San Francisco settles lawsuit over homeless camps

Under agreement, 70% of Tenderloin tents must be gone by next month

Potentially ending a legal battle over the explosion of homeless camps taking over the sidewalks of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, city leaders on Friday agreed to remove 70% of tents in the area by next month.

If approved by the city’s board of supervisors, the settlement will resolve a lawsuit filed in May by a group of Tenderloin residents and business owners, including UC Hastings College of the Law. The number of tents in the neighborhood increased 285% between January and April, and plaintiffs complain sidewalks are impassible, drug dealers sell their wares with impunity and unsanitary, crowded conditions are causing a health risk for all residents in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

In Friday’s settlement, the city promised to remove 70% of tents in the Tenderloin by July 20, after which it will work to eliminate all tents in the neighborhood.

“Ultimately the City’s goal is to be able to provide sufficient access to shelters and navigation centers so that no resident of San Francisco must resort to sleeping in a tent on the street or sidewalk,” the parties’ lawyers

wrote. “The City is committed to making all reasonable efforts to achieve this goal.”

The city plans to funnel residents who had been sleeping on Tenderloin streets into hotel rooms and sanctioned encampments.

“All parties shall respect the legal rights of the unhoused of the Tenderloin in all manners,” the lawyers wrote, “including in relation to relocating and removing the unhoused, the

tents, the other encamping materials and other personal property.”

The city vowed to prioritize hotel rooms for homeless residents from the Tenderloin. Officials estimate about 30% of people living outside in the Tenderloin would qualify for the program, which seeks to house people 65 and older or with underlying medical conditions.

Officials also plan to relocate unhoused Tenderloin residents to sanctioned encampments in other parts of the city. So far the city has opened two such encampments — one outside City Hall and another in the Haight-Ashbury

JANE TYSKA — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Tents are seen near a sanctioned and fenced-in homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco on May 19. The sanctioned camp has socially-distanced spaces, hand washing stations, bathrooms and 24-hour security.