SAN FRANCISCO – City officials in San Francisco are preparing to move forward with sweeping homeless encampments after receiving the latest legal guidance as a years-long battle over the issue plays out in court.

San Francisco officials say the majority of homeless people in encampments who are offered housing routinely turn it down. But now, because of new judicial guidance in an ongoing federal case, these people can't just stay on the streets.

ALSO READ: San Francisco NoPa residents install planters to prevent homeless camping

On any given day, residents say Willow Street near Van Ness is lined with trash and tents.

“People who know Willow, it's become really notorious. And for two years it's been really, really bad and it's extremely unsafe,” said Ricky, an area resident who did not want to reveal his last name for privacy reasons. “We see that a lot of electricity is stolen. We see fires. We saw vandalism.”

On Monday evening, a neighbor also filmed a rare drug discovery on the street.

ALSO READ: Newsom says California will intervene in the lawsuit and stop San Francisco from clearing encampments

Last month, Mayor London Breed posted a video on X of her visit to Willow Street, showing workers cleaning up. She said the goal is to get people into shelters and off the streets.

For the entire year, an injunction has prevented the city from enforcing certain laws against those who refuse protection on our streets.

The good news: A recent clarification from the court now shows us the way forward.https://t.co/PJpjeNWhXa

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 25, 2023

In a series of posts on a path forward for us.

Residents said the camps returned the next day.

“It gets better for a day or two, but then it goes back to normal,” Ricky said.

Mayor Breed said San Francisco has finally received clarity from the Ninth Circuit – the city will be allowed to enforce a series of laws against sitting, lying and sleeping on public streets and sidewalks for people who refuse shelter @KPIXtv 11 p.m. pic.twitter. com/hMc2gv5bv9

— Betty You (@bett_you) September 26

The Ninth Circuit provided clarity about who is considered “involuntarily homeless.”

“If city workers offer concrete offers of available housing to homeless individuals and they refuse that offer, then the law can be enforced against them. “They are not allowed to pitch their tent on the street,” said city attorney David Chiu.

ALSO READ: Federal judges won't change San Francisco's ban on clearing homeless camps on appeal

Chiu said this development means people should see fewer camps and cleaner streets over time.

However, the lawsuit filed by homeless advocates is still pending, and the ban on clearing encampments until there are more homeless beds than homeless people remains in effect. But the mayor said there is now a path forward to enforce laws against those who are voluntarily homeless.

“I would say it's really good that they sorted that out. Firstly, many of these people need a home. So pushing them and telling them there's a home for them would help a lot,” Ricky said. “But those who don't want to be moved, we believe… a lot of them cause a lot of trouble.”

ALSO READ: Searching homeless camps is just one aspect of a system that isn't working for SF residents

Since KPIX first reported on Willow Street nearly two years ago, a new encampment has sprung up a block away on Eddy Street on Van Ness Street. Residents say it has only grown.

“The residents – we talked about it. Now there are no more excuses, now at least some of it needs to be cleaned up,” Ricky added.

Chiu said city departments are working on logistics for the upcoming evictions.

Meanwhile, a trial date for the federal case has been set for late next year.

More from CBS News

Betty Yu

Betty Yu joined KPIX 5 as a general assignment reporter in November 2013. She spent two years as a reporter at WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in Miami, before moving to San Francisco.

The post San Francisco to start out clearing some homeless encampments below new courtroom steering appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Meanwhile, there were 468 people on the city’s online waitlist for shelter on Wednesday, less than a week from the event’s launch. The city has about 3,000 shelter beds in its system, which is currently at 91% capacity.

“One of the issues, in this case, is the lack of transparency from the city in terms of what its plans are and how it handles encampment resolution, which can lead to a lot of issues with enforcement of the ordinances they are supposed to be following,” said John Do, an attorney with the ACLU, which is representing plaintiffs in the homelessness lawsuit against San Francisco.

People like Taj and Matt, an unhoused couple living in the South of Market neighborhood, appear to be caught in the city’s impossible juggle.

About a week ago, the two slept on Merlin Street under the 80 freeway overpass in San Francisco when a cadre of city workers woke them up and told them to move.

A Public Works employee told them they needed to clear the area for a big event coming up where President Joe Biden and other heads of state from nearly 20 countries would be coming to town, according to Matt.

They didn’t have any other place to go. So now, Taj says, the couple stays “anywhere we don’t get harassed or our stuff stolen.”

On Wednesday morning, they were in SoMA and asked to shoo again.

“They didn’t offer anything,” said Taj on Wednesday from a SoMa bus stop. “It’s bad enough we are in this position. You know how bad we want to be inside?”

KQED reporter Vanessa Rancaño contributed to this story. 

