JUDGE QUESTIONS TACTICS IN SF HOMELESS SITE SWEEPS
A judge in federal court Thursday questioned San Francisco’s tactics in homeless encampment cleanups, suggesting the city is not following its own policies of offering shelter beds to people being asked to leave a public area.
Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu in U.S. District Court in Oakland did not issue a ruling on a request by homeless plaintiffs to make the city stop dismantling encampleave ments until it has thousands more shelter beds. She said she would issue a written order on the request for a preliminary injunction.
Attorneys for San Francisco said its policies balance the rights of homeless people with a need to maintain public spaces clean and safe for everyone. In court documents, they said homeless people get plenty of notice of upcoming cleanings, receive offers of help and shelter and are asked to an encampment only after declining an offer to stay elsewhere.
But the judge pointed to evidence provided by the Coalition on Homelessness and seven plaintiffs, containing academic analysis and detailed eyewitness accounts of numerous sweeps conducted in the past three years that show homeless people were deprived of personal items and pushed out with nowhere to go.
“The policy isn’t the problem,” Ryu said in the virtual hearing. “The question is how is that policy being executed.”
The Coalition on Homelessness sued San Francisco in September and has requested a preliminary injunction to stop city workers from seizing tents, clothing and other belongings of homeless people unless it follows its own policies of bagging and tagging items for safekeeping for up to 90 days.