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Re: City of San Francisco (Represented by Nancy Pelosi) & Mayor London Breed Sued for Harassing Unhoused San Franciscans, Violating Civil Rights to Cover Up the City's Affordable Housing Failures
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Pelosi is a thief
Dec 31, 2023, 1:25:04 AM12/31/23
to
Gowron <now...@protonmail.com> wrote in
news:umqlhp$1jis6$9...@dont-email.me:
> Democrats are too incompetent and corrupt to do anything about the
> homeless issue. They are simply stealing the money.
MEDIA CONTACT: Raya Steier rst...@lccrsf.org 530-723-2426
***PRESS RELEASE***
Late yesterday, the Coalition on Homelessness and seven individual
plaintiffs filed suit against the City and County of San Francisco and
Mayor London Breed for their efforts to criminalize homelessness through
an array of brutal policing practices that violate the constitutional
rights of unhoused San Franciscans. Plaintiffs are also seeking a
preliminary injunction to stop these practices on an emergency basis.
Plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of
the San Francisco Bay Area and the ACLU Foundation of Northern
California, as well as the global law firm Latham & Watkins LLP.
For years, San Francisco has claimed that it is taking steps to address
the City’s homelessness crisis. But in fact, the City is forcing
unhoused people out of sight—destroying their survival belongings and
citing and arresting them for sleeping in public when they have no
shelter to go to. San Francisco has more laws penalizing homelessness
than any other place in California, and possibly America. These
regressive mass incarceration era policies only perpetuate San
Francisco’s homelessness crisis and scapegoat unhoused people for the
City’s egregious failure to support affordable housing for San Francisco
residents.
San Francisco lacks—and has always lacked—adequate affordable housing
and shelter for thousands of unhoused San Franciscans. San Francisco’s
threats, citations, arrests, and removal of unhoused residents from
public spaces therefore violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment. The City is also engaged in a
practice of illegally seizing and destroying the personal belongings of
unhoused residents in violation of the Fourth Amendment. These practices
help San Francisco claim that it is solving the homelessness crisis—when
it has actually just swept it under the rug.
San Francisco’s homelessness crisis is one of unaffordability. When
longstanding residents can no longer afford to stay in their homes, they
are forced out onto the street. San Francisco’s politicians have
understood this for years, but they have failed to act. Instead, the
City has consistently relied on tough-on-crime policies to respond to
homelessness instead of addressing the root cause of the problem: the
clear lack of permanent affordable housing.
This is immoral, cruel, costly, and ultimately counterproductive—not to
mention unconstitutional. The City knows this because it constantly
violates its own policies that purport to require a humane,
services-first approach to the homelessness crisis. The reality is that
unhoused San Franciscans wake up to find their survival belongings
seized and destroyed as they face criminal penalties for sleeping
outside even though the City has little to nothing to offer San
Francisco’s unhoused residents in terms of shelter, housing, and
services. This lawsuit combines massive amounts of public data with
eyewitness accounts to expose the City’s unlawful conduct, which makes
it almost impossible for the thousands of affected San Franciscans to
exit homelessness.
Those experiencing homelessness in San Francisco are disproportionately
people of color due to decades of discrimination in housing, education,
healthcare and the criminal justice system. Today, for example, Black
people comprise 6% of San Francisco’s general population but make up 37%
of the City’s unhoused population. Black renters in San Francisco still
face some of the worst housing discrimination anywhere in the country.
That targeted exclusion has only exacerbated the homelessness crisis for
people of color.
San Franciscans deserve real solutions to homelessness. That starts and
ends with the City actually investing in affordable housing. This
lawsuit seeks to hold the City to account for its unconstitutional
attack on unhoused San Franciscans. The City cannot punish unhoused
people for a housing crisis it created.
***
Client Statements:
Plaintiff Nathaniel Vaughn, a life-long San Franciscan who recently
became unhoused, reflects: “We do not deserve to be treated like
criminals and to have our belongings thrown in the trash when we are at
our most vulnerable.”
