- “For the first time, San Francisco is being held accountable for how it handles unhoused people’s belongings.” – John Do, senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California
By Vanguard Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a settlement with the Coalition on Homelessness that requires the city to follow its bag-and-tag policy and creates oversight measures to protect the belongings of unhoused residents. The agreement stems from a lawsuit filed in 2022 and, after a second and final vote on Sept. 16, must be signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie before becoming a five-year court order.
The Coalition sued the city over its practice of discarding people’s belongings during encampment sweeps. The group alleged that despite the existence of a bag-and-tag policy, which requires property to be stored, city workers frequently threw away essential items such as tents, sleeping bags, medication, and identification documents. These items, advocates said, were critical to unhoused people’s ability to seek housing, employment, and benefits.
The settlement agreement requires San Francisco to give unhoused people the chance to reclaim their belongings before the city can destroy them. It also mandates that the city provide advance notice of planned sweeps to unhoused individuals and the Coalition on Homelessness, along with quarterly reports on property seizures. In addition, the Coalition will receive monthly access to the city’s storage yard, allowing it to monitor compliance.
“For the first time, San Francisco is being held accountable for how it handles unhoused people’s belongings,” said John Do, senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “We will be watching closely, and if we determine that the city is still unlawfully destroying people’s property, we will ask the court to intervene.”
The settlement also requires the Department of Public Works to train staff on procedures for handling personal property. Workers will need to photo-document items at encampments before removal, ensuring that belongings are properly logged and stored. If the city changes its bag-and-tag policy in the future, it must still meet constitutional standards designed to protect unhoused residents’ rights.
Part of the attorneys’ fees awarded under the agreement will go toward monitoring compliance. Evidence of violations or routine unlawful property destruction can be taken back before a judge. Importantly, the Coalition did not seek monetary damages in the lawsuit and will not receive financial compensation from the settlement.
Plaintiff Sarah Cronk, who lived unhoused in San Francisco for years, said losing her belongings repeatedly undermined her ability to get off the streets. She recounted how city sweeps left her without basic necessities and forced her to start over.
“When you’re trying to survive on the streets, losing almost everything you own is traumatic and destabilizing,” said Cronk, who now lives with her partner and young daughter in subsidized housing. “There were times when we thought we were making real progress toward getting back on our feet, but then the city would sweep through and pull the rug out from under us, leaving us reeling and scrambling to replace necessities.”
Nisha Kashyap, program director of Racial Justice at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, emphasized the significance of the agreement.
“This settlement—and the accountability and oversight measures in it—are the result of our clients’ tireless efforts to ensure that unhoused people are afforded the same constitutional protections as anyone else,” Kashyap said.
Advocates note that, while encampment sweeps may displace people, they do not reduce the overall number of unhoused residents. The settlement comes amid continuing pressure on San Francisco’s shelter system, where long waitlists highlight the lack of available beds and affordable housing options.
“Ultimately, we hope this settlement encourages the city to redirect its limited resources away from sweeps and instead invest more in extremely low-income housing and acquiring existing units,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness. “When someone loses their home, it is devastating. Losing what is left of their belongings in a sweep makes it even harder for them to recover.”
Vasudha Talla, of counsel at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel and lead trial counsel in the case, said the agreement secures important protections.
“We are pleased that San Francisco has recognized that compliance with its bag-and-tag policy is critical to the protection of unhoused individuals’ constitutional rights,” Talla said.
The Coalition on Homelessness was represented by the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel. Together, the legal team argued that the destruction of property during sweeps not only violated city policy but also deprived unhoused individuals of the ability to meet basic needs and pursue opportunities for stability.
For unhoused residents, losing items such as tents or medications can have immediate and severe consequences. Advocates stressed that even identification documents discarded during sweeps can trap people in cycles of homelessness, since they are required to access public benefits and job opportunities.
The case underscores the larger tension between city policies aimed at clearing encampments and the constitutional rights of those forced to live on the streets. While San Francisco officials have argued that sweeps are necessary to maintain public health and safety, the settlement reflects growing recognition of the need to balance those concerns with the rights of unhoused residents.
The lawsuit and resulting settlement also highlight the role of community organizations and advocates in shaping city policy. By bringing legal action and insisting on oversight mechanisms, the Coalition on Homelessness and its legal partners secured a framework that requires San Francisco to be more transparent and accountable.
The settlement does not resolve the broader crisis of homelessness in the city, but it creates enforceable protections for some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents. The court order will remain in place for five years, providing advocates with tools to hold the city accountable for how it handles encampment sweeps.
The Board of Supervisors will take a second and final vote on Sept. 16. If Mayor Lurie signs the agreement, it will be entered as a court order. The full settlement agreement can be accessed here.
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