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Description
As homelessness in the United States reaches unprecedented levels, cities scramble for solutions, many turning to criminalization in a desperate bid to reclaim public space. In 2024, the Supreme Court overturned Johnson v. Grants Pass, ruling that banning encampments and public sleeping is constitutional. Within weeks, cities across the country followed suit. In Orange County, California, nearly every municipality passed an encampment ban by October. This documentary peels back the surface of what appears to be order—cleaner streets, fewer tents—and reveals the hidden cost. Through intimate interviews with unhoused individuals, nonprofit leaders, professionals, and city officials, we expose how these bans displace the vulnerable into neighboring cities, shelters at capacity, or behind bars. Grounded in research that shows criminalization only deepens the crisis, this film asks a pressing question: when visibility is erased, do we mistake silence for progress? This is not just a policy issue; it is a human rights reckoning.
