A week into what Mayor London Breed called a “very aggressive” effort to remove homeless camps across San Francisco, an important question is being asked: Where will all the people living in tents go?

Outreach activists backed by law enforcement officials have conducted intensive operations in recent days to clear some of San Francisco's most visible encampments, confiscating personal belongings and telling owners to pack up and leave.

They cleared out unauthorized tent cities. Under the highway and Drug-ridden sidewalks of the Tenderloin The goal is to get people off the streets. City officials on Monday visited a long-standing encampment on the sidewalk outside San Francisco's only DMV office, which has been removed more than a dozen times this year only to reappear days later.

By Monday night the sidewalks were clear.

Breed's efforts are bolstered by a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28 that allowed local governments to more strictly regulate homeless encampments on sidewalks and other public facilities.

Breed responded by saying that San Francisco, a city that has become a target for right-wing attacks over its growing homelessness problem, would begin to make a more determined effort to clear out encampments. It was time to “attack this problem differently,” she said.

Ann Estimated 8,300 people About half of San Francisco's homeless population sleeps in makeshift shelters in parks and on sidewalks, and despite years of efforts to move people into temporary shelters and permanent housing, tent encampments remain a major problem and are often accompanied by trashing, theft, and open drug use.

For years, Breed and other city officials have argued they were hamstrung by a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that found punishing people for sleeping on the streets when they have no legal shelter is cruel and unusual punishment. But the Supreme Court ruling has given city officials the power to get tougher when people refuse help.

But San Francisco, like many other West Coast cities grappling with encampments, still doesn't know where people will go after the tents are removed. The city's shelters have roughly 3,600 beds available. At 94% capacity, According to the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

“Unfortunately, there are not enough shelters or housing facilities in San Francisco to house all of our homeless people, but we do have several beds available each day to support our outreach teams and continue to work to expand our system,” department spokeswoman Emily Cohen said in an email.

Mayoral spokesman Jeff Cretan said the city isn't necessarily expecting a huge influx of new people into shelters, and after years of trying to move people into shelters, those still living on the streets, often struggling with mental illness or substance use disorders, tend to be the most reluctant to offer shelter.

During the first three days of sweeps of the encampments this week, only about 10 percent of people offered shelter accepted, Cretan said.

Instead, Mayor Breed, who is in the middle of a tough re-election fight, is looking at strategies other than adding more shelter beds. The city could also impose criminal penalties on people who repeatedly refuse shelter access, she said. But the prospect of the local jail housing hundreds more homeless people also raises capacity questions.

On Thursday, Breed emphasized a different approach. She Administrative Order It would require outreach workers to provide free transportation to homeless people outside San Francisco to cities where they have family, friends or other connections, and the city would pay for bus, plane and train fares, Cretan said.

The city has had a similar program in place for years but it has become less effective during the pandemic, and under the new directive, workers must claim relocation options before receiving other city services, such as housing or shelter.

About 40% of people living on the streets said they were not from San Francisco, according to the city's 2024 Annual Homeless Survey.

“This directive ensures that relocation services will be the first response to a homelessness or substance use crisis and gives individuals the option to rejoin our support network before utilizing other City services or facing consequences for refusing care,” Breed wrote in the directive.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is facing a tough re-election fight, with the city's homeless population a pressing issue, and City Council Chairman Aaron Peskin (right) is among her challengers.

(Eric Risberg/The Associated Press)

Breed's hardline stance has drawn harsh criticism from homeless advocates who say clearing tents doesn't address the poverty and addiction that causes homelessness, and that her efforts are politically motivated.

“Policies to address homelessness must be humane, lawful and effective — not implemented simply because someone's job is at risk,” said Aaron Peskin, chairman of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Breed's opponent.

Peskin instead called for stronger rent control and eviction prevention measures, and for the city to expand shelter and affordable housing options.

According to the mayor's office, since Breed took office, the city has increased shelter capacity from about 2,500 to about 4,000 beds and permanent supportive housing slots to about 14,000. Cohen, of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said these efforts have helped bring the number of people living on the streets of the city to “its lowest level in at least a decade.”

Cretan said the relocation proposal and the threat of criminal penalties are just a starting point as the city determines what strategies will work.

“The mayor really wants to be clear. [that] “We have to accept shelter, but obviously not everyone is going to say yes,” Cretan said. “It's not like we can snap our fingers and everything changes overnight.”