Grants Pass to provide 150 camping spaces, $60k in services after disability rights suit

A southern Oregon city that gained national attention for its practice of punishing homeless people for camping outside has agreed to provide at least 150 spaces for individuals to do so after a lawsuit alleged its practices discriminated against disabled individuals.

The city of Grants Pass won a major U.S. Supreme Court case in June 2024, reversing an earlier appeals court ruling that a city ordinance barring homeless people from using blankets, pillows or cardboard while sleeping outside violated the U.S. Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

That Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for more stringent restrictions on homeless individuals in the West, but in Oregon, a state law only allows cities to regulate sleeping outside if those regulations are “obj