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By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board
On September 27, 2022, the Coalition on Homelessness, along with seven individuals, filed a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Department of Public Works, the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, the San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, Mayor London Breed, and Sam Dodge, the Director of the Healthy Streets Operations Center. The gist of the lawsuit was that the City and its various departments have violated the rights of homeless individuals and have destroyed their property during sweeps, in violation of City policy.
On December 23, 2022, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu issued a 50-page order which granted a preliminary injunction to Plaintiffs (COH et. al.) on the grounds that the City failed to provide evidence of offering shelter to homeless individuals before closing encampments, and that the City has destroyed property during its sweeps. The preliminary injunction prohibits enforcement of certain sections of the California Penal Code and of the San Francisco Police Code that prohibit homeless individuals from sitting, lying, or sleeping on public property. (The court denied requests to prohibit enforcement of sections of the Park Code and of the Port Code, as evidence of enforcement had not been presented, and the court denied the appointment of a special master to monitor compliance with the injunction.) The City filed an appeal of the preliminary injunction on January 23, 2023.
On January 12, 2023, the court granted a motion to dismiss Mayor Breed and Sam Dodge in their official capacities as duplicative. On February 28, 2023, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, but on May 23, 2023, the court determined that no claims were asserted against Breed or Dodge in their individual capacities.
