Politicians from other California counties are pointing the finger at San Francisco for the rise in homeless issues they’re experiencing.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe told news outlets last week that his city has seen an uptick in homeless people coming from San Francisco, which in July embarked on a program of aggressive encampment sweeps, and Oakland, declaring Antioch “won’t be a dumping ground.”
The Standard spoke with seven homeless people in Antioch, none of whom had moved from San Francisco — or knew of anyone who had. And housed residents were split on the mayor’s comments, with some saying homelessness has surged locally while others disputed any change.
Michael Stevens, a homeless man taking shelter from the summer heat on Antioch’s Second Street last week, said he was born and raised there. Stevens said he has noticed more people living on Antioch’s streets in recent years, but that he hasn’t met anyone from San Francisco.
Stevens thought Hernandez-Thorpe was trying to shift the blame for his city’s failure to help impoverished people, saying there are limited resources in Antioch for people like himself.
“I think he’s a punk, and I don’t use that word lightly,” Stevens said of the Antioch mayor. “Most of us were born here, he wasn’t.”
Ayline Chavira Ayala, who has lived in Antioch her whole life, said she sees the same number of tents, homeless people, and RVs as before.
“Honestly, it looks the same to me,” Ayala said. “It’s not too bad.”
But others say an increase in homelessness has made the streets less safe for their children. Unsheltered homelessness increased by 40% in Antioch from 2020 to 2023, according to the federally mandated Point in Time count.
Deandra Brown, who’s lived in Antioch for 10 years, said she’s noticed a dramatic increase in homeless encampments and crime in the past six months. She specifically said she’s seen an increase in people siphoning gas from parked cars.
“They are on every corner now,” Brown said. “It’s definitely getting hard to maintain our livelihood.”
Wesley Smetzer-Van Pelt, a 33-year-old project manager and lifelong Antioch resident, said homeless camps have become more visible near freeway overpasses and big shopping centers.
“There’s a ton of homeless out there. I don’t know where they’re coming from, but it’s increased five times in the last month and a half,” Smetzer-Van Pelt said over the phone. “Mainly it’s tents. They keep moving RVs out of there, they set up shop, 20 or 30 of ’em, then they come and kick ’em all out.”
Parisa Safarzadeh, a spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, said data shows San Francisco hasn’t sent a single homeless person to Antioch since at least 2023. Safarzadeh also said San Francisco provides more housing for formerly homeless people than any other city in the Bay Area.
“Right now, cities need to be working together to find solutions, not point fingers,” Safarzadeh said. “We have available shelter and services, but we cannot force people to accept our offers. If people choose to accept offers to go elsewhere where they can prove there is a connection, then we will provide transportation to that location.”
In a phone interview, Hernandez-Thorpe said he didn’t intend to say that San Francisco was systematically sending homeless people to his city. However, he said, because Antioch is the last BART stop, homeless people often end up there when they face sweeps on the train lines in San Francisco or other cities. San Francisco began “aggressively” sweeping homeless camps without notice in late July after a U.S. Supreme Court decision gave cities more power to enforce laws.
Hernandez-Thorpe said he’s noticed an uptick in the number of RVs parked downtown, and he met one homeless woman who claimed to be from San Francisco. He acknowledged that most of Antioch’s homeless people are from the city itself. Data from 2022 shows less than 1% of Contra Costa’s homeless population lost housing in San Francisco.
“I did speak to a woman who was literally run out of San Francisco. Those were her words,” Hernandez-Thorpe said. “This isn’t breaking news. We’re at the end of the BART line. … There is going to be an impact on those of us who are basically a cul de sac for the Bay Area.”
Where is San Francisco sending homeless people?
Data obtained by The Standard in August shows 25 homeless people were moved from San Francisco to other California counties between September 2023 and Aug. 2. The city said Los Angeles, Humboldt, and Sacramento are the top three destinations but wouldn’t provide more detailed data.
Later in August, after reading The Standard’s coverage, city officials in Humboldt voted to send a letter to San Francisco asking the city to ensure that homeless people are given proper support before being relocated.
“We are concerned that providing bus tickets to other jurisdictions without verifying access to housing, family support, or employment does not alleviate homelessness; it simply shifts the person to another county,” Humboldt’s letter to San Francisco said.
The Standard then discovered that homeless people in Humboldt were bused to San Francisco on four occasions from October to March. Since August 2023, Humboldt has also sent homeless people to other Bay Area locations, including San Rafael, Napa County, Santa Cruz, and Petaluma.
Humboldt Supervisor Rex Bohn defended the county’s relocation program, arguing that it moves people in a responsible manner.
“Our TAP program works really well, and hopefully San Francisco can go back to more not just dumping but assisting and actually helping people get help,” Bohn said at a public meeting.
While San Francisco contends it isn’t sending homeless people to Antioch, a Standard investigation revealed that the city has rehoused San Franciscans in the Contra Costa County city.
In August, Breed issued a directive to all city workers interacting with homeless people to offer a bus ticket before providing shelter or other services. In a statement, Breed’s office stood by the city’s relocation programs and encampment clearings.
“People cannot just come to San Francisco and choose to live on our streets — we have to continue to disrupt this behavior,” Safarzadeh said.