What happened to the “City of Love”
This is part two of a multi-part series we began in July/August 2024 entitled, “Is the City of San Francisco Waging a War on the Homeless?” After approximately 90 days since the 9th Circuit issued an order vacating portions of a partially granted preliminary injunction against the City of San Francisco, I stated the following:
The City of San Francisco to include the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), specific politicians, lawyers, and city departments like Public Works, as well as corporate stakeholders have launched an all-out war and full-on attack on unhoused/homeless people in the city/county limits of San Francisco. The war waged has been pragmatic, systematic, and methodical. In other words, the plan to make things “uncomfortable” was researched and rolled out with malicious intent. San Francisco Mayor London Breed spearheaded the plan and used her power, authority, and influence to implement Step Number One: Clear and eradicate all tents and homeless encampments. As soon as the ink dried on the 9th Circuit’s order to vacate, lawyers for the City and County of San Francisco, along with SFPD were plotting in order to make their move on the homeless. On July 31, 2024, SFPD released Department Notice 24-126 (Department Notice) which is entitled, “Enforcement of Laws to Address Lodging, Encampments on Public Streets, Sidewalks, Plazas or Other Public or on Private Property or Blocking Access to Those Areas.”
If you read and study the SFPD Department Notice carefully, you will see that the Office of San Francisco Attorney David Chiu and the Office of the California State Attorney General Rob Bonta had a direct hand in crafting this Department Notice. I will focus on a few things that caught my eye which lay the legal foundation for criminalizing the homeless in San Francisco.
“There are three categories of state and local laws that various City personnel may enforce to address lodging and encampments: (1) criminal and civil nuisance laws; (2) criminal laws prohibiting sitting, lying, and lodging; and (3) laws that prohibit interfering with a public officer or peace officer in the performance of their employment or duty.”
Here is a short list of the police codes and California Penal Codes referenced in order to justify, abuse, and eradicate the homeless in San Francisco:
- Sit/Lie – S.F. Police Code §168. “….applies to any persons, including individuals in an encampment, who are sitting or lying on the sidewalk between 0700 hours and 2300 hours…”
- Unauthorized Lodging – Cal. Penal Code §647(e).
- Public Nuisance & Obstructing streets or sidewalks – Cal. Penal Code §370-372 and Cal. Penal Code §647(c);
- Private Trespass – S.F. Police Code §25-27.
The penalties for violation of the “laws” increase exponentially with each infraction. After studying the documents, I couldn’t help but think of a saying my friend, Ariann Harrison, is fond of saying when confronting injustice, “CAN WE LIVE?” During the months of August and September, we saw SFPD, Department of Public Works, and contractors like Urban Alchemy begin to clear out tents and encampments around the City with a special focus on the Tenderloin. In our first article, we mentioned the “bag and tag” policy which allegedly provides guidance to City employees and departments on how to handle personal property of homeless human beings in San Francisco. The Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco has been on the front lines of the legal fight in the courtroom and on the streets, advocating zealously for the rights of homeless people. Twice a month the organization publishes a newsletter called “The Street Sheet.” The Street Sheet is the most authentic and fact-filled resource you will find in regard to the homeless crisis in San Francisco. The September 15, 2024, edition of The Street Sheet had a section entitled, “Essential Items Often Swept Away.” We are talking about items discarded or routinely thrown away by SF Department of Public Works and the police. Link: https://www.streetsheet.org/
- Vital Records: identification, birth certificates;
- Items necessary for employment like uniforms and tools;
- Items of medical necessity like inhalers, walkers;
- Survival gear like tents or sleeping bags; and
- Food and water.
There’s another article in the September 15 issue that caught my attention, too. I highly recommend all of our readers check it out. The article was written by journalist, Lauren Hepler of Cal Matters and is entitled, “Meth, Death, and Abuse Inside the Private Security Forces Patrolling the Homeless.” Link: https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/private-security-forces-patrolling-california-homeless
I met Lauren Hepler in 2021 in the City of San Francisco. At the time, she was with the San Francisco Chronicle and working on an article focused on housing insecurity in the Bay View neighborhood. In regard to this most recent article written by Lauren and featured in The Street Sheet, her reporting on the private security company, Urban Alchemy, grabbed my attention. This private security company employs a large number of former prisoners; some of whom were serving life sentences and were granted parole. Destination Freedom applauds all men and women who strive to make a positive transition back into free society. However, through our research, we have discovered troubling instances where employees of Urban Alchemy are being utilized by the City of San Francisco as an “attack dog” which preys on innocent and helpless homeless people.
What we are observing are a group of disadvantaged minorities being deputized as “police” and being given the authority to harass another group of disadvantaged human beings. The money that Urban Alchemy earns as a security contractor is nothing to scoff at. In her article, Lauren Hepler states the following: “Urban Alchemy advertises street cleaning services and complimentary strategies to conventional policing and security. It’s revenue quickly multiplied from $36,000 in 2019 to $51,000,000 in 2022, tax records show.”
Once again, we ask our readers to read that particular quote again. Allow these numbers to sink in. We cannot help but ask “Why isn’t the City and County of San Francisco funneling some of these millions into a collaborative project with the U.S. Government’s assistance that can build permanent housing for our homeless sisters and brothers?” There appears to not be any political will for that. San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman has said, “This is a great day, and I’m generally a glass half-empty kind of person,” “If you look at the progress that this city has made over the last six years in terms of street encampments, it is absolutely remarkable.” Mr. Mandelman calls this “progress” and a “great day,” when human beings are being abused? He doesn’t appear to have any empathy for the homeless.
