San Francisco Mayor London Breed has sensationally criticized the city’s homeless activists, complaining they keep people off the streets and enable them.
She claims advocates are blocking city workers and discouraging those most in need from going to shelters and seeking help.
“These activists are the same people who put out tents to keep people on the streets instead of working to bring them indoors, as we are trying to do,” Breed wrote on the online platform Medium.
“And they are the same people who are instructing and encouraging people to refuse shelter – to stay on the streets instead of going indoors. Their agenda is clear.”
Over the past year, San Francisco has been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Coalition on Homelessness, which claims the city violated state and federal law by clearing encampments and destroying homeless property without offering shelter.
An appeals court on Monday ruled individuals who had access to shelter but refused it were “not involuntarily homeless,” paving the way for the city to resume cleaning up tents, trash and discarded needles that have taken over city sidewalks in neighborhoods like Tenderloin and Union Square.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a rare outdoor meeting of the Board of Supervisors at UN Plaza in San Francisco, California on May 23, 2023. The homeless encampment is in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. An appeals court ruling on Monday said the city can begin clearing the tents of individuals who refuse to shelter because they are “not homeless.” Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
San Francisco’s homeless population is estimated at around 8,000, with half refusing to accept services and shelter when it is offered to them, according to TV station Kron4.
The city’s Healthy Streets Operation Center reached out to 2,344 homeless people living on the streets, but 1,278 people— or 54%— refused shelter, according to the latest data collected by the organization.
Breed said he expects Coalition members to pursue the lawsuit, and could even try to block city workers from carrying out the latest court order.
Mayor London Breed delivers the State of the State Address in San Francisco on February 9, 2023. AP
“Unfortunately, the plaintiff in this case will still intervene [our] work,” said Breed. “They will record our city workers. They will try to tell our employees what they can and cannot do.”
The mayor said city staff will be trained in the coming weeks to examine the appeals court’s directive on what they can and cannot explain under the latest court order, which Breed called a “step in the right direction.”
The Post has contacted attorneys representing the Homeless Coalition.
In their proposed settlement, the Coalition listed their demands against the city, including filling all vacant shelter units within 30 days.
Homeless and homeless encampments are seen in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District on August 28, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Homeless people are seen in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District on June 6, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
They also want the city to maintain a waiting list to track all available beds and provide “emergency stop gap measures” that lead to permanent housing. They also demanded better garbage disposal and cleaning of sidewalks around the camp.
“Everyone, including the homeless, wants streets free of trash and debris,” the Coalition wrote. “Such a cleaning schedule must be in accordance with the postal signs and cannot be carried out between 7:00 pm and 7:00 am when the uninhabited residents are trying to sleep.
“The city cannot use street cleaning as an excuse to harass homeless residents instead of properly cleaning up the area.”
A homeless encampment in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District on August 28, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
San Francisco has experienced an exodus of businesses and residents since the COVID-19 pandemic, sending the City by the Bay into a so-called “loop of doom” where open drugs occur on federal property.
A tour last month through the city’s Tenderloin district hoped to counter that “doom” narrative, but only showed the growing need for services and shelter as tour participants found tent after tent blocking sidewalks and piles of trash in the neighborhood.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
