NH: Another Homelessness Challenge Worth Watching
A federal constitutional challenge out of New Hampshire has caught our attention not just because the plaintiff is on the sex offender registry case, but because it addresses an issue that increasingly affects many people on Florida’s registry: the criminalization of homelessness – where in many cases here in Florida, it’s involuntary.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire represents a man, who is challenging the constitutionality of that state’s loitering law. According to news reports, the ACLU alleges the law is so vague that it allows police to arbitrarily stop, search, and arrest homeless individuals simply for existing in public spaces. The lawsuit argues the law violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments because it invites arbitrary enforcement against unhoused people.
While his registry status is not the legal basis of the lawsuit, it makes the case particularly relevant to us because people on Florida’s registry are disproportionately affected by homelessness. FAC has previously reported that 72% of the City of Miami’s unsheltered homeless population is on Florida’s sex offender registry. As residency restrictions continue to make lawful housing increasingly difficult to find, more registrants are forced into homelessness, and once homeless, they become subject to additional policing and enforcement actions.
This issue has become even more significant during these past couple of weeks following the City of Miami’s recent efforts to strengthen enforcement against homelessness. When people are legally prevented from living in much of a city and then are prosecuted for existing in the few places they can go, serious constitutional questions arise.
The New Hampshire case is not about Florida’s registry laws. Nevertheless, it raises broader constitutional issues concerning vague loitering statutes, police discretion, and the criminalization of homelessness that could have implications far beyond New Hampshire. Judge Paul Barbadoro has not yet ruled on the case, which remains pending.
FAC will be watching this litigation closely.
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Registrants are not “homeless”, they are “houseless” and most could live in their own homes except for residency restrictions. PFR’s have no voice in their own government but are expected to pay taxes. In Florida, registrants are not allowed to vote, no matter how many years have gone by since being charged. No vote, no voice.
According to Journalist Paige Oamek, of The New Republic (June 28, 2026); Justice Sonia Sotomayor has strongly criticized the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on homelessness, calling it “unconscionable” and “cruel and unusual” under the Eighth Amendment. In her dissent in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, Sotomayor argued that the Court’s decision effectively allows local governments to criminalize homelessness by permitting fines and arrests for sleeping in public — even when people have nowhere else to go. She wrote that for those without access to shelter, such laws “punish them for being homeless” and that “sleep is a biological necessity, not a crime”. Sotomayor emphasized that the majority’s focus was almost entirely on the needs of local governments, leaving the most vulnerable with “an impossible choice: Either stay awake or be arrested”. She cited social science research showing that most unsheltered individuals would move inside if safe and affordable shelter were available and criticized the majority for ignoring barriers such as restrictive shelter policies based on gender, age, income, or religious practice. She also challenged the majority’s claim that public camping bans do not criminalize status, pointing out that in practice, no non-homeless person had ever been ticketed for illegal camping in Grants Pass Talking Points Memo. Sotomayor described the ruling as a “big game of whack-a-mole” that punishes people for their status rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness. In her dissent, read from the bench, she concluded that the Court has abdicated its role in safeguarding constitutional liberties for the most vulnerable, and expressed hope that it will “play its role” in the future. Advocates for the unhoused have welcomed her dissent, calling the ruling “cruel, misguided” and warning it will worsen homelessness by saddling people with debt and further isolating them from services.
Why is being homeless a crime. That should be the question. I mean if someone is sleeping in your back yard illegally, yeah, you are going to jail. But walking down the street while registered is outrageous. In my area most of them who get kicked out of some woods, are just asked to leave without arrest and they end up a 1/2 mile away in the next woods until someone calls the police.
A few years ago they were sleeping on our sidewalks at the entrance of our community, so I know what it is like to have to call the police to get them removed, but there is a difference with some woods with no, no trespassing signs. Also depends on the county you live in, the county I live in the deputies are pretty chill. I do not live in any city limits just for that reason, the city cops are much more aggressive than our sheriff’s deputies.
And unlike some, I do not hate law enforcement, I just hate the ones who are corrupt, dishonest, abusive and liars who make stuff up.
The broader concern to this is what happens if you get an officer that’s willing to work with you on the time you need to leave the certain area after they ask you then the next officer doesn’t like registrants so makes them move no time at all. Then they make a move to an area where they’re violating the 2500 foot rule or at least have to cross through it and then they get arrested on that too. Remember even if you’re just arrested being homeless any arrest in Florida to make it where you’re ineligible to petition to get off the registry so it’s a catch 22
“Live Free Or Die” – I guess they prefer the “Die” part for some people. Wish these states would see their hypocrisy for what it is before its too late for their souls.
I mean miami start arresting without a bed first
This is awesome ACLU stepping in to help! I do think if miami does this and after the suit is filed they will join the cause but needs the correct narrative to be done at right time. Strategy here the New Hampshire Bulletin post
https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/10/08/aclu-sues-new-hampshire-over-its-loitering-law-arguing-police-use-it-to-harass-homeless-people/