It has only been a month since San Francisco began to sweep aggressively Homeless camps throughout the city.
Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said she believes the raids will not help.
“It’s really just about getting people across the streets and back again, and they’re not succeeding in getting large numbers of people into homeless shelters and apartments. And that’s exactly what we want to do, we want to get people off the streets,” Friedenbach said.
KPIX met Friedenbach at the intersection of Leavenworth and Turk in the Tenderloin. It’s a place, she said, where since the city started raiding, city officials and police officers have been on the block at least once a week to kick people out.
“Every four days. So, on this corner of this block here, and there have never been many camps there. There were maybe one or two tents, but they come here every four days and evict everyone,” Friedenbach said.
City officials, including the mayor, said the purpose of the raids is to maintain health and safety on city streets.
While officers conducting the raids offer assistance to the tent dwellers, the city has repeatedly stated that the majority of residents refuse this assistance, leaving the city with no choice but to evict residents or even arrest them if they refuse to leave.
Friedenbach has long been an advocate for the homeless, so it’s no surprise that she opposes this policy. She claims the raids not only don’t work, but actually make the problem of homelessness worse.
“That means they’re getting fines and fees that they can’t pay. That means they’re getting cited for things that they have no choice but to be out here for, and that’s just no way to get that. There’s never been a ticket that’s taken anyone off the streets,” Friedenbach said.
She said what she would like to see is a concerted effort to convert some of the vacant buildings downtown into housing for the homeless.
She is convinced that this policy will actually help to clean the streets and help people get back on their feet.
“A tent is a piece of fabric. Whoever is in this tent is a human being,” said Friedenbach.
