SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Mayor London Breed has launched a new crackdown on people sleeping rough, aiming to clear the sidewalks of the homeless encampments that have become a city landmark.
Her four opponents in the November election, all Democrats, say she has failed to effectively address the crisis, even though the city had only 300 tents and other temporary structures last month, half the number a year earlier.
But her opponents disagree on strategy.
“You can really change the reputation of San Francisco from a place where people now think they can come to our city, pitch a tent and stay as long as they want, to a city where — if that’s the lifestyle they choose — they’re going to look elsewhere,” said Mark Farrell, perhaps the most conservative of the challengers.
We see a similar story in other major American cities electing mayors this year.
Most are located in the West, where a long-term homeless crisis fueled by high housing prices and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which rocked the country four years ago. It has left thousands of people without a place to live, and for many residents who do have a home, it has become a quality-of-life concern that has made it a major political issue.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and former mayor of San Francisco, threatened last week to cut off state money to cities and counties that don’t do more to move people out of camps and into shelters.
A 2023 census found that 653,000 people were homeless across the country at any given time, an increase of 63,000 from a decade earlier. The problem has become much more visible: 257,000 people were living on the streets or in other places not intended for habitation, 61,000 more than in 2013.
Most big-city mayors and candidates — almost all Democrats — say more affordable housing and additional services are needed for the homeless. At the heart of the debate, as in San Francisco, is whether it’s acceptable to force people off the streets.
In two of the largest cities in the West, challengers are highlighting the homeless crisis in their races against incumbent senators who won easily four years ago.
Larry Turner, a police officer who is running to unseat San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, says the incumbent mayor is putting too much emphasis on temporary housing, including a plan to convert a warehouse into a 1,000-bed shelter. Gloria’s campaign says he is working on both temporary and permanent housing.
In Phoenix, Matt Evans argues that incumbent Kate Gallego hasn’t done enough to enforce laws and clear encampments. Gallego opposes what she calls the criminalization of homelessness and has added hundreds of shelter beds.
Elections can revolve around the issue. And of course the situation on the streets can change depending on who gets elected.
“Mayors can make a big difference,” said Ann Oliva, executive director of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
However, she is critical of arresting or fining people who have no place to live.
“You cannot use criminalization as the primary tool to address homelessness and at the same time reduce the numbers,” Oliva said.
Some new mayors have reduced homelessness without imposing sanctions, she said.
In Los Angeles, the city with the largest homeless population in the US, Karen Bass took office in December 2022 and immediately got to work signed an emergency order making it easier for the city to contract with hotels to provide shelter. According to the January homeless count, the city’s total fell 2 percent, the first decline after years of increases. Bass has more than two years left before she seeks re-election.
In Mike Johnston’s first six months as mayor of Denver last year, the city moved 1,000 people into hotels, a community of hut-like structures and other temporary housing.
Other new mayors, such as Cherelle Parker from Philadelphiahave taken a tough approach that many candidates are asking for, and which the Supreme Court Upheld with a ruling in June that made it possible to ban sleeping outdoors.
Twelve candidates are vying for office in November’s open mayoral election in Portland, Oregon, the center of a metropolitan area where nearly 4,000 people live outside the city, according to a January 2023 census.
City Councilman Rene Gonzalez pressured Multnomah County, where Portland is located, to stop distributing tents and tarps to the homeless.
Gonzalez pushed for a stricter city ordinance last year, but joined a unanimous City Council vote in May to allow officers fine or even prison sentence for homeless people who reject an offer of shelter.
In San Francisco, Breed’s office a memo issued in July, stating that homeless people continue to reject offers of shelter and services will face increasingly severe penalties including arrest if they continue camping in public.
Breed also ordered that homeless people who are not from San Francisco be offered bus or train tickets to return home before being provided with shelter or services. In a statement, Breed added that “we cannot meet everyone’s individual housing and behavioral health needs.”
One of Breed’s challengers, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, opposes clearing encampments. Another challenger, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, says clearing is cruel unless there is adequate shelter available.
Challenger Daniel Lurie, heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who runs a nonprofit that funds temporary tiny homes, pledged to build 1,500 shelter beds in his first six months in office so people forced from their camps have somewhere to go.
“There has simply been no plan over the last three years under this administration,” Lurie said.
Breed’s administration has created thousands of temporary and permanent shelter beds, but there is still a major shortage.
“Her opponents are providing no information about where they plan to build shelters, how they plan to do it, and how they plan to pay for their plans,” said Joe Arellano, a spokesman for the Breed campaign.
Michael Johnson, who is homeless in San Francisco, the city where he grew up, recently prepared to move ahead of an expected tent sweep to avoid what he said happened during a previous sweep when he was given 10 seconds by police and city street cleaners to move his tent and belongings. He didn’t, and lost everything.
Homeless people often turn down offers of shelter if it means giving up their belongings or pets, being separated from loved ones, or sleeping in places where strangers are present, some of whom may even be violent.
Johnson, 41, doesn’t like living outside. But he says no one has offered him suitable housing and that wherever he goes, he is always moved by authorities.
“This is a merry-go-round,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I stay where I am or find a new one. Eventually they’ll be here.”
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Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. AP reporters Terry Chea in San Francisco and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this article.