{"id":28468,"date":"2023-09-14T12:47:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T19:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28468"},"modified":"2023-09-14T12:47:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T19:47:33","slug":"has-a-federal-injunction-really-made-sf-homelessness-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/14\/has-a-federal-injunction-really-made-sf-homelessness-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Has a federal injunction really made SF homelessness worse?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer |<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sep 13, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a016 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/8\/94\/894c28a0-4bf3-11ee-8855-ebbff8f503e0\/64f732c0bcb88.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267\" alt=\"Eddy Taylor encampment\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Data San Francisco collects on a quarterly basis on encampments, like the one pictured above at Eddy and Taylor streets on Aug. 29, 2023, paints a mixed picture of the injunction\u2019s impact.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>City and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/gavin-newsom-wants-supreme-court-to-hear-sf-sweeps-lawsuit\/article_1e1f130a-526d-11ee-94c6-f3c765cfd340.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">state leaders have excoriated an injunction<\/a>&nbsp;they claim handcuffs their ability to address proliferating homeless encampments in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\u2019s difficult to peg by any objective measure exactly how the court order \u2014 issued in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/after-ruling-judge-probes-sfs-encampment-enforcement\/article_54f2114e-9368-11ed-acac-1b725abbb8cf.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">December by a federal judge<\/a>&nbsp;after homeless advocates alleged city sweeps were unconstitutional \u2014 is having an impact on the overall state of homelessness in The City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anecdotally, The City\u2019s attorneys and homeless outreach workers have illustrated how the injunction&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/despite-losses-in-court-sf-trying-to-clear-encampments\/article_61ff9222-d4d0-11ed-a7c9-2fa3d049d78b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">makes their work harder<\/a>. But data San Francisco collects on a quarterly basis on encampments and its homelessness paints a mixed picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Somewhat paradoxically, both homeless advocates and city officials question the integrity of what limited data is available, noting that the injunction is just one of myriad factors that impacts conditions on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July \u2014 the most recent month available \u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sf.gov\/data\/healthy-streets-data-and-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The City counted 609 tents<\/a>, the most since it began collecting the data in a quarterly census. However, that same month, it tallied only 14 \u201clarge encampments,\u201d which are defined as having six or more tents clustered together. In fact, July marked the third consecutive census in which the number of large encampments had declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu\u2019s order \u2014 issued in response to a lawsuit filed by several unhoused people and their advocates \u2014 people living in a tent are ostensibly free from the threat of enforcement of several laws related to homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe City\u2019s encampment response, I\u2019ve been pretty clear, has never been robust enough,\u201d said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, an outspoken critic of the ruling. \u201cHow much was Ryu\u2019s injunction the but-for cause of The City\u2019s non-resolution, and how much of it was just more reason? I don\u2019t know the answer to that question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He described the ruling as \u201cone more straw on the camel\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is one more contributing factor that, depending on your perspective, gives The City an excuse or is a real barrier, but it\u2019s not the only one and we have a lot more work to do,\u201d Mandelman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>City leaders have argued in court that people on the street are citing the ruling when refusing to move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince the District Court entered its preliminary injunction order, more homeless individuals have, in effect, taken up what appears to be semi-permanent residence on the streets and sidewalks,\u201d wrote Sam Dodge, the former director of The City\u2019s Health Streets Operations Center, which led the effort to clear encampments. \u201cConflicts among homeless individuals in encampments, and between homeless individuals and others, some of which lead to violence, appear to be increasing in frequency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But The City\u2019s own data shows that, when contacted by The City\u2019s homeless outreach teams, a higher percentage of people are accepting referrals to shelter and housing than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the second quarter of this year, 46% of people engaged by HSOC teams accepted help, compared to as low as 32% in the third quarter of 2022, months before the injunction was ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco City Attorney\u2019s Office declined to answer The Examiner\u2019s questions about the data and pointed to the testimony submitted in court by Dodge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City could have made the argument that the ruling would be disastrous in the long term, but might not immediately cause dire consequences. Attorneys instead opted to argue the ruling was already shaking things up on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But identifying measurable, objective proof that homelessness in San Francisco has worsened is challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandelman pointed The Examiner to the encampment in his district occupied by Toro Casta\u00f1o, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against The City. In August, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/homeless-encampment-sweeps-lawsuit-18275300.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco Chronicle documented<\/a>&nbsp;how Casta\u00f1o\u2019s encampment drew the ire of local business owners and neighborhood residents, who believed \u2014 contrary to his assertions \u2014 that Casta\u00f1o had denied offers of shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are particular encampments where I have heard from our city encampment resolution folks that they just hit a wall,\u201d Mandelman said. \u201cPeople knew that they didn\u2019t have to leave, and it didn\u2019t matter how disruptive the encampment was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ruling so incensed some city leaders and advocates that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/dueling-rallies-show-how-sf-homelessness-still-divides-city\/article_920e2d14-4200-11ee-9b9e-eb571f83d052.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they rallied outside the federal courtroom<\/a>&nbsp;where the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard \u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/why-sf-homeless-sweeps-ruling-is-no-clear-cut-win-for-city\/article_abb7f25a-4e93-11ee-8ca4-0779175ad714.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">and later denied<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 The City\u2019s appeal of Ryu\u2019s ruling last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the loss, San Francisco leaders highlighted the 9th Circuit\u2019s affirmation that The City can force people from encampments if they\u2019re first offered shelter. (Homeless advocates counter that The City has historically&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/latest-sf-encampment-sweeps-ruling-satisfies-advocates-city\/article_7d2bd318-4d06-11ee-b09c-ff1cd5b44fea.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">failed to meet that standard<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAfter the 9th Circuit has made clear that where folks are offered shelter, those encampments can be moved, The City\u2019s excuses are going to ring hollow,\u201d Mandelman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness \u2014 a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit \u2014 attributes the improvement in homelessness data to The City\u2019s emphasis on diversifying its shelter options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s because there\u2019s more (shelter available),\u201d Friedenbach said. \u201cThey were lying in 2022, and they\u2019re lying in 2023 about people saying no to shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, she has qualms with the data, which she says counts a person as \u201crefusing\u201d services even if there aren\u2019t enough \u2014 or the right type \u2014 shelter beds to realistically accommodate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat about the person who is in a wheelchair who they only had a top bunk for?\u201d Friedenbach asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friedenbach also questioned the accuracy of the tent census, and argued that the tally of homeless people \u2014 not the tents in which they live \u2014 is far more valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite division over the ruling, there is wide agreement that San Francisco has both dramatically improved its shelter and housing offerings in recent years, but has a long way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A July report by the Controller\u2019s Office found that the number of temporary shelter and overflow beds in San Francisco&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-07\/2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">grew by 22% between 2019 and 2022<\/a>. Still, the same report found that The City has only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/sf-had-half-as-many-shelter-beds-as-unhoused-people-in-2022\/article_fe33046a-2cb1-11ee-a0a4-7732f75b78a9.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">52 shelter beds for every 100 homeless people<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>City and&nbsp;state leaders have excoriated an injunction&nbsp;they claim handcuffs their ability to address proliferating homeless encampments in San Francisco. But it\u2019s difficult to peg by any objective measure exactly how the court order \u2014 issued in&nbsp;December by a federal judge&nbsp;after homeless advocates alleged city sweeps were unconstitutional \u2014 is having&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/14\/has-a-federal-injunction-really-made-sf-homelessness-worse\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1031],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28472,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28468\/revisions\/28472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}