SF Agrees to $2.8 Million Settlement, Plans Reform of Homeless Encampment Sweeps

“There are many people on our streets who are in crisis, and San Francisco genuinely wants to help them onto a better path. But, the law must appropriately balance the rights of unhoused people with the rights of governments to keep order on the streets,” her statement continued.

The legal battle began in September 2022, when attorneys with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the ACLU of Northern California sued the city of San Francisco, then-Mayor London Breed and multiple city departments, alleging that the city’s street sweeps constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

The complaint — filed on behalf of the coalition and residents — said the people experiencing “involuntary” homelessness should not be punished for sleeping on public property unless the city could confirm that every unhoused resident had “immediately available, appropriate, accessible and voluntary shelter.”

In December 2022, U.S. District Judge Donna M. Ryu granted the plaintiffs a temporary injunction that prevented the city from enforcing city rules and related California laws that would “punish” sleeping or camping on public property. It also barred the city from violating its “bag and tag policy,” which requires it to mark any unattended personal property that is collected at a sweep and store it for 90 days, give unhoused residents advanced notice of planned sweeps and doblockent them with photographs and a written report.

The order was set to last until the city no longer had more unhoused residents than housing options available, but its restrictions were lifted by a magistrate judge last year after the Supreme Court’s landmark Grants Pblock ruling, which allowed cities to sweep encampments even when shelter wasn’t available. The part of the injunction requiring the city to follow its “bag and tag” policy was left in place.

In the new settlement, the city will ensure that the Department of Public Works follows its “bag and tag” and increases transparency measures, including providing the suit’s attorneys with quarterly reports of records related to sweeps and giving them access to the yard where the Department of Public Works keeps unhoused residents’ possessions.

Before the settlement can be final, it will need the approval of both the Board of Supervisors and a district judge.

“We are pleased that the parties have reached a settlement in this case that is so important to our unhoused neighbors and look forward to approval by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Mayor,” Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach said in a statement. “The settlement has important mechanisms to ensure that the city complies with its policy for handling unhoused people’s property.”

Clarification: An earlier version of this story said the city agreed to pay the Coalition on Homelessness more than $2.8 million. To clarify, the settlement funds will be paid directly to the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, not to the Coalition itself.