As the mayoral election in San Francisco edges closer and closer, incumbent Mayor London Breed continues to ratchet up the pressure on the most vulnerable community of people in the City. The policies of mayoral candidates Mark Farrell and Aaron Peskin do not differ much from London Breed on the topic of the homeless. I think it is important to remind our readers and all politicians in the state that homeless people and those who advocate for them have the right to vote. However, we want to encourage advocates like Steve Zeltzer and so many others, that when they organize a protest on the steps of City Hall they do their best to get a robust turnout. We say this because it appears that politicians like London Breed, Rafael Mandelman, Mark Farrell, and so many others take advantage of the fact that homeless people don’t have a voice and if they don’t have a domicile to live at, do they actually, have an opportunity to vote? If the homeless can vote, are they aware of this? Something to ponder.
The next step in San Francisco’s war on the homeless appears to be focused squarely on removing all RVs and campers.
link to policy: https://www.sfmta.com/media/40655/download?inline
Mayor Breed had this to say recently to reporters: “’We are going to make them so uncomfortable on the streets of San Francisco that they have to take our offer’ of shelter or housing. She continued, ‘We will be using law enforcement to cite, and those citations can get progressive and can lead to a misdemeanor.’”
The policy which was recently approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) is pretty cut and dry. Either accept the City’s offer of a bed in a crowded shelter (with no privacy) or get your RV or camper impounded and live on the street with nothing. The policy will be fully enforced beginning on November 1, 2024.
Editor’s Note (Gale Washington): Mayor Breed’s “take it or get out” policy for RV and camper dwellers is not only not an option but appears to be completely inconsiderate of the homeless population (see her comments above). Some homeless have stated that their option for “shelter” is a building with 100 people, no privacy, and having to share bathrooms. This policy of “take it or get out” seems to reflect a preference by Mayor Breed (and several others who are running against her) to cater to her (their) rich constituents’ desires — and winning an election — rather than for the City’s population as a whole (a “take out the trash” approach). The homeless are living, breathing human beings who should be treated with dignity. Treating these individuals and families like a bunch of cattle and shoving them into a pen (building) is a cruel way of dealing with the situation and a complete lack of concern for their individual safety and wellbeing.
There’s only one candidate in the bunch who may be considered remotely pro-homeless and supportive of a real solution: Daniel Lurie. In a piece by KTVU Fox 2 News, this is Mr. Lurie’s position on the homeless issue:
“Homelessness: Lurie said he wants to build 1,500 shelter beds in six months and 2,500 tiny homes. He wants to prioritize cost-effective shelter, rather than expensive permanent housing. He also wants to require RVs to park in designated areas.”
Link: https://www.ktvu.com/election/san-francisco-mayoral-candidates-2024-what-you-need-know
MAYOR MAHAN HAS SOME SOLUTIONS
We know what the problems are in San Francisco, but before we end this article, we wanted to share some solutions being implemented in nearby San Jose by Mayor Matt Mahan.Project Homekey (statewide)
- Supportive Parking (for RVs)
- SOAR (Services, Outreach, Assistance and Resources) sites
- Overnight Warming Locations
- Temporary and Incidental Shelter
- A Shared Responsibility (emergency and temporary housing across the city)
- Cherry Avenue Interim Housing
- Proposed Bernal Backup sites for small homes provided by the state
- Proposed Via del Oro site for moveable sleeping cabins
Last week Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) visited Oakland, California and applauded the efforts of some local organizations that are addressing the housing crisis. Specifically, she visited Casa Arabella in the Fruitvale District, which provides affordable housing for homeless veterans and others in need of permanent housing.
We at Destination Freedom want to see a Casa Arabella for our homeless people in the City of San Francisco. Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman had this to say as a parting comment to the people of Oakland: “There’s hope. There’s people in the U.S. government committed to fight for them.”
We fielded a report from an incarcerated human being who was homeless on the streets of San Francisco. His name is Brother Y aka Negus Romulus. He is an activist/staff writer, and a long-time ally and friend of Poor Magazine and Homefulness in Oakland. This is what he had to say: “It’s been my personal experience as a nomad dwelling on United Snakes occupied Turtle Island in the region known as San Francisco. The murderous….gang of armed robbers known as the San Francisco Police Department have no regard for the wellbeing, humanity, or property of nomadic dwellers (those who do not own buildings in which they reside). I choose the term “nomad” and encourage others to use it as well, because nomads can be tribal and have accepted practices and cultural beliefs. When police arrest nomads, they leave their property behind without issuing a detailed inventory or receipt or they keep it for themselves for some later use. In point of fact, several tents, tarps, multiple clothing items, food and beverages, as well as tools have been taken from me in such a manner. I’m fighting against these barbarians in their own kangaroo court system. If court proceedings were fair, they would allow me to offer all the evidence that I have to offer. However, the prosecutor, judge, and defense attorney assigned to me are not only colleagues but co-workers. The judicial system and political system are one in the same. They are not broken; they are fixed for the outcome to always be the same. For the underdog, justice is a commodity that can only be purchased with old money and political connections.”
Malik Washington is a freelance journalist and Director at Destination: Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group.
