On Dec. 23rd, U.S. District Court Judge Donna Ryu in Oakland entered a preliminary injunction forbidding the city to enforce or threaten to enforce local ordinances against encampments on city streets as long as the city did not have enough beds to shelter all unhoused individuals.
The city has not appealed the ruling.
The decision is potentially far reaching, because the parties agree that the city's existing shelter beds are virtually full and there remain thousands of unsheltered people.
At a town hall meeting on public safety Tuesday at Marina Middle School, the discussion focused on crime on city streets as well as homelessness and tent encampments.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Police Chief Bill Scott were members of a seven-person panel that included representatives from the city's departments of public works, health, emergency management and homelessness and supportive housing.
Comments and questions from the audience focused on the growth in street crime, particularly drug sales and open use, and the city's response.
Many of the questions related to unsheltered individuals living on the street and reflected dissatisfaction with the city's effort to reduce homelessness and encampments.
