Skip to main content
News

Mayor Breed Personally Ordered Homeless Sweeps, Lawsuit Claims

Written by David SjostedtPublished Dec. 02, 2022 • 5:00am
Mayor London Breed talks with a homeless man on Castro Street as she takes a neighborhood walk on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. | Liz Hafalia/The SF Chronicle via Getty Images

Mayor London Breed is at the center of newly filed documents in a lawsuit that claims she ordered city workers to move homeless people, forcing outreach workers to scramble to accommodate the requests. 

The Coalition on Homelessness, a local nonprofit that organizes for the rights of unhoused people, filed the lawsuit in September alleging that the city violated its own policies by sweeping homeless encampments without having adequate shelter beds. 

Kaki Marshall, former director of outreach and temporary shelter at the San Francisco Department of Homelessness, claimed in the filing that the sweeps were sometimes ordered by Breed in text messages.

“We would hold a special HSOC [Healthy Streets Operations Center] meeting to redirect resources to the areas Mayor Breed had identified for that day,” Marshall said. 

Marshall said that those orders often upended planned operations for the department and would take place outside of normal protocols, which were in place to ensure that homeless people aren’t evicted from their encampments without shelter availability. 

Public records over the years have unearthed Breed directing police to conduct sweeps on homeless people. 

Earlier this year, Breed did so publicly when responding to a pseudonymous Twitter user, resulting in police and the Department of Public Works destroying tents and moving people along less than 72 hours later. 

The Mayor’s Office previously told The Standard that the city follows a federal precedent that forbids it from sweeping people without shelter. 

In a Nov. 15 legal filing related to the suit, the City Attorney’s Office argued that the city complies with federal precedent and that it “reasonably preserves the possessions of unhoused persons.” 

Advocates say that sweeps are often counterproductive and that city workers will often dispose of identification cards and medications. The “encampment resolutions,” as the city calls them, often lead homeless people to just move down the street. 

The lawsuit is demanding that the city cease all anti-homeless enforcement actions and increase its affordable housing stock. 

David Sjostedt can be reached at david@sfstandard.com


San Francisco Man Wrongly Convicted of 2008 Murder Could Get $900,000 Payout From City

San Francisco Man Wrongly Convicted of 2008 Murder Could Get $900,000 Payout From City


San Francisco Lululemon Mass Retail Theft Sees 2 of 9 Suspects Charged

San Francisco Lululemon Mass Retail Theft Sees 2 of 9 Suspects Charged


An aerial view shows the Cordilleras Creek Bridge over Highway 101 in Redwood City.

Highway 101 Closure: SFO Traffic Chaos Expected as Road Closed for 3 Days


Racist, Antisemitic Speech Disrupts San Francisco City Hall Meeting

Racist, Antisemitic Speech Disrupts San Francisco City Hall Meeting


Trains wait on tracks 5 and 6 for passengers at the Caltrain Station in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, July 18, 2019. Business leaders and transportation officials are putting together a sales tax ballot measure for next year that would generate billions for transportation infrastructure in the Bay Area. Top on their wish list is the downtown extension of Caltrain, with a tunnel running from the Mission Bay Area to the Transbay Terminal.

Caltrain Happy Hour: Toast Bay Area Transit at This BYOB Train Event