LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Supreme Court ruled that cities can now enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public.
FULL REPORT: Supreme Court rules cities can ban homeless encampments
This overturns a California court ruling saying these laws were cruel when shelter space is limited.
The 6-3 decision marks a big change on this issue, with homelessness rates rising across the country, and especially here in Southern Nevada.
Channel 13's Abel Garcia reached out to Las Vegas City Councilman Brian Knudsen to see how the city is responding to the ruling.
"The City of Las Vegas has had a camping ban in effect for the past several years. The Supreme Court decision won’t change what the City has been doing," Knudsen told Channel 13. "My personal opinion is that the impact of the camping ban has not met the desired outcomes. As a society, we should have been spending more time working on the issues that cause homelessness as opposed to trying to hide from it.
"We at the City of Las Vegas along with Clark County and the Metropolitan Police Department and the State of Nevada have been working collaboratively for the past year on developing a crisis response system, and we are actively working toward a crisis response center, a crisis residential center, and the build out of additional youth and adult mental health systems. I’m hopeful a more proactive approach will serve our community better than what we have provided for in the past."
