Limits on San Francisco’s clearing of homeless encampments upheld by 9th Circuit
A court order limiting San Francisco’s ability to clear street encampments of people who have nowhere else to go will remain in effect while litigation continues, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marked a substantial win for the Coalition on Homelessness, a progressive advocacy organization that secured a preliminary injunction by challenging San Francisco’s policies for clearing encampments as fundamentally unjust and illegal under past court decisions protecting the rights of homeless people to sleep in public in certain situations.
Thursday’s ruling is the latest such as San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have been frustrated along with many of their constituents by the spread of encampments in downtown areas and other neighborhoods since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
