San Francisco’s efforts to clear homeless encampments just got a minor setback by a federal judge.
A judge decided in a ruling this week that the city's training for workers who help clear encampments is inadequate. The ruling is part of the lawsuit that advocates for homeless people filed last year, which temporarily prevented the city from clearing most encampments.
Most of it was struck down by the recent Supreme Court ruling on a case in Grants Pass, Oregon. But this new ruling was issued on part of that lawsuit that remains in progress.
Over the last couple weeks, San Francisco has ramped up its efforts to clear homeless encampments and offer those people shelter. Or, if they're not from the city, a ticket back home.
According to the city, when clearing the encampments, crews will give people a half an hour to pack up and leave if they refuse shelter.
The issue now is how the city handles what homeless advocates say is people's property.
In a newly issued order from U.S. District Judge Donna Ryu, she said San Francisco and homeless advocates need to come up with proposals for better city employee training. She added the city needs to provide details on how many city workers have been trained on the policy and how often.
John Do, the lead attorney for the ACLU that filed this lawsuit, spoke out on Wednesday.
"It absolutely is a victory. So, the court has recognized that there needs to be an additional court intervention here,” he said.
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San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu was not available for an interview on Wednesday. But a spokesperson was quick to point out that the judge did not have an issue with the city's bag and tag policy.
In a prepared statement, Jen Kwart with the San Francisco City Attorney's Office said the following: "We are disappointed the court found the amount of training to be inadequate. We are evaluating any appropriate next steps.”
During a recent city operation to clear an encampment in the Tenderloin, one of the coordinators explained what city crews will often haul away.
"There are items that are not allowed on the street, but those are usually large bulk items, people build structures out of pallets and things like that. Items that are soiled,” said David Nakanishi with the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.
Nakanishi said that sometimes, people's property that is considered a health hazard is also hauled away.
