San Francisco Mayor London Breed called for city officials to offer the homeless bus tickets away from the city.
The bus tickets are to be offered before shelter or housing in an effort to remove them from the area.
“San Francisco will always lead with compassion, but we cannot allow our compassion to be taken advantage of,” Breed’s order read, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. “This directive will ensure that relocation services will be the first response to our homelessness and substance use crises, allowing individuals the choice to reunite with support networks before accessing other City services or facing the consequences of refusing care.”
The order comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order to remove homeless encampments across the state.
It states that “over 180,000 people” are “estimated to have experienced homelessness on any given night in 2023, including 123,000 people who experienced unsheltered homelessness, living in tents, trailers, and vehicles across the state.”
The executive order “directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” Newsom said in a press release. “The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets. There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that cities can legally remove homeless encampments on private property.
An April audit found California spent $24 billion over the past five years to combat homelessness without consistently tracking whether the massive expenditure improved the situation.
The audit analyzed five programs that received a combined $13.7 billion in funding. It found that only two programs were “likely cost-effective”: one converting hotel and motel rooms into housing and another providing housing assistance to prevent families from becoming homeless.
