Homelessness
Public Works eorkers in vests work to clear an encampment.

Report Calls SF’s Homeless Sweeps Practices Illegal

10.07.2021
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On Thursday, a damning report dropped, offering new data on San Francisco’s practice of sweeping encampments. Authored by the Coalition on Homelessness, the report alleges the Healthy Streets Operation Center regularly fails to offer an adequate number of shelter beds to people on the streets during its cleanup operations and is illegally discarding people’s belongings. The practices create serious legal risk for San Francisco.

Housing
Someone's hand is shown holding a phone with text messages on the screen. San Francisco residents who text “Rent” to 1-888-732-3215 will receive information about the statewide eviction moratorium, as well as referrals to groups that help people request financial aid to repay rent and utility debt.

In SF, Send a Text, Learn How to Avoid Eviction

07.30.2021
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San Francisco residents can now learn how to avoid eviction by sending a text message to a special phone number.

That service is part of an outreach campaign launched Friday by the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition, a group of tenant-rights organizations. The goal: to teach people their rights and help them apply for rent assistance during the two months left before a statewide moratorium on evictions for unpaid rents expires.

Housing
More than a dozen people stand in a hallway leading to courtrooms in San Francisco.

Evictions Jump as Sheriff Lifts Pause Imposed in December

07.26.2021
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The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office evicted 25 households in the two weeks of June after the state reopened for business, more than double the monthly average over the previous six months.

Sheriff Paul Miyamoto resumed evictions that had been on pause as city officials declared that San Francisco was gaining the upper hand in its fight against the coronavirus.

Coronavirus
A view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin County at sunset.

SF Rent-Aid Shortfalls Would Imperil Eviction Protections

07.19.2021
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Thousands of San Franciscans could face eviction this fall in the likely event that government rental assistance programs run out of money. Tenants who have applied for help with rent debt are entitled to eviction protections through the end of March 2022 while they wait for an answer from authorities. But if the money runs out before they get help, then they could face eviction as early as October.

Housing
A crochet white teddy bear peeks through the window of a family home in the Ingleside neighborhood. The teddy bear wears blue scrubs, a stethoscope and a mask. As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its second year, evictions have resumed, and the city’s most vulnerable are bearing the brunt.

Despite Pandemic, New Wave of Court-Ordered Evictions Displacing Poor Tenants

02.24.2021
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After an eight-month pause, court-ordered evictions in San Francisco have resumed, and they’re coming down hardest on some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. The Sheriff’s Department has conducted evictions at 33 addresses across the city since November 2020, according to documents obtained through a California Public Records Act request. More than half — 18 — involved tenants in permanent supportive housing.

Housing
Keeshemah Johnson peers out the window of the home she once shared with her partner, Maurice Austin. Her T-shirt pays tribute to Austin.

Hundreds of SF Renters Threatened With Eviction During Pandemic

02.16.2021
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Landlords have tried to force hundreds of San Francisco renters from their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. From March 1 to Dec. 31, 2020, landlords filed close to half the number of eviction notices as in the same period a year earlier, even as state and federal moratoriums on pandemic-related evictions remain in effect.