The post San Francisco Is Clearing Homeless Encampments Forward of APEC appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

By Shawn Cohen, In San Francisco, For Dailymail.Com

23:14 10 Nov 2023, updated 23:14 10 Nov 2023

• San Francisco officials descended on homeless hotspots across the city on Wednesday to clear the area of people as a sanitation crew tossed mattresses, tents, chairs, and other street items into a garbage truck
• The city is attempting to conceal its rampant homelessness crisis as it prepares to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit from Saturday November 11 to November 17 
• DailyMail.com witnessed cops pushing homeless residents out, and sanitation workers conducting cleaning efforts in SoMa and Tenderloin ahead of the conference, which is expected to bring in over $50M in revenue

Drastic measures are being taken in San Francisco to ensure world dignitaries don’t have to interact with the homeless during the APEC trade summit, everything from clearing encampments to deploying ‘night ambassadors’ to keep vagrants out of the area, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The Chinese government, meanwhile, is posting 100 private security guards around the luxury St. Regis hotel where their diplomats and business executives are staying, supplementing security in a city their media has likened to ‘hell.’

The unprecedented measures are designed to present a clean and shiny image during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the city’s biggest gathering of global leaders since 1945, and prevent the sorts of street spectacles that have battered the city’s reputation.

The city expects the conference, which kicks off Saturday and will run through November 17, to draw more than 20,000 people and generate upwards of $50million in revenue. 

DailyMail.com witnessed police officers telling homeless residents to leave the area for a week, as part of the city’s attempt to hide its growing homelessness crisis ahead of the APEC conference City workers clean the streets and remove tents and items belonging to homeless residents ahead of the APEC summit Waste management dump trucks could be seen carrying old street mattresses, tents, chairs, and other assorted belongings after removing them from the streets A homeless man is seen pushing a wheelchair loaded with his belongings while walking past the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco, as city officials take drastic measures to hide the city’s dark reality during the APEC trade summit The unprecedented measures are designed to present a clean and shiny image during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the city’s biggest gathering of global leaders since 1945, and prevent the sorts of street spectacles that have battered the city’s reputation

In a bid to ensure it goes off without a hitch, roads are being closed and traffic detoured, while protective steel barriers are being erected in the city’s SoMa District, where the conference is being held.

A short walk away in the Tenderloin District, workers on Wednesday afternoon descended on Jessie Alley, a homeless hotspot, forcing about two dozen people to step aside as a sanitation crew tossed their mattresses, tents, chairs, and other assorted belongings into a garbage truck. 

After it drove away, workers hosed down the street, washing away human feces, urine, and crack pipes. Aid workers, meanwhile, offered services and shelter, which most refused.

Donna Hilliard, executive director of Code Tenderloin, a homeless aid organization that is assisting the efforts, told DailyMail.com the city has also dispatched a four-member ‘night ambassador team’ to target homeless people

Cops, meanwhile, made a special request that they avoid the area through next week.

‘The police just told me that there’s a major conference, that the president is coming, and asked if we could stay away for a week,’ Jamal Barnes, a 50-year-old homeless man, told DailyMail.com.

Barnes, a crack addict, said he’s been on the streets since being shot in the stomach in 2016, requiring a colostomy bag. 

After being rousted Wednesday, he returned to the alley minutes after crews left, carrying an old stereo speaker that he used as a seat.

‘They took everything, my tent, my cell phone,’ Barnes scoffed, wearing no shirt under his hoodie, dirty jeans, and untied sneakers.

‘I’ve got to start all over. I could have cursed them out, but it ain’t do me no good,’ he added. 

Another local, identified only as Michael, 63, refused a trip to a shelter, fearing he’d be separated from his wife if he went.

San Francisco is on track to set a record for fatal drug overdoses this year – 54 people died in the city from unintentional overdoses in September alone City employees and police officers offered services and shelter to residents living on the street – which most refused City, state, and federal authorities have been throwing money and resources at the liberal city’s drug epidemic since June to try and control the growing lawlessness that is plaguing the country’s sixth most expensive city Workers with the sanitation department also hosed down the street, washing away human feces, urine, and crack pipes

‘We’ve got nowhere to go and they’re trying to push us to areas we don’t want to go,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s like they’re trying to throw away human beings.’

The city has uprooted a total of seven hotspots in the neighborhood in the past several weeks, ahead of the conference. 

One of the aide workers told DailyMail.com that the next target was Natoma Alley, where occupants would be given referrals for services along with warnings that the area would soon be cleared out.

Donna Hilliard, executive director of Code Tenderloin, a homeless aid organization that is assisting the efforts, told DailyMail.com about another program targeting homeless people who enter the conference area. 