Plaintiff Toro Castaño notes the impact this has on unhoused people:
“The City’s sweeps [are] a dehumanizing disruption to the small ounce of
stability that I was trying to build for myself during one of the
hardest times of my life.”
Plaintiff Sarah Cronk says the same: “We are just trying to scrape by
and build as much
of a life for ourselves as possible—with both dignity and safety. The
City makes that impossible for us.”
Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on
Homelessness: “San Francisco’s homelessness crisis is its affordable
housing crisis. Instead of investing in permanent affordable housing,
the city has spent millions of dollars to rid our neighborhoods of
visible signs of homelessness. Punitive approaches make homelessness
worse, as it only makes it harder for people to access already limited
services, find employment and secure stable housing.”
Attorney Statements:
“The City is using unhoused residents as the scapegoats for a crisis of
economic and racial justice that it helped to create. San Francisco
should fight to end homelessness. But the only real solution to San
Francisco’s homelessness crisis is housing. Instead of solving
homelessness, the City has invested in carceral policies that make the
crisis worse. That’s not only unconstitutional, it’s also just bad
policy. We should expect better far better from our political leaders.”
– Zal Shroff, Senior Staff Attorney, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
of the Bay Area
“Racism is embedded in the criminalization of homelessness in San
Francisco as people of color are disproportionately targeted by
anti-homeless ordinances. The current system is complaint driven,
allowing housed residents to dictate traumatizing enforcement against
unhoused people who attempt to live in whiter, gentrifying
neighborhoods. This suggests that the City is doing more to appease
wealthy homeowners than it is to support the health and wellbeing of the
most vulnerable with real opportunities out of homelessness. Through the
lawsuit, we aim to lay bare the City’s illusory shelter options and end
the racist results that criminalization produces.” – John Do, Senior
Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California
https://lccrsf.org/pressroom_posts/city-of-san-francisco-mayor-london-bre
ed-sued-for-harassing-unhoused-san-franciscans-violating-civil-rights-to-
cover-up-the-citys-affordable-housing-failures/
news:umqlhp$1jis6$9...@dont-email.me:
> Democrats are too incompetent and corrupt to do anything about the
> homeless issue. They are simply stealing the money.
MEDIA CONTACT: Raya Steier rst...@lccrsf.org 530-723-2426
***PRESS RELEASE***
Late yesterday, the Coalition on Homelessness and seven individual
plaintiffs filed suit against the City and County of San Francisco and
Mayor London Breed for their efforts to criminalize homelessness through
an array of brutal policing practices that violate the constitutional
rights of unhoused San Franciscans. Plaintiffs are also seeking a
preliminary injunction to stop these practices on an emergency basis.
Plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of
the San Francisco Bay Area and the ACLU Foundation of Northern
California, as well as the global law firm Latham & Watkins LLP.
For years, San Francisco has claimed that it is taking steps to address
the City’s homelessness crisis. But in fact, the City is forcing
unhoused people out of sight—destroying their survival belongings and
citing and arresting them for sleeping in public when they have no
shelter to go to. San Francisco has more laws penalizing homelessness
than any other place in California, and possibly America. These
regressive mass incarceration era policies only perpetuate San
Francisco’s homelessness crisis and scapegoat unhoused people for the
City’s egregious failure to support affordable housing for San Francisco
residents.
San Francisco lacks—and has always lacked—adequate affordable housing
and shelter for thousands of unhoused San Franciscans. San Francisco’s
threats, citations, arrests, and removal of unhoused residents from
public spaces therefore violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment. The City is also engaged in a
practice of illegally seizing and destroying the personal belongings of
unhoused residents in violation of the Fourth Amendment. These practices
help San Francisco claim that it is solving the homelessness crisis—when
it has actually just swept it under the rug.
