This article examines the criminalization of people with mental health disabilities who  experience homelessness, incorporating various race and poverty factors associating housing with health. Section II critiques the judicial landscape of homelessness criminalization by first turning to the seminal decisions of Martin v. Boise and Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, which have shaped the past five years of homeless rights law and policy. It then assesses how the insufficient framework of the Equal Protection Clause of the federal Constitution  limits  courts’ abilities to protect the rights of poor people experiencing homelessness and resolve related socioeconomic issues.

Against this  backdrop, Section III details the history of homelessness criminalization, focusing more narrowly on the criminalization of mental health and the emergence of involuntary civil commitments as a proxy of the criminal legal system. The section will address the involuntary mental health directive promulgated in New York City and California’s CARE Act, showcasing the different legal standards governing the commitment processes of people with mental disabilities who experience homelessness in both locations, and the increased role of law enforcement as first  responders. Our analysis of these involuntary commitment schemes critiques the judicial and policymaking authorities responsible for implementing them. We also incorporate findings from our recent related advocacy before the United Nations, emphasizing how such practices that criminalize mental health also violate key civil and political rights—i.e., the right to life—under international law.

Section IV comments on what “justice”should look like outside the utility of  judicial, legislative, and other political bodies when addressing the root causes of homelessness and the criminalization of mental health. Our policy recommendations and philosophies draw from a grounding poverty abolitionist framework and set of international human rights principles, with hopes of advancing anti-policing, humane housing solutions across the homelessness decriminalization and eradication movement. Section V concludes.