Fentanyl crisis, homelessness remain top concerns for San Francisco voters
High in mind for many San Francisco residents ahead of November's mayoral election is the city's response to the opioid crisis and homelessness.
Officials have been aggressively trying to solve both. Since the Supreme Court ruling on Grant's Pass, San Francisco has been dismantling encampments in the Tenderloin and other neighborhoods.
SFPD has also been cracking down on drug dealing with help from state and federal law enforcement with 3,900 arrests and more than 500 pounds of drugs taken off the streets since the crackdown began in May of last year.
While there has been some progress, the city's next leader will have a lot to tackle on both fronts.
"Basically I woke up. I see some people standing up over me," explained Damon, who spent the night behind the Best Buy on San Francisco's Harrison Street. "I noticed they came from a health van."
Damon slept beneath the noise machines installed to keep people from camping on this sidewalk, but the city's encampment resolution team will force him to move again.
"I can't be anywhere for three days," he said of all the moving about.
This time, he's been referred to an open spot at one of the city's navigation centers. With the backing of recent court decisions, the city has been pushing harder to get people off the streets. It's something that has been discussed in emergency terms for several years.
It was December of 2021 when Mayor London Breed launched a series of initiatives aimed largely at the nexus of homelessness and drugs in the Tenderloin. 32 months later there is evidence that a law enforcement surge is disrupting drug markets, at least during the day.
Overdose numbers, which hit a record high of 810 last year, are trending down this year, a drop of 15% so far versus 2023. Health officials say they are not sure why. The job of getting people off the streets and into shelters continues.
"I hope something works out for me, I'm 53 years old. I can still work," Damon said.
These problems, of course, have vexed San Francisco mayors for generations now. So what has changed? Maybe the public's sense that it is time for discernible, measurable improvement, and that the city's collective well being is increasingly tied to making real progress on these issues.
