To Fight Homelessness, San Francisco Is Ramping Up Sweeps. Aaron Peskin Has Another Plan

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin is drawing a line in the sand on his approach to homelessness versus that of his opponents running for mayor of San Francisco.

Peskin announced his plan, called From Crisis to Care, on Tuesday, taking a chance to criticize Mayor London Breed’s crackdown and promises from his opponents that their administrations will prioritize clearing homeless encampments after a Supreme Court ruling gave local governments expanded authority to do so.

“All these sweeps are doing is moving homelessness from one neighborhood to another,” Peskin said. “These are not actual solutions; these are election-year gimmicks.”

Peskin said his plan would expand the shelter system so 2,000 fewer people have to sleep outside every night.

The latest federal survey counted more than 8,000 people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, but the city has fewer than 4,000 shelter beds to offer, and those are typically around 90% full. There were 198 people on the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s online waitlist for shelter on Tuesday morning.

Peskin pointed to places like the now-full family homeless shelter at Buena Vista Horace Mann K–8 Community School as examples of the work he wants to uplift as mayor.

“This is a dire situation across the school district,” said Anabel Ibanez, a teacher at Buena Vista Horace Mann who helps oversee the homelessness program. “Currently, there is a waitlist in the stayover program that’s housed here at my school. In other words, a waitlist for basic security and dignity.”

Peskin’s plan would use existing funding sources — a statewide mental health bond and a San Francisco tax to fund homeless services — to open new housing and treatment beds in reactivated state and county-run hospitals and treatment centers. He is also backing Proposition G on the November ballot, which would amend the city’s charter to use general funds to subsidize housing for extremely low-income residents.

Reducing evictions and keeping tenants in their homes is another pillar of the plan. Peskin said he would expand rent control to about 40% more San Francisco apartments that currently don’t have it, create a fund for emergency loans of up to $2,000 for people facing eviction, and expand other rent-relief programs for families facing eviction.

“This is not pie in the sky. And I am ready to implement it on day one to make significant progress on day one in the area of homelessness, which is the most important issue that San Francisco faces for both our housed residents and unhoused residents,” Peskin said.

Former Mayor Art Agnos endorsed Peskin’s plan on Tuesday.

“Each mayor comes up with their own program depending on the politics of the times they are in office rather than what’s in the best interest of the homeless,” Agnos said. “This complicated, unpopular social challenge needs smart management with services aimed at strengthening our current system to honestly help people.”

Peskin’s plan comes as San Francisco ramps up citations and sweeps of unhoused people who refuse to move from city streets. Breed promised the crackdown after the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that cities can remove tent encampments on sidewalks and other public places and force people to move even if there is no alternative place for them to go, like a temporary shelter.

She recently directed street crews that clear encampments to first offer people bus tickets home, a resource the city has had since 2005 but recently began promoting again. Peskin said he would broaden that program, too.

Breed has also been working for years to open up places for unhoused people to go. Since 2018, when she entered office, San Francisco’s shelter slots have expanded by over 60% and housing for formerly homeless people has increased by more than 50%, according to the mayor’s office.

However, without enough places for people to go, Peskin and advocates for unhoused residents say the recent crackdown has mostly amounted to moving people around from block to block rather than helping people exit the streets for longer-term housing.

“I have received as a supervisor more complaints about homelessness in the last 10 days than I have in the last several years,” Peskin said, adding, “I have never gotten complaints about homelessness on Pacific and Leavenworth. I’m getting them now.”