For San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her administration, the lower tent counts they claim are a sign of progress.
Breed is up for reelection in November, and finding a solution for the city's unhoused community has been a central part of her campaign.
"Now today, we have seen a 60% reduction, and there is now the lowest count we have had since we started tracking the structures on the streets. In every neighborhood," Breed said.
Breed held the conference on Thursday, 26 days before election day, to announce the news. It became a progress report for her administration on managing the city's unhoused.
Breed also mentioned efforts to clean residents living in RVs and added that there has been an increase in shelter beds under her watch and people accepting permanent housing.
City leaders said they are taking a multi-faceted approach to get people on the streets to services.
"We are the city of Saint Francisco. It is not okay to leave people on the street, to not engage and to not provide them services," said Mary Ellen Carroll, the executive director of the city's Department of Emergency Management. "We cannot, and we do not, let people languish on the street."
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City leaders said they are making real progress in cleaning the tent encampment but acknowledged several challenges in dealing with homelessness.
Some residents said they have noticed few tents in the streets, but unhoused people are still gathering in some neighborhoods.
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Residents have also continued to complain about open drug use in the city. According to DEM, a month's-long law enforcement effort dealing with drug dealing is ongoing.
"The Tenderloin and some of the downtown neighborhoods have really seen this attention from the joint, federal, state, and local work," said Sam Dodge, director of Street Response Coordination.
At Thursday's news conference, Breed said the Supreme Court decision over the summer made the city more responsive to resident's concerns.
"The good news is, we can enforce the law," Breed said. "The officers can go to a location like that and enforce sitting and lying in the street. And public works can come and take the mattress."
