SAN FRANCISCO — James Reem has lived in a tent on the nook of Fell and Baker streets for greater than a yr. An artist by commerce, he mentioned he was evicted from his residence after troubles along with his landlord and for a time lived out of a van. After the van acquired towed, somebody gave him a tent and he turned to the streets.
His tent sits outdoors town’s solely DMV workplace, throughout the road from the Panhandle, a lush strip of greenery that opens into Golden Gate Park in a family-friendly neighborhood adorned by rows of manicured Victorians.
It’s a cushty spot, mentioned Reem, 59, with a sidewalk extensive sufficient to accommodate his tent and nonetheless go away room for pedestrians. Some days, Reem is one in every of a dozen or extra tent-dwellers on the concrete stretch.
“There are a few of us that stick together,” Reem mentioned.
“They’re not concerned about the homeless,” James Reem mentioned of San Francisco’s plans for encampment sweeps. “They’re concerned about getting rid of us.”
(Hannah Wiley / Los Angeles Occasions)
His adopted neighborhood is amongst dozens of web sites more likely to be focused as town launches what Mayor London Breed has mentioned might be an assertive marketing campaign to power individuals off the streets in response to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court docket.
An estimated 8,300 individuals are residing homeless in San Francisco. And regardless of a years-long effort to maneuver individuals into short-term shelter or everlasting housing, unsanctioned encampments stay a widespread and visual drawback, typically accompanied by rubbish, theft and open drug use.
For years, Breed and different metropolis officers mentioned their fingers had been tied by selections issued by the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers many Western states, that deemed it merciless and strange punishment to penalize somebody for sleeping on the streets if no authorized shelter was accessible.
The U.S. Supreme Court docket reversed that call in a pivotal June 28 ruling, saying that cities in California and the West could implement legal guidelines proscribing homeless encampments on sidewalks and different public property.
Breed, a fellow Democrat, has additionally embraced the ruling. She mentioned final week that, armed with the excessive courtroom’s determination, she is going to spearhead a “very aggressive” effort to clear homeless encampments starting in August. She mentioned the trouble may embrace felony penalties for refusing to disperse.
Breed was not accessible for an interview Friday, and her workplace has but to supply particulars of what the sweeps will entail or the place individuals residing in tents are anticipated to relocate. Her spokesperson, Jeff Cretan, mentioned a few of these particulars would come into clearer focus subsequent week.
Throughout a July 18 mayoral debate hosted by the native firefighters union, Breed acknowledged her determination to orchestrate sweeps was “not a popular” one however mentioned it was a mandatory step.
“We have had to move from a compassionate city to a city of accountability,” she mentioned. “And I have been leading the efforts to ensure we are addressing this issue differently than we have before.”
She mentioned town has labored over the past a number of years so as to add shelter beds and disperse outreach employees to supply companies and help. However even when outreach employees provide shelter, in accordance with the mayor’s workplace, these provides are rejected practically 70% of the time.
San Francisco has experimented with sanctioned tent cities in an effort to deal with the wants of its homeless inhabitants.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Occasions)
Breed’s crackdown is more likely to provide headlines out of San Francisco that counter the narratives promoted by conservative pundits as Vice President Kamala Harris ramps up her presidential marketing campaign. Her Republican opponents have lengthy tried to color Harris, who rose to political energy in 2004 as San Francisco’s elected district legal professional, as a California liberal whose insurance policies have helped contribute to the surging homelessness and retail crime plaguing her house state.
However the Supreme Court docket’s ruling is proving divisive for California’s native Democratic leaders. Extra left-leaning Democrats, together with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, say the choice will permit cities to criminalize homelessness with out doing something to deal with the foundation causes, together with habit and a dearth of reasonably priced housing. It’s a sentiment echoed by homeless advocates.
Whether or not San Francisco has sufficient shelter beds to accommodate the potential wave of individuals pushed off the streets is unclear. Since Breed took workplace, town has expanded shelter beds from about 2,500 to almost 4,000, her workplace mentioned, and has expanded everlasting supportive housing to about 14,000 slots.
The DMV encampment the place Reem lives is one in every of a number of that metropolis officers have cleared repeatedly, solely to see it return days later. To date this yr, the encampment has been cleared greater than a dozen instances, in accordance with the mayor’s workplace.
Reem says he feels safer outdoors than he does in an emergency shelter, the place he worries about his belongings getting stolen. He mentioned he would settle for assist from metropolis employees. However he additionally mentioned he thinks Breed’s plan is much less about serving to individuals like him than it’s about clearing out tents that make the general public uncomfortable.
“They’re not concerned about the homeless,” he mentioned. “They’re concerned about getting rid of us.”
