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6 months ago
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San Francisco's recent homeless crisis appears to be easing according to new figures released by the city's woke mayor, London Breed which see numbers hitting a five year low.
The city calculates its homeless figures every three months and at the end of the last count in April, a 41 percent reduction was noted compared to July 2023.
There were 360 tents and structures counted in April - down from 610 last summer and 385 during February's count.
It is the lowest figure the city has recorded since it began tracking the data in 2018.
Breed says the reduction has come about as a result of a number of factors, not least the police enforcement of anti-camping laws when homeless people have reasonable access to shelter accommodation.
San Francisco has cleaned up several well-known homeless encampments
Where tents were previously propped up, sidewalks are clear and spotless. Locales where homeless once congregated are now cleared
The city calculates the city's homeless figures every three months and at the end of the last count in April a 41 percent reduction was noted compared to July 2023.
San Francisco's recent homeless crisis appears to be easing according to new figures released by the city's woke mayor, London Breed
London also touted the increased availability of new shelter beds and a renewed effort to fill vacant housing units as being behind the reduction in numbers.
'Our encampment teams and outreach workers are working tirelessly to go out and help bring people into shelter and clean up encampments,' said Mayor Breed. 'We are continuing to use all of the resources we have and working to add more, but there is a lot more to do.
'We will be relentless in our efforts to help people into safer, supportive facilities, and make our neighborhoods cleaner and healthier for everyone. I want to thank our outreach workers across all of our agencies for their commitment to getting people help.
'This is not easy work, but it is making a difference. We are continuing to use all of the resources we have and working to add more, but there is a lot more to do', Breed said in a statement.
Early in the morning a homeless man and woman quickly pick up their belongings as Urban Alchemy crews begin their daily cleaning of the streets in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco
City workers are seen cleaning the streets and removing tents and items belonging to homeless people
The area outside the United States Federal Building in San Francisco, was considered the biggest of all the open-air drug markets across the city
Hangouts along Mission Street and Market are also no more, along with a brazen open drug market that for more than a year that had been outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building
Federal rules have now freed the city's ability to forcibly move homeless encampments with the rules allowing for tents to be taken down by force by police if people are given 'reasonable' access to shelter.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals clarified in September 2023 that those who decline shelter are not 'involuntarily homeless,' making them not protected under the injunction. A three-judge panel in January largely upheld the injunction.
Since the beginning of the year, the city has cleared 242 encampments during which outreach workers made contact with 1,530 homeless people.
Following a change in the rules, the city saw a decrease in the number of people visibly living on the city's streets.
Not everyone is convinced by the figures, however, noting that a reduction in tents 'does not necessarily mean a reduction in homelessness.'
'There is still great unmet need with long waitlists for shelter and housing,' Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, which sued the city over its encampment sweeps, said in to The Standard.
'Touting a reduction in tents as a result of sweeps is mere political theater.'
Data from the city reveals how offers of shelter were accepted 30 percent of the time and rejected on 60 percent of occasions.
As of Monday night, 155 people remain on the waitlist for individual shelter beds with a further 372 families still on a separate waitlist for family shelter beds.
Police are being allowed to enforce anti-camping laws when homeless people have reasonable access to shelter accommodation
A San Francisco Police Department officer asks two people sitting on the sidewalk to move
Officers are now taking a more active role in moving homeless people along and into shelters
A San Francisco Police Department vehicle drives through a homeless encampment being cleaned up in San Francisco
Scenes of homeless drug addicts stumbling on sidewalks and fears of violence and petty crime have become a national political issue, with Donald Trump making it part of his campaign platform.
In a video on homelessness released by his campaign, Trump said that 'hardworking, law-abiding citizens' were being sidelines and made to 'suffer for the whims of a deeply unwell few.'
He vowed to 'ban urban camping' and create 'tent cities' on 'inexpensive land' for homeless people that will be staffed with doctors and social workers to help people address systemic problems.
Still, homeless people and their advocates say sweeps and relocation policies are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money.
The answer, they say, is more affordable housing, not crackdowns on tent cities.
San Francisco is reeling from soaring crime, an emptying downtown, and residents moving away to safer, cheaper areas
Breed is facing a re-election bid and is currently in trouble according to recent polling. She has overseen a continued downturn of San Francisco's economy and the prevalence of homelessness and overdoses on its streets.
'As someone who grew up in San Francisco, Macy's has always meant a lot to the people of this city. It's where families came to shop for the holidays,' Breed said earlier this year.
The crime-ridden downtown area of San Francisco has seen the closure of many shops and restaurants since its drastic downfall, despite Breed attempting to hype statistics claiming offenses went down in 2023.
In October 2023, it was reported that seven Starbucks stores were planning to close as the city continues to deal with crime, drug use, and a homelessness.
In the end of August 2023, video was released showing San Francisco's newly shut-down flagship Nordstrom store that was almost barren after nearly three decades in business.
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