San Francisco’s homelessness crisis is one of unaffordability. When
longstanding residents can no longer afford to stay in their homes, they
are forced out onto the street. San Francisco’s politicians have
understood this for years, but they have failed to act. Instead, the
City has consistently relied on tough-on-crime policies to respond to
homelessness instead of addressing the root cause of the problem: the
clear lack of permanent affordable housing.
This is immoral, cruel, costly, and ultimately counterproductive—not to
mention unconstitutional. The City knows this because it constantly
violates its own policies that purport to require a humane,
services-first approach to the homelessness crisis. The reality is that
unhoused San Franciscans wake up to find their survival belongings
seized and destroyed as they face criminal penalties for sleeping
outside even though the City has little to nothing to offer San
Francisco’s unhoused residents in terms of shelter, housing, and
services. This lawsuit combines massive amounts of public data with
eyewitness accounts to expose the City’s unlawful conduct, which makes
it almost impossible for the thousands of affected San Franciscans to
exit homelessness.
Those experiencing homelessness in San Francisco are disproportionately
people of color due to decades of discrimination in housing, education,
healthcare and the criminal justice system. Today, for example, Black
people comprise 6% of San Francisco’s general population but make up 37%
of the City’s unhoused population. Black renters in San Francisco still
face some of the worst housing discrimination anywhere in the country.
That targeted exclusion has only exacerbated the homelessness crisis for
people of color.
San Franciscans deserve real solutions to homelessness. That starts and
ends with the City actually investing in affordable housing. This
lawsuit seeks to hold the City to account for its unconstitutional
attack on unhoused San Franciscans. The City cannot punish unhoused
people for a housing crisis it created.
***
Client Statements:
Plaintiff Nathaniel Vaughn, a life-long San Franciscan who recently
became unhoused, reflects: “We do not deserve to be treated like
criminals and to have our belongings thrown in the trash when we are at
our most vulnerable.”
Plaintiff Toro Castaño notes the impact this has on unhoused people:
“The City’s sweeps [are] a dehumanizing disruption to the small ounce of
stability that I was trying to build for myself during one of the
hardest times of my life.”
Plaintiff Sarah Cronk says the same: “We are just trying to scrape by
and build as much
of a life for ourselves as possible—with both dignity and safety. The
City makes that impossible for us.”
Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on
Homelessness: “San Francisco’s homelessness crisis is its affordable
housing crisis. Instead of investing in permanent affordable housing,
the city has spent millions of dollars to rid our neighborhoods of
visible signs of homelessness. Punitive approaches make homelessness
worse, as it only makes it harder for people to access already limited
services, find employment and secure stable housing.”
Attorney Statements:
“The City is using unhoused residents as the scapegoats for a crisis of
economic and racial justice that it helped to create. San Francisco
should fight to end homelessness. But the only real solution to San
Francisco’s homelessness crisis is housing. Instead of solving
homelessness, the City has invested in carceral policies that make the
crisis worse. That’s not only unconstitutional, it’s also just bad
policy. We should expect better far better from our political leaders.”
– Zal Shroff, Senior Staff Attorney, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
of the Bay Area
“Racism is embedded in the criminalization of homelessness in San
Francisco as people of color are disproportionately targeted by
anti-homeless ordinances. The current system is complaint driven,
allowing housed residents to dictate traumatizing enforcement against
unhoused people who attempt to live in whiter, gentrifying
neighborhoods. This suggests that the City is doing more to appease
wealthy homeowners than it is to support the health and wellbeing of the
most vulnerable with real opportunities out of homelessness. Through the
lawsuit, we aim to lay bare the City’s illusory shelter options and end
the racist results that criminalization produces.” – John Do, Senior
Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California
https://lccrsf.org/pressroom_posts/city-of-san-francisco-mayor-london-bre
ed-sued-for-harassing-unhoused-san-franciscans-violating-civil-rights-to-
cover-up-the-citys-affordable-housing-failures/
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