The group will dispatch a four-member ‘night ambassador team’ to work late shifts during APEC, from 7pm to 3am Saturday and 6 to midnight Monday through Friday, approaching individuals. 

They’ll have a van to shuttle individuals to services, whether it’s a shelter bed, hospital, or sobering center, she noted.

Hilliard said she’s well aware that with media flooding into San Francisco, a single negative episode on the street could garner international attention and that the team hopes to head off potential problems involving homeless people suffering drug and mental health issues.

The beleaguered California city has already been labeled a ‘total failure’ by some China-based outlets as the city gears up for the event, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with President Biden.

Dozens of Chinese delegates, many wearing crisp dark business suits, were gathered Thursday checking into the upscale St Regis hotel Guards, wearing dark blue uniforms and patches reading National Protective Service Private Security, were seen standing outside the hotel as the international guests arrivedA private security guard dressed in uniform is seen near the St. Regis Hotel The Chinese government has deployed 100 private security guards around the luxury St. Regis hotel where their diplomats and business executives are staying ‘Diplomatic pouches’ belonging to Chinese ambassadors were seen being unloaded by members of the Chinese security detail at the St Regis Hotel It was similar around the corner at the Hyatt Regency, as other internationals checked in

Other headlines include the phrases ‘garbage city,’ ‘ruined city’ and ‘fallen city.’ Another headline from the Chinese Phoenix said the city had fallen into a ‘death cycle.’

‘San Francisco was once a jewel on the West Coast of the United States, but as the Democrats advanced their radical agenda.

‘Now it has become a mecca of crime, the streets are in disarray, and it is rapidly slipping towards the status of a ghost town.’

Chinese delegates and business executives began to arrive earlier this week, flying into the city and transported directly to the posh St. Regis San Francisco, just a couple blocks from APEC’s host Moscone Convention Center.

On Friday morning, San Francisco resident Christine Johnson, 55, stood outside the Moscone Center urging visitors to step outside the security bubble to see the homeless problem that’s been temporarily swept away.

She waved a green placard reading, ‘PLEASE VISIT THE TENDERLOIN TO SEE WHAT CHINA’S PHENTONOL IS DOING TO PEOPLE.’

A few minutes later, one homeless man in a wheelchair rolled past the center, alongside barricades. 

The man, James A., 45, said he was paralyzed from nerve damage and addicted to crystal meth. He was oblivious to the fact the APEC conference was due to start the following day, and that the city was making efforts to keep the area clear.

‘I’m just going to the park to sleep for an hour,’ James, shoeless and draped in dirty clothes and a red, white and blue blanket, told DailyMail.com, as he headed toward Tenderloin.

‘We’re living on the streets because we need to live on the streets, sometimes,’ he said. 

In a bid to ensure it goes off without a hitch, roads are being closed and traffic detoured Protective steel barriers and other crowd control materials and structures were seen being assembled across large areas of the city Pictured above, city workers erect security fencing close to the St Regis Hotel A man living at St. Regis, speaking with DailyMail.com, marveled at the steel fence being extended around the hotel Thursday and stretching toward the convention center

Guards, wearing dark blue uniforms and patches reading National Protective Service Private Security, have been stationed outside and around the perimeter of the hotel as the international guests arrived. 

Two of the guards, who wouldn’t share their names, told DailyMail.com that the Chinese government hired their San Francisco-based company to provide extra security for their delegates.

‘We’re working with the government right now, both the Chinese and the U.S.,’ a manager identifying himself as Imam Sheikh told DailyMail.com on Thursday. 

He said they had 10 officers working there for the day and that 100 would be there for the conference. 

‘If something happens, we follow the instructions that the Chinese government and the U.S. gives,’ he said.

‘We’re focused on whatever is suspicious,’ another guard told DailyMail.com when asked to explain their marching orders. 

‘If somebody’s being disruptive, like a homeless guy trying to get in, or a protester, we will report it to police or our boss. They are not allowed to go inside.’

Dozens of Chinese delegates, many wearing crisp dark business suits, were gathered Thursday in the lobby and adjoining hotel lounge, chatting and flipping through work papers. 

At lunchtime, plastic boxes of takeout meals were distributed to the guests. Most remained in the hotel for the day. Those who headed out stuck around the area, now lined by barricades.

Bomb Squad agents and security guards were stationed around the St Regis Hotel in the days leading up to the event Two private security guards (not pictured) who did not want to be identified, told DailyMail.com that the Chinese government hired their San Francisco-based company to provide extra security for their delegates Final preparations were underway on Friday for the APEC conference kicking off in San Francisco on November 11 On Friday morning, San Francisco resident Christine Johnson, 55, stood outside the Moscone Center holding a sign urging visitors to step outside the security bubble to see the homeless problem that’s been temporarily swept away

It was similar around the corner at the Hyatt Regency, as other internationals checked in.

‘Ninety percent of people here are reluctant to go out and explore the city,’ a female restaurant staffer told DailyMail.com. 

‘They can easily walk up the street, but not in the other direction where there’s a lot of crackheads.

‘There’s a lot of restaurants out there, but people are saying they don’t want to go out because it’s not safe,’ she added. ‘They’re just using Yelp and ordering takeout.

‘I know the city is trying to show off that it’s clean,’ she said. ‘But these people have seen what’s happening with the homeless here on Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram. There’s a lot of zombies outside. I tell people to be careful going out there.’

A city parking control officer was promoting the city as he stood near the St. Regis, cheerfully greeting visitors as he directed cars not to turn in front of the hotel.

‘The city wants everything looking great,’ the officer told DailyMail.com. ‘They want this whole place looking great, official, especially with these Chinese dignitaries up here and other individuals coming into town.’

He decried the widespread building vacancies, tent cities and open drug markets, and said he was glad the city could get some positive attention with the downtown spruced up for APEC. 

Jamal Barnes, a 50-year-old homeless man who has been on the streets since 2016, told DailyMail.com he was asked to leave the area, but returned to the alley minutes after crews left, carrying an old stereo speaker that he used as a seat One homeless man in a wheelchair, identified only as James A, told DailyMail.com Friday (pictured) that he was oblivious to the fact the APEC conference was due to start the following day and that the city was making efforts to keep the area clear James, a crystal meth addict who was paralyzed from nerve damage, rolled past the center, alongside barricades on Friday said he was now headed to the park ‘to sleep for an hour’

‘Right now, we’ve got to get this place all taken care of because we want people to have a great impression of San Francisco,’ he said. 

‘We’re doing the best we can to give a great image. All the Asian countries, all the countries on the Pacific Rim, we want your business. We need your business.’

A man living at St. Regis, speaking with DailyMail.com, marveled at the steel fence being extended around the hotel Thursday and stretching toward the convention center.

‘It will be pristine inside that fence,’ he enthused. ‘The schmuck that goes to the Moscone Center and walks over here, do you think he’ll see anything? No. He won’t see s**t. 

‘If he goes to the Four Seasons or the Marriott, he won’t see s**t because they’re cleaning the area up. The city should put its best foot forward. We need tourism. We need people coming back here.’

Steven Rice, a program manager with Code Tenderloin, was more concerned with finding lasting solutions to the city’s homeless crisis than with the APEC-related focus on image.

Steven Rice, a program manager with Code Tenderloin, was more concerned with finding lasting solutions to the city’s homeless crisis

‘We shouldn’t need a reason to help people,’ Rice said as crews cleared Jessie Alley, a couple blocks from his office. 

‘APEC is not going to be here forever. We don’t want this to be a temporary situation. This is our opportunity to let them (unhoused people) know a more permanent solution is down the road for them.’

The St. Regis resident told DailyMail.com that he’s not optimistic.

‘This is like a partial Band-Aid. It will fall off in a week,’ he said.

San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that an official in the city’s Public Works Department listed the seven target areas in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods in an email to city officials Sept. 25.

‘With APEC coming, I am concerned about historical encampments that are close to priority areas,’ Christopher McDaniels, superintendent of Street Environmental Services, wrote in the email, the publication reported.

Later that same day, McDaniels’ boss, Deputy Director of Operations DiJaida Durden, replied by noting that an encampment on Van Ness Avenue had ‘popped up in the last two weeks,’ the paper added.

‘Are any of these locations on schedule?’ Durden reportedly asked. APEC ‘is coming and we need to stay on top of the growing encampments; do we have a plan?’

The city was opening a 30-bed shelter on Friday at Natoma and Eighth streets, and working to add 300 beds to existing shelters within the next few months, the paper reported.

A worker cleans the sidewalk outside the Moscone Convention Center where the conference will take place

San Francisco is on track to set a record for fatal drug overdoses this year – 54 people died in the city from unintentional overdoses in September alone.

City, state and federal authorities have been throwing money and resources at the liberal city’s drug epidemic since June to try and control the growing lawlessness that is plaguing the country’s sixth most expensive city. Efforts from politicians and leaders have escalated in light of the summit, which will welcome 21 of the world’s most prominent economies’ leaders.

Eight government agencies – including park rangers, Public Works employees and nonprofit Urban Alchemy workers – have put manpower into controlling the mess of illegal activity in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Residents of San Francisco are concerned for their safety and security in the crime-ridden city and a flock of businesses are