Targeted San Francisco homeless encampment sweep focuses on troubled Tenderloin street
Targeted sweeps of homeless encampments took place across San Francisco on Wednesday, as Mayor London Breed seeks to fulfill a pledge to step up enforcement.
When 8 a.m. arrived, the two blocks of Willow Street in the Tenderloin were lined with several dozen people and maybe 15 or so tents. But, by everyone's account there were more people here the day before, only many of them decided to move on once word spread of what was coming.
"That DPW is coming to take all your stuff tomorrow," said Steve, who had been camped on the alleyway. "That's all I've heard."
So what is different about this sweep as opposed to the many that have come here before?
"Nothing," answered David Nakanishi with the city's Healthy Streets Operation Center. "Absolutely nothing. This is normal operations. It's our usual protocol. We've done 72-hour noticing. We started with homeless outreach, the encampment resolution team offering shelter. We're still operating right now, as if the injunction, and the lawsuit, which is definitely still in place."
What is different is what the city calls "legal clarity", that it can enforce city codes regarding sidewalks and camping, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case and an executive order by Gov. Gavin Newsom to clear encampments.
One requirement is that shelter is offered and that has the city working, almost hour by hour, to determine exactly how many spaces of what variety are available throughout the city system.
"We try to make a plan, try to make sure we have enough of what we need," explained Jose Torres, a project manager with San Francisco's Homeless Outreach Team. "But sometimes it's just the system is so saturated. Right now, it's the end of the month. So people are happy staying inside. It changes when people get money and they go outside and back again, that kind of thing. Does the trend have to be mindful of as well."
The likelihood of someone accepting the offer, depends largely on what is being offered.
"Depends on what it is," Steve said. "Because a lot of them are like jails. You know, you can't have any visitors. You can't have anything. They search your bags every time you come in. It's just like being in jail."
So what happened on Willow Street? Most people chose simply to walk away, with many moving their belongings a block or two in different directions.
By the early afternoon, the tents had returned, and so did the city. The entire team came back, informing everyone who had returned that they would be cited for illegally camping on the sidewalks.
In doing that, they ran some names, and found two outstanding warrants. At least one of those individuals was arrested. And the city says, is the other difference, a determination, to make this stick.
"The potential change is the ability for more teams," Nakanishi said. "More people that are just specialized teams, to try to work on the encampment prevention. Because this block has been impacted for many, many years, it is a very good chance that after this is cleared, in a very short time, people will be encamped here again."
To be sure, the people in this alleyway have been moved around before, but if the idea is to send a message that things are changing.
That may be working.
"It sounds like it's supposed to be a lot different," Steve said of the enforcement. "I mean, I'm not against going inside. I don't want to be forced into somewhere either."
