HOW IT STARTED: In December of 2009, SF Weekly had this classic Fox Butterfield-esque line: “Despite its spending more money per capita on homelessness than any comparable city, [San Francisco’s] homeless problem is worse than any comparable city’s.”

How it’s going: San Francisco Mayor Orders City Staffers to Offer Homeless Bus Tickets Out of Town.

For several years, San Francisco has struggled with crime, drug abuse, and homelessness, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The degradation and talk of a “doom loop” has turned away tourists and driven out businesses.

In 2022, the Coalition on Homelessness sued the city, accusing it of violating its rules for removing camps. At one point, the city was hit with a wave of suspicious lawsuits from homeless residents who claimed that city workers had illegally disposed of their valuables – electronics, “priceless” baseball card and stamp collections, art, and “business prototypes.” In early 2023, a federal judge blocked the city from clearing camps.

That changed with the Supreme Court’s ruling in June. During a debate last month, Breed vowed to take action against the sprawling homeless camps that have taken over city parks and sidewalks. “Effective August, we are going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments, which may even include criminal penalties,” she said, according to the San Francisco Standard.

In addition to directing staff to offer relocation services to the homeless, Breed is also requiring police officers, firefighters, and paramedics to carry handouts with information about the city’s relocation services. The city will also establish a tracking system that will publish data about the effectiveness of its relocation efforts.

I’m so old, I can remember when San Fransisco leftists purported to be against bussing.