Supreme Court ruling gives San Jose broader power to penalize homeless people

San Jose hasn’t hesitated to implement a wave of policies and programs aimed at tamping down homelessness since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the floodgates to ban homeless people in public spaces.

Since the Johnson v. Grants Pass ruling two years ago, San Jose has wasted no time extending its ban on the hours homeless people can sleep or sit on downtown sidewalks. The city has swept numerous encampments and turned them into “no return zones.” It’s also temporarily banned RVs from dozens of streets, prohibited “vanlording” or renting RVs to homeless residents and towed thousands of vehicles with expired registration, many of which were used as homes.