If You Don't Like the Policy, Wait Five Minutes

Tenderloin district, San Francisco, June 11, 2020 (Chron photo)

In April we noted how San Francisco, which had been trying to reduce homeless encampments for years, reversed course by distributing tents as a solution to the coronavirus.

What happened in April and May was predictable: [bold added]

With time, however, tents took over block-long stretches of the neighborhood, making it difficult for people to walk and at times serving as a cover for drug dealing. Residents said conditions on the streets were so bad that they were afraid to leave their apartments and felt like they were being held hostage.

After months of frustration, Tenderloin residents and businesses, together with UC Hastings College of the Law, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on May 5. The suit demanded the city clear out the “dangerously crowded” encampments, find housing for the homeless and stop the open-air drug dealing.

An out-of-court settlement was reached on June 12, with the city agreeing to remove 70% of the tents by July 20. The city also agreed to “discourage” new tents and their residents from settling in the Tenderloin.

San Francisco has made progress in clearing the tents.

San Francisco City Hall’s overdue efforts to clear the tents from the Tenderloin appear to be working, with more than 388 homeless people moved off the sidewalks and into hotels or safe sleeping camps since June 10.

The block-by-block cleanup and counseling effort has reduced the number of tents in the 49-block Tenderloin area to 172 as of Tuesday morning, compared with the 443 when the cleanup began last month.

The cost of housing, feeding, and providing medical care to the homeless is about $200 per person per day.

Tents-bad / tents-good / tents-bad is yet another example of authorities reversing themselves completely (don't bother wearing a mask unless it's N95, oops, wear some kind of face covering; young people are safe, oops, no they're not; don't gather outdoors with strangers, oops, Black Lives Matter crowds are fine, etc.).

We can't keep up, but unlike others we don't pretend to have wisdom or knowledge.