All Neighborhoods Affected
Supreme Court’s Ruling on Homeless People hits the streets of San Francisco
• • • • • • • • • • August 28, 2014 • • • • • • • • • •
For several weeks now, San Francisco has seen and felt the effect of the recent Supreme Court ruling in the case of Grants Pass vs. Johnson. It caused a ripple in the City and in the United States. Ruling that the 8th Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishment” clause does not apply to fining, ticketing, or even arresting those who are homeless (even when there are no public shelters available), it overturned past precedents set by the 9th Circuit Court. This precedent was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2019. Locally, it vacated the 2022 injunction issued by Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu, preventing the ticketing and arresting of unsheltered individuals for simply being homeless. Mayor London Breed, long known for her frustration at being unable to use a heavier hand in the matter, issued an executive order on July 30th to SFPD and several other city departments to begin extremely aggressive citywide sweeps of homeless encampments, individual tents and vehicles.
Painting these new tactics as “tough love” and a change “from a compassionate city to a city of accountability,” Mayor Breed has tried (unsuccessfully) to distract from them by promoting the Journey Home program, specifically to bus unsheltered individuals to a location of their choice. But the sweeps are happening throughout the City. They are impossible to ignore, especially for those who have the most to lose. The sweeps are not only aggressive and compassionless, but according to homeless watchdogs, they violate the City’s legal procedures.
But unsheltered people have numerous accounts of being given little to no time to secure their belongings before they’re confiscated and thrown away (another illegal but commonplace practice). One elderly gentleman who wished to remain anonymous described his experience of being handcuffed and put into a cop car while watching city workers confiscate and discard his belongings, leaving him nothing except a few blankets and the clothes he was wearing.”
According to the Coalition on Homelessness, the tactics the SFPD, Department of Public Works, and several other City departments are using to clear encampments are now commonplace practices that are not limited to any neighborhood. From unannounced sweeps to not bagging and tagging the victims’ property for later collection to multiple instances when police officers take a person’s ID and don’t return it, the City has downplayed these infractions until now.
The rate of encampment clearings throughout the City has escalated since Mayor Breed gave the order to conduct them more often and aggressively. However, despite redoubled efforts to clear encampments, there has been no significant increase in shelter numbers or Journey Home participants. Instead, those with tents and other items gather their belongings and move out of the way of law enforcement and public works before returning to the area after they’re gone.
Unfortunately, not all are so “lucky.” Legally speaking, the Department of Public Works must give 72 hours’ notice before they come into an area, clearing it of unwanted or abandoned articles; law enforcement must provide 24 hours’ notice before clearing obviously inhabited tents and encampments. But unsheltered people have numerous accounts of being given little to no time to secure their belongings before they’re confiscated and thrown away (another illegal but commonplace practice). One elderly gentleman who wished to remain anonymous described his experience of being handcuffed and put into a cop car while watching city workers confiscate and discard his belongings, leaving him nothing except a few blankets and the clothes he was wearing. “I thought they were going to arrest me,” he said, “but what they [did]… was worse.”
Those living in cars or RVs are also subject to increased aggression in sweeping and confiscating shelters and belongings. Separate from the Supreme Court decision is the SFMTA’s decision to begin enforcing 4-hour parking limits for RVs and vehicles in public parking lots (with the exception of the safe parking lot located on the Great Highway, by the SF Zoo). Together, they create a situation where RV owners and occupants are much more likely to have their vehicles towed, leaving them homeless. A representative from the Coalition on Homelessness warned that a vehicle’s registration will often be expired, leading to its impoundment; the most challenging thing about this for the owners, she said, is that the money and time it takes to update a registration and get their vehicle back is prohibitive, putting them in a situation where they have no choice but to either live on the street or go to a shelter.
A gentleman named Caleb spoke to CBS News about why so many unhoused people actively choose to avoid shelters. “Shelters are hard,” he said, because “a lot of us have mental health issues, and I just got out of max, so it’s hard to be in a dorm setting.” The Coalition on Homelessness representative later echoed Caleb’s sentiment, describing how trauma caused by previous incarcerations, involuntary psychiatric holds, and other violent experiences are obstacles to many people seeking a bed in a shelter because the environment, roommate pairings, and strict rules bring them back to some of the worst moments of their lives.
The increase in encampment clearings has exposed a failing system that, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s data for 2024, is already at capacity. The methods in place are overtaxed and outdated, requiring a long-term overhaul that would be costly and take unpopular policy changes to remove the gridlock, preventing more temporary housing, clinics, and rehabilitation centers from being built.
Mayor Breed’s executive order confirms that rather than attack the source of the problem, it’s preferable to treat the symptom alone. She has clarified her main tactic: “We are going to make them so uncomfortable on the streets of San Francisco…”
Maura Corkery is a reporter living on the West side.
August 28, 2024
