Citylab
San Francisco Pushes Homeless People to Leave Town as Crackdown Begins
- Mayor orders city workers to offer travel help before shelter
- Get-tough approach spurs encampment sweeps, political divides
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Work crews swept through the streets of San Francisco early Thursday, tearing down makeshift tents and clearing encampments in a forceful new push to confront the city’s homeless crisis.
A handful of people living below Highway 101 hauled away bicycles and filled wagons with their possessions as the city’s public works department moved in. A week earlier, California Governor Gavin Newsom urged a get-tough approach following a US Supreme Court ruling in June that allows cities to enforce bans on people sleeping in public areas.