(Artwork by Brittany Thornton)
‘Does the removal of encampments truly address the problem of homelessness, or does it merely displace individuals who are struggling to survive?’
I watched the correctional officers from the sliver of the cell door window as they strapped on their rubber gloves and set up their metal detectors in preparation of the mass search. I had known this would be coming for days, but that did not simmer the anxiety and stress I felt in my chest and stomach as I watched them prepare to shatter any sense of privacy I may have developed during my stay in this prison.
I had already hid the most important contraband. The most important item was my cell phone. This was my connection to the world outside of prison and getting caught with it cut like a double-edged sword, because not only would it cost me 90 more days on my sentence, but the anxiety of having to live without it after having it was almost like getting locked up all over again. The THC wax papers I had were hidden away as well. Still, I felt anxious. I looked at my celly as the look on his face reflected the same stress and anxiety that I felt.
“I will never get used to this,” I said. “That’s because they are about to dig through our stuff and take what they want. You are not supposed to get used to that.”
It was watching the unhoused citizens of San Francisco scrambling to gather their belongings as city workers moved in to clear encampments that brought back the memory and feelings of the cell searches. I recognized the anxious looks on the faces of the unhoused that I shared with my celly as we prepared to have any sense of privacy shattered. As I watched the unhoused scramble from one block to another with all their personal belongings, I had to know what was bringing on the new, aggressive sweeps to these encampments.
There has been a major uptick in San Francisco encampment sweeps since July, when Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that directed state agencies to clean up homeless encampments on state-owned property. Newsom’s executive order follows the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case, which permits cities to enforce bans on public camping without violating the Eighth Amendment. With this ruling, Governor Newsom threatened to withhold state funding from local governments who fail to comply.
Impact on the Unhoused
For people like Albert Defuentes, who has been homeless for 15 years, these encampment cleanups mean losing everything he owns—over and over again.
“The only property I can keep is the clothes on my back and the blanket I sleep with,” says Albert. And instead of the 48-hour notice suggested by Newsom’s Executive Order, Albert says the city workers often only give 45 minutes to move before an encampment is cleared. “I wish I could be part of the solution and get housing,” he says, “but every time I go to a shelter, they don’t offer housing, so I just sleep on the street.”
Brandon Underwood is not homeless but he has many close friends who are unhoused. Brandon compares watching the encampment sweeps to his house burning down in 2005. “I literally had 10 minutes to grab whatever I could and leave town. I can imagine that’s how they feel. Like, what do I grab?” His friends often return to find their encampments wiped out, left scrambling to recover whatever wasn’t taken or destroyed by city workers.
Brandon also shared a personal anecdote of how hard losing property as an unhoused individual can be. “If they grab your blanket…then you have to roam the streets all night in the cold because somebody took your blanket. That’s when you really feel it. That has happened to me personally. People die from that.”
Legal and Ethical Questions
The Coalition on Homelessness, a non-profit advocating for the rights of unhoused individuals in San Francisco, has been locked in a years-long legal battle with the City over the treatment of the unhoused during these cleanups. Initially filed in 2022, their lawsuit alleges that the city violated its own policies regarding the treatment of the unhoused, including criminal enforcement during sweeps, destruction of property, and a lack of adherence to “bag and tag” policies.
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling may have removed the Eighth Amendment argument—that sweeps represent a form of cruel and unusual punishment—from the Coalition’s lawsuit, the Fourth Amendment claim still remains: that the City is in violation of due process with the illegal search and seizure of personal belongings. One Coalition investigator says they watched a woman’s leukemia medication be discarded during a sweep. On another occasion, a local artist named James lost all his art supplies and pre-sold paintings during a sweep. These are the types of situations that gave rise to the Coalition’s Fourth Amendment argument.
Beyond the legal issues lies the ethical question: Does the removal of encampments truly address the problem of homelessness, or does it merely displace individuals who are struggling to survive?
The Call for Compassion and Real Solutions
Attorney Andrew Nitm with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of San Francisco (LCCRSF) says there are alternatives to criminalizing homelessness. He proposes universal rental assistance, allocating funds from Proposition 1 towards affordable housing, utilizing vacant public housing units, and practicing preventive measures to keep people from ending up on the streets. These measures may offer a chance to break the cycle rather than perpetuate it.
Reflecting on my own experience as a warehoused non-citizen and watching the unhoused navigate a system that strips them of their dignity and belongings, I am taken back to that cell. Stripped out by the guards and made to sit outside in the cold while they search my belongings, the anxiety of what was being taken or destroyed would not subside. Prepared for the damage and losses, my celly and I headed back to our cell. Clothes, boxes, and paperwork were all scattered around the cell. But I cared less about the mess and more about what they took. Once the door was closed and the coast was clear, we went straight to our hiding spots to retrieve our unfound contraband. While a few items were missing like extra shoes and clothes, I still had my phone and my wax papers. The anxiety and stress I had felt for hours dissipated, I still had the property that was most important to me. That is, until the next search.
The fear of losing your personal property, whether in prison or in the streets, is an unbearable strain of anxiety and stress that never goes away until you lose what you cherish. Then you are free of that fear until you collect items again that may be deemed contraband or trash.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has said that sweeps are intended to force the homeless into compliance in part by making life very uncomfortable for them. But some of us understand in our bones that making a person uncomfortable only further destabilizes them, it does not give them the tools they need to “comply.” That for every item so easily discarded and thrown away is a treasure of comfort and necessity for an unhoused individual already living in a painfully uncomfortable situation.
Hollie “Wali” Garrett III is a communications major at SFSU and advocate of criminal justice reform, addressing systemic issues through writing and media. He creates work that amplifies marginalized voices and explores justice and human rights.