The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday confronts the nation's homelessness crisis as the justices consider the legality of local laws that are used against people camping on public streets and parks in a case involving a southwest Oregon city's vagrancy policy. The justices will hear arguments in an appeal by Grants Pass, Oregon of a lower court's ruling that enforcing the city's anti-camping ordinances against homeless people when there is no shelter space available violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments. The case requires the nine justices to tackle the complex societal problem of homelessness that continues to vex public officials nationwide as municipalities face chronic shortages of affordable housing.