Breed tries to push unhoused non-San Franciscans out of city

SAN FRANCISCO - In an executive directive Thursday, Mayor Breed began pushing city departments and services to offer relocation assistance to out-of-town homeless residents, before offering any other services, including housing and shelter.

This is because recent numbers from the Point in Time survey show 40% of homeless people in the city are not from San Francisco. That’s an increase from 28% in 2019.

Breed's approach is not new. 

The city has been providing relocation services since 2005 under a different program name. 

But Breed expanded the "Journey Home" program in recent years, including additional return travel expenses – like giving unhoused non-residents a bus ticket back to their home city – and setting a goal of sending 1,000 people a year back to their home city.

Some homeless people said going back home isn't a viable option for them. 

Ursula Fallis, who is in temporary housing, said she would not accept a train ticket back to her hometown of Covelo in Mendocino County.

"There’s not many options out there," she told KTVU. "This is the main place that everybody goes for opportunity. I’d have to have it organized and situated because I don’t want to get there and not feel welcome or be homeless again."

Elias Cook agreed, saying he doesn't want to leave. 

"I’m already deep-rooted here," Cook said. "Unless my family or somebody calls me from where I’m from and tells me, ‘Hey, come over here I have a job you.'" 

Gina Fromer, the president and CEO at GLIDE, said sending non-San Franciscans away won't solve the city's homeless problem. 

She said the relocation program has been successful in the past, but some people just won't want to go back to where they're from. 

"Most people leave home for a reason: ‘I can’t go back to an abusive relationship, an abusive husband, so no I’m not going to take it.’ So the option is not going to work if that’s the case," she said. "It might work for some, and it might not work for others." 

She suggested the city open up vacant hotels to get the homeless a place to stay. 

"Why would somebody go back to the same place where they started from again, all the way from the very beginning of being homeless?" said Fallis.  

Breed's increased efforts come as the city is stepping up homeless sweeps in general. 

After the Supreme Court ruled last month that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered officials to remove homeless encampments.

Fromer said she was shocked by Newsom's order, and as a result, people are coming into GLIDE asking for help because all of their things were taken. 

"Where's the compassion and empathy?" she asked. "We are going to stand up for what's right, and this is not right."