How SCOTUS ruling on homeless camping affects SF
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Homeless tents are seen near San Francisco City Hall in 2022. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
San Francisco officials and advocates are planning their next steps after a U.S. Supreme Court decision effectively gave the OK for cities to enact restrictive laws targeting outdoor camping.
Why it matters: City officials lauded the decision Friday, saying it would give them more flexibility to address long-term encampments while keeping streets safe and clean.
Driving the news: The Supreme Court sided with Grants Pass, Oregon, in a 6-3 ruling Friday, saying the city has the authority to enforce ordinances that criminalize behaviors associated with being unhoused — like sleeping or camping on public property or in public parks — even when no shelter is available.
Catch up quick: A lower court decision ruling against Grants Pass served as the basis for a December 2022 emergency order that barred San Francisco from clearing encampments until more shelter beds are available.
- That lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Coalition on Homelessness, accused SF of violating unhoused people's rights, destroying their belongings, and unlawfully endangering their lives with its methods for clearing encampments.
Zoom in: While it was later clarified that city workers can clear an encampment if a person experiencing homelessness rejects a specific shelter offer, San Francisco submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing the lower court ruling "overextended the Eighth Amendment."
- The brief is quoted in Justice Neil Gorsuch's majority opinion, where he points to San Francisco as a city that enforces anti-camping laws not to criminalize homelessness but "as one important tool among others" in the balance of servicing people in need and maintaining public safety.
What they're saying: "There are many people struggling on our streets with addiction and mental illness, and our outreach workers will offer access to treatment," Mayor London Breed said in a statement. "But those who refuse our help or those who already have shelter will not be allowed to camp on our streets."
- San Francisco is reviewing the decision to ensure its policies and procedures are updated accordingly, Breed said.
- While city workers will continue to offer shelter, "my hope is that we can clear them all," she later said about encampments during a news conference. Increasing arrests and citations for unhoused people "is not being ruled out at this time," she added.
The other side: The "shameful decision guts a key civil rights protection for unhoused people," John Do, senior attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said in a statement.
- "San Francisco should not interpret this ruling as a green light to unlawfully crack down on unhoused residents."
Between the lines: A 2016 voter proposition requires the city to give 24-hour notice and offer available shelter before clearing a tent.
- That didn't change under the emergency order, and it's something homeless advocates say they're closely monitoring amid any changes resulting from the Supreme Court ruling.
The big picture: San Francisco's most recent quarterly tent count, conducted at the end of April, found a 41% reduction in tents and structures from July 2023.
Yes, but: Researchers tell Axios only housing — and much more of it — will solve the crisis.
What to watch: The Grants Pass case addressed only one of 13 claims in the ongoing lawsuit against San Francisco, which will go to trial in May 2025.