After Heavy Criticism, San Francisco Mayor London Breed Seeks To Aggressively Remove Homeless Encampments In City

San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) promised to remove the homeless encampments within the city.

During a mayoral debate on July 18, Breed claimed that despite the city’s attempts to offer more housing options and catered services, they have not been able to bring the majority of homeless off the streets.

“The problem is not going to be solved by building permanent supportive housing or shelter alone; we have to start cutting off the opportunities that exist in San Francisco,” she asserted.

Her remarks followed a June Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments more power to enforce rules against sleeping on city streets. 

San Francisco was previously limited in its power to move encampments due to a federal magistrate’s injunction against the city after a 2022 federal appellate court decision.

The 6-3 decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that considered it cruel to punish people for sleeping outside if they do not have anywhere else to go, pointing toward the Eighth Amendment.

The ruling also alters laws across the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes California, where a large amount of America’s homeless population lives. 

The ruling allows local governments to enforce more local powers as cities like San Francisco deal with record-high rates of homelessness.

The San Francisco mayor thanked the Supreme Court for its decision and said that city officials will begin moving encampments in the coming weeks.

“Effective August, we are going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments, which may even include criminal penalties,” Breed said.

The mayor declared during the debate, “We have had to move from a compassionate city to a city of accountability.”

She refused to answer questions from the media immediately following the debate, but her office emailed a statement to SFGate afterward. 

“San Francisco is a city that prioritizes compassion, and we will continue to lead with services, but we cannot allow for people to refuse services and shelter when offered and available,” it wrote. “As previously stated, under the Grants Passruling, the city is changing policies. We will have more information on that soon.”

Julian Highsmith, the policy and communications director with the Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, stated that the mayor’s approach is not the answer.

“I really think that if we follow the approach that the mayor is suggesting, it isn’t really going to solve the problem,” Highsmith argued. “I think issues will get worse, and I think everyone is affected by it, not just the unhoused folks but all of San Francisco.”

Writing the dissent, Justice Sonya Sotomayor stated that the decision will hurt the most vulnerable. 

Sotomayor then declared that by only focusing on the needs of cities, a homeless person is left with “an impossible choice – either stay awake or be arrested.”

In 2022, Breed moved to expand police surveillance powers in San Francisco and crack down on offenders.

Later that year, Breed named a replacement for San Francisco’s district attorney, Chesa Boudin, whose progressive policies were blamed for a spike in crime, following his loss in the city’s recall election.