For years, San Francisco has been marked by a visible homelessness crisis, with many visitors noting the prevalence of rough sleepers and tent encampments on city sidewalks.
Now, a year into a more assertive crackdown, the city’s landscape has notably shifted. In a turn of events, former President Donald Trump, who previously criticized San Francisco for its challenges, appears to be adopting a similar strategy.
Recent weeks have seen federal agents clearing homeless encampments in Washington, D.C., making the nation’s capital the latest city to implement penalties for unsheltered sleeping.
The move towards criminalizing homeless encampments gained momentum last summer, following a significant U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of issuing citations and arrests to homeless individuals, even in the absence of available shelter.
Subsequently, cities and counties across the country began issuing such citations.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom, often at odds with Trump and a former San Francisco mayor himself, prioritized clearing encampments, paving the way for San Francisco’s significant transformation.
While local businesses and some residents acknowledge the removal of what they considered a blight on one of the nation’s most picturesque cities, questions remain about the policy’s overall effectiveness in addressing the root causes of homelessness.
Homelessness, particularly the presence of tent encampments, became an increasingly divisive issue in many cities nationwide during the pandemic, with San Francisco serving as a focal point.
Challenges related to mental health and addiction have long contributed to the city’s homeless population, compounded by a severe housing shortage in one of the country’s most expensive markets.
The 2010s saw a widening disparity between the city’s booming tech wealth and visible poverty. The 2018 launch of “SnapCrap,” an app allowing users to document instances of human waste on streets and sidewalks, garnered widespread attention. The app’s founder, a recent transplant from Vermont, expressed shock at the prevalence of such conditions.
The pandemic exacerbated the issue, driven by economic hardships and fears of contracting COVID-19 in crowded shelters.
Data from San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management indicated a nearly threefold increase in tent encampments between October 2019 and April 2020, rising from 419 to 1,108.
In response, efforts to expand housing opportunities, a longstanding component of San Francisco’s approach to homelessness, were accelerated.
“We were able to get a lot of people inside very quickly,” said Vivian Wan, of Abode, an organization providing services in San Francisco and seven other Northern California counties.
However, Ms. Wan also noted resistance, with some residents expressing concerns about the construction of supportive housing in their neighborhoods.
The city’s struggles became a frequent target of ridicule, with right-wing media outlets routinely featuring segments on residents purportedly fleeing the area due to safety concerns.
By the summer of 2024, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, then-Mayor London Breed, facing a competitive re-election campaign, declared the need for decisive action.
She announced a “very aggressive” removal of tents across San Francisco, threatening potential criminal penalties.
Since then, the number of arrests and citations issued by the city for illegal lodging has increased dramatically, surpassing a thousand – significantly more than in previous years.
While many have welcomed this policy, advocates for the homeless see it as punitive.
“Criminalizing somebody because they literally have no place to live, no money to pay for a place to live – it’s just cycling them in and out of a neighborhood,” said Chione Flegal, executive director of Housing California, an advocacy group focused on ending homelessness and creating affordable housing. “It’s not actually doing anything to solve their challenges.”
Despite Ms. Breed’s defeat in the re-election, her successor, Daniel Lurie, has continued the policy.
As arrests have increased, the number of tent encampments has decreased, according to city data collected quarterly.
In June, San Francisco counted 165 tents and similar structures within its city limits, down from 319 in July 2024. This figure, recorded as arrests intensified, represents a significant decline compared to levels from half a decade earlier.
Although the decline predates the most recent policy changes, this more assertive approach has been cited as a contributing factor to the city’s progress.
However, other metrics paint a more complex picture. The overall number of homeless individuals has continued to rise, with at least 8,300 people experiencing homelessness in January 2024, a 7% increase from 2022. Other estimates place the figure at more than double that.
Supporters of Mayor Lurie’s homelessness policy emphasize its dual focus: deterring outdoor living while simultaneously facilitating access to shelters and supportive housing.
San Francisco has also allocated a substantial $846 million to address the ongoing homelessness crisis in the most recent fiscal year (2024-2025).
Lurie has pledged to add 1,500 new shelter and treatment beds in the city.
The city has also made some concessions, such as a recent decision to allow homeless families to stay in shelters for extended periods.
“When you think about what’s going on our streets, it’s not just homelessness. It’s a mental health and drug crisis on our streets,” Mayor Lurie told the BBC in an interview.
“We can’t just stand up a shelter bed and hope people get better. We have to stand up the right kinds of beds – they have to be treatment beds, recovery beds, short term and long-term housing that’s going to get people the help that they need,” Mayor Lurie said.
So far, his approach to homelessness has been met with approval by many residents, who are feeling more optimistic about the city’s direction, according to recent polling.
“I want everybody to know that we’re reclaiming our streets. They’re public spaces for everybody. And we need to get people the help that they need,” he added.
Those who work closely with the homeless population in San Francisco acknowledge the city’s positive strides.
These include the establishment of a stabilization center for individuals in crisis and the reorganization of street teams to address mental health needs, according to Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco.
However, concerns persist that San Francisco’s – and now Washington D.C.’s – reliance on arrests and encampment sweeps is simply displacing the problem.
“Removing someone’s tent and belongings is distressing and destabilizing for people,” said Dr. Kushel. “There’s never going to be a shortcut here.”
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