’s right to determine when a homeless encampment constitutes a public health crisis and needs to be closed, Pelletier said.

“As a city, we need to be able to clean up municipal property and ensure that it doesn’t become just a dumping ground for hazardous waste,” she said.

In Portland, Mayor Mark Dion called the decision a “big win” for local control. He was elected in 2023 after taking a more law enforcement-oriented line on homelessness than his progressive opponents. The city cleared five major encampments in 2023 along with a large one that sprang up earlier this year behind a Lowe’s store on the outskirts of the city.

Dion echoed Pelletier, saying Portland police first try to connect homeless people accused of low-level crimes with resources before incarcerating them. The city would also not enforce an anti-camping ban if shelter beds were not available, he said.

But if beds are available or there is a risk posed to public health and safety, the mayor was glad to see the enforcement of anti-camping bans declared “valid” by the court.

“What the Supreme Court is announcing is there’s a fundamental responsibility to the general public that can’t be ignored: We need to meet everyone’s public safety requirements,” Dion said. “There comes a point where the existence of the encampment is a threat to those who live in this space and abutters.”

The new Bangor policy barring people from certain medians came a decade after a similar policy in Portland was deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge. The ACLU of Maine led that lawsuit, and the organization was concerned on Friday after the high court allowed cities and towns more latitude on the issue.

“Maine’s policy leaders have a choice: They can penalize people in poverty or address the root causes of homelessness,” Molly Curren Rowles, the group’s executive director, said. “We feel very strongly that punishing people for trying to survive outside even when shelters are full is not productive and not responsive.”