San Francisco has been criticized for ramping up homeless encampment sweeps around big events like the Dreamforce and APEC conferences and the 2016 Super Bowl to improve the image of the city.
Now, as the Bay Area prepares to host the Super Bowl Sunday and related events this week, Randy Shaw, of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said he hasn’t seen an increase in sweeps.
“There’s really no difference,” he said. “2016 was a different world where people were on Market Street with tents. This is not the case.”
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In a recent news conference, Mayor Daniel Lurie said they’re continuing to do outreach to get people into shelters. He said it’s more coordinated than it’s ever been and that it’s not exclusive to Super Bowl week.
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The city’s Department of Emergency Management sent a statement saying:
“San Francisco’s work to bring people indoors and improve street conditions is ongoing every day-regardless of whether a major event is happening in the Bay Area.”
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The department’s Adrienne Bechelli was not available for an interview on Tuesday, but last week told our Lyanne Melendez:
“We’re not intending to make anybody disappear,” she said. “Every single day, we work with people on our street who are in need and trying to connect them with the resources that are available.”
Our ABC7 data team crunched the numbers and found the number of unhoused individuals has gone up since the last time the Bay Area hosted the Super Bowl.
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But the most current numbers are from 2024 and we’re still waiting for the most current data from the “point in time count” conducted last week.
“Generally, I think people would say San Francisco is still struggling to come back from COVID so it’s not as prosperous as 2016 but it’s far better than it was a few years ago,” Shaw said.
Jennifer Friedenbach, of the Coalition on Homelessness, worries sweeps could kick up this week because of the Super Bowl.
“Whenever you have a spotlight on a city, sometimes the policy makers, here in San Francisco, they have traditionally really tried to hide the visible presence of poverty and that ends up really harming folks,” she said.
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The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management says Neighborhood Street Teams are extending hours. Among their duties is increasing service connections for people experiencing homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction.
ABC7 News reached out to city agencies to get more information on how many sweeps are being conducted this week and we are waiting to get the details.
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