Advocates Say City’s Encampment Clearings Inflict Lasting Harm on Unhoused Residents
San Francisco has been aggressively clearing homeless encampments across the city since the Supreme Court ruled in June that cities can use punitive punishments against unhoused people even when no shelter is available.
But advocates and service workers say the encampment clearings, also known as homeless sweeps, are causing psychological and physical harm to people living out on the streets despite the celebratory statements that are coming out of City Hall.
“These sweeps are causing incredible harm to the individuals that they’re sweeping,” River Beck, an outreach worker with the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, told Invisible People in an interview. “These sweeps are being conducted in a very bully-ish manner.”
San Francisco, like many other cities in California, has been grappling with a steady increase in homelessness over the last several years. As of January 2024, the local Point in Time Count found 8,323 people experiencing homelessness in the city, an increase of 7.3% year-over-year. The number of people living in shelters climbed 18% while the number of people living outside declined by just 1%, the data shows.
Mayor Breed’s Defense of the Sweeps
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the city’s sweep efforts have been a big success. At a press conference earlier this month, Breed told reporters that just 242 tents were counted on San Francisco streets, down from the 609 tents identified in July 2023. She added that agencies conducting the sweeps are offering services and support to people living in tents, but a majority are denying the help.
“We have seen more progress than we’ve seen in a long time because we’re making it harder for people to live on the streets,” Breed said during the press conference.
Beck said Breed’s comments show that she is ignoring how dangerous sweeps are to people experiencing homelessness.
Studies have shown that homeless sweeps can take as much as 20 years off an individual’s life because of the stress and trauma they inflict. Sweeps also cause people experiencing homelessness to lose personal items like clothes, ID documents, and medications, all of which can make it more difficult for them to attain jobs and housing. Describing San Francisco’s homeless sweeps as a success shows that Breed is ignoring these issues, Beck added.
Her comments also show that she is more focused on hiding homelessness than resolving the underlying issues that lead to people losing their homes, Beck said. He pointed out that more than 500 families are on the city’s wait list for housing vouchers.
“There’s really no solution that the city is offering. And when the city says that it’s offering services, it’s really an empty offer,” Beck said.
Lawsuits and Legal Battles Over Homeless Sweeps
Advocates previously sued the city of San Francisco to stop it from conducting these harmful sweeps. In 2023, they secured a temporary injunction against the city from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals under the precedent set in Martin v. Boise. The Martin ruling prevented cities in the western U.S. from conducting homeless sweeps when no shelter was available.
However, that all changed when the Supreme Court ruled in Johnson v. Grants Pass that using punitive punishments is not considered a “cruel or unusual punishment.” That ruling in June overturned the Martin decision and allowed cities like San Francisco to begin using sweeps to clear encampments again.
Homeless sweeps are becoming more common across the U.S. as politicians criminalize homelessness instead of providing solutions to systemic issues that cause it. A conservative think tank called the Cicero Institute has supported much of this legislation, pushing for legislation that would reduce state funding for cities that do not use homeless sweeps to clear encampments. The legislation has been adopted in states like Georgia and Kentucky.
A Growing National Trend of Criminalizing Homelessness
With the Supreme Court’s gutting of essential protections for homeless people, our work is more critical than ever. Nationwide, anti-homeless laws are gaining ground in legislative committees, fueled by hidden votes, corporate backing, out-of-state lobbyists, and conservative think tanks like the Cicero Institute. We’re fighting a crucial battle against misinformation and the criminalization of homelessness.
The pandemic underscored the urgent need to overhaul housing policies in the United States, revealing that many homelessness initiatives rely too heavily on law enforcement rather than social services.
Stand with our vulnerable neighbors and urge your representatives to take meaningful action to address homelessness. As the first step toward ending homelessness, we must prioritize compassionate solutions over punitive measures.