San Francisco

San Francisco Vows to Clean Out Homeless Encampments in the Mission District

The city of San Francisco is planning a sweep of homeless encampments in the Mission district, NBC Bay Area has learned.

The effort spearheaded by Mayor Mark Farrell targeting tent cities in the Mission has been carried out before, but Farrell is reportely taking a stronger stance.

The encampments will be cleared out Monday, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. It will be a joint effort including teams from the city’s public works, health and the police departments.

“Enough is enough,” Farrell told the newspaper last week. “We have offered services time and time again and gotten many off the street, but there is a resistant population that remains, and their tents have to go.”

Similar cleanup efforts have been tried before under late Mayor Ed Lee. But the tents and the people often return.

While serving as supervisor, Farrell authored a public referendum that was approved: Proposition Q gives city officials the power to confiscate tents if the city can provide housing alternatives.

Farrell, as mayor, plans to enforce the rules and create a dedicated team to make sure the tents do not return, the Chronicle reported. The mayor reportedly considers the tents a public safety hazard for the people who are living in them.

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