SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Mayor London Breed has launched a new crackdown on people sleeping outdoors in a campaign to clear sidewalks of the homeless encampments that have come to define the city.
Her four opponents in November’s elections, all Democrats, say she has not managed the crisis effectively, although the city last month had just 300 tents and other temporary structures, which was half the number from the previous year.
But his opponents don’t agree on a strategy.
“You can really change San Francisco’s reputation from a place where people today believe they can come to our city, pitch a tent and stay as long as they want, to a city where — if that’s the lifestyle they they’re choosing – they’re looking elsewhere,” said Mark Farrell, perhaps the most conservative of the opponents.
It’s a similar story in other major U.S. cities electing mayors this year.
Most are in the West, where long-term homelessness crisis The crisis was fueled by high housing costs and deepened during the coronavirus pandemic, which rocked the country four years ago. There are thousands of people without a place to live, and for many housed residents this has become a quality of life concern, which has made it a key political issue.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, last week threatened to pull state money from cities and counties that don’t do more to move people out of camps and into shelters.
A 2023 count revealed that there were 653,000 people experiencing homelessness at any given time across the country, an increase of 63,000 over the previous decade. The problem became much more visible: 257 thousand people lived on the streets or in other places not intended for housing, 61 thousand more than in 2013.
Most big city mayors and candidates – almost all Democrats – say more affordable housing and additional services are needed for people experiencing homelessness. The crux of the debate, as in San Francisco, is whether it is acceptable to force people off the streets.
In two of the West’s biggest cities, challengers are highlighting the homelessness crisis in their races against incumbents they won handily four years ago.
Larry Turner, a police officer trying to unseat San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, says the current president is placing too much emphasis on temporary housing, including a plan to turn a warehouse into a 1,000-bed shelter. Gloria’s campaign says he is working on permanent and short-term housing.
In Phoenix, Matt Evans argues that incumbent Kate Gallego hasn’t done enough to enforce laws and clean up camps. Gallego opposes what she calls the criminalization of homelessness and has added hundreds of shelter beds.
Elections can solve the problem. And the situation on the streets could, of course, change depending on who is elected.
“Mayors can make a huge difference,” said Ann Oliva, executive director of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
But she criticizes the imprisonment or fines of people who have nowhere to live.
“You cannot pursue criminalization as the main way to combat homelessness and also reduce the numbers,” Oliva said.
Some new mayors have reduced homelessness without relying on penalties, she said.
In Los Angeles, the city with the largest homeless population in the US, Karen Bass took office in December 2022 and immediately signed an emergency order making it easier for the city to hire hotels to provide shelter. According to January’s homeless count, the city’s total fell by 2%, the first decrease after years of increases. Bass has more than two years before he faces re-election.
In Mike Johnston’s first six months as Denver mayor last year, the city moved 1,000 people into hotels, a community of cabin-like structures and other transitional housing.
Other new mayors, such as Cherelle Parker of Philadelphiahave incorporated a tough approach that many candidates are calling for and that the Supreme Court validated with a decision in June allowing a ban on outdoor sleeping.
A dozen candidates are vying for the position in November’s open mayoral election in Portland, Oregon, the center of a metropolitan area where a January 2023 count found nearly 4,000 people living outside.
Councilman Rene Gonzalez pressured Multnomah County, where Portland is located, to stop distributing tents and tarps to homeless people.
Gonzalez pushed for a stricter city law last year, but joined a unanimous city council decision in May to allow authorities fine or even arrest homeless people who reject an offer of shelter.
In San Francisco, Breed’s office issued a memorandum in July, saying that homeless people continue to refuse offers of shelter and services will face increasing penalties including imprisonment if they continue to camp in public.
Breed also ordered that homeless people who are not from San Francisco receive bus or train tickets to return home before receiving shelter or services, adding in a statement that “we cannot solve everyone’s individual housing and behavioral health needs.” ”.
One of Breed’s challengers, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, opposes the camp sweeps. Another challenger, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, says the sweeps are cruel unless there is sufficient shelter available.
Challenger Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who runs a nonprofit that funds small, temporary homes, has pledged to build 1,500 shelter beds in the first six months of his administration so people forced out of camps have somewhere to go. .
“There has simply been no plan for this administration over the last three years,” Lurie said.
The Breed administration has added thousands of temporary and more permanent shelter beds, but there is still a significant shortage.
“Their opponents are not offering locations where they will build shelters, how they will do so and how they plan to pay for their plans,” said Joe Arellano, a spokesman for the Breed campaign.
Michael Johnson, who is homeless in San Francisco, the city where he grew up, was preparing to move recently ahead of an expected tent sweep to avoid what he said happened in a previous sweep when he was given 10 seconds by the police and the city streets. cleaners to move your tent and belongings. He didn’t and he lost everything.
Homeless people often reject offers of shelter if it means giving up their belongings or pets, being separated from significant others, or sleeping in places surrounded by strangers, including some who may be violent.
Johnson, 41, doesn’t like living outdoors. But he says no one has offered him adequate housing and wherever he goes he is always moved again by authorities.
“This is a merry-go-round,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I stay where I am or find a new one. Eventually, they will be here.
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Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. AP reporters Terry Chea in San Francisco and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.
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