SF homeless advocates allege city violating injunction, say property seized from unhoused
SAN FRANCISCO – For many homeless individuals in San Francisco, the recurring nightmare of losing their belongings is a reality. A group of homeless advocates are taking the city to court, saying the city is violating a recent injunction.
Rick Vadder, who relocated from Pennsylvania 16 months ago, has experienced this three times already. However, he insists it was not due to robbery but because the police confiscated and destroyed his possessions.
"It's bad because I put all that money into it, I had saved up that could last me for a while," said Vadder, one of many facing such circumstances.
According to the Coalition on Homelessness, an organization that filed a lawsuit against the city last fall, this issue is pervasive. The lawsuit aimed to challenge the practice of the city confiscating homeless people's belongings, leading to severe repercussions for the affected individuals.
"The city confiscates homeless people's property frequently. They lose their paperwork, which puts them back in their search for housing. They lose touch with their social workers," explained Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness.
While the court issued an injunction in December 2022, temporarily halting the enforcement of these practices, the situation seems to have worsened since then. A recent brief filed by the organization alleges that the city has violated the court injunction.
"In the past seven months, we have documented that San Francisco continues to do its sweeps, in terms of again threatening enforcement or enforcing their laws against them, being in public and having their belongings in public. But again, we're talking about folks that don't have an alternative," said John Do, senior staff attorney for the Racial & Economic Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California.
Meanwhile, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu's office maintains that the city has been adhering to the injunction and has implemented a services-first approach to address homelessness.
"We submitted an extraordinary amount of evidence that shows Plaintiffs' allegations fall apart under closer examination. Plaintiffs erroneously equate service requests from the public with enforcement action of the enjoined laws, which simply does not make sense," the City Attorney's office told KPIX via email.
As the legal battle continues, Vadder remains resolute in his efforts to improve his situation, attempting to secure employment and connect with social services.
"I'm trying to get a job too, but every time that I'm about to get a job, then it seems like they don't wanna hire me, and I put in for Social Security, but I haven't heard back from them yet," he said.
