Disability Rights Lawsuit Forces Grants Pass to Provide Basic Services for Homeless Camps

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — The recent agreement reached between the lawyers for the City of Grants Pass and Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) on enforcement of camping codes in the city is welcomed as a move in the right direction for homeless residents with disabilities who live in life-threatening conditions.

Grants Pass Camping Codes Agreement Reached

The emergency lawsuit brought by the Oregon Law Center on behalf of five individual plaintiffs, ranging in age from 47 to 66, who all live with disabilities that make compliance with the city’s previous policies particularly challenging, supported by DRO against the City of Grants Pass was resolved on August 6 with an agreement between the parties that will prevent the city from thrusting homeless residents with disabilities into life-threatening temporarary residences.

One of the plaintiffs, 57-year-old Janine Harris, who was forced by the city to leave the J Street lot, collecting her belongings in a wagon despite suffering from arthritis in her hips and knees, asthma, and severe pain in her shoulders and back, spoke about how hard physical disabilities are on a person’s body. And things get even more difficult when she has no place to be.

Over 80% of unsheltered houseless people in Oregon report living with at least one disability,  and one in four people who are homeless is over 55 years old, according to Multnomah County’s 2022 Point-In-Time Count.

Oregon has an estimated 140,000 shortfall of affordable housing units, and rising rents far outpace wages in the state.

In terms of the costly settlement, Grants Pass will enforce public camping codes again, but there are significant strings attached. The settlement tackles the city’s homelessness policies that violated Oregon state laws prohibiting discrimination based on disability.

The settlement agreement provides several enforcement restrictions and includes provisions that force the city to:

• Provide ample drinking water at all approved camping sites.
• Provide accessible, low-barrier camping capacity for 150 people in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) over the next 12 months.
• Award an additional $60k block grant to a local nonprofit providing support services to homeless residents.

Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of DRO, said,  “This settlement represents a significant step forward in ensuring people with disabilities experiencing homelessness have places to rest, basic necessities like drinking water, and a real opportunity to stabilize their lives.”

A 2024 study of 100 major U.S. cities found that punitive responses did not decrease homelessness. Cornett confirmed that DRO is pleased that the city has committed to developing more humane and legally compliant approaches to this public health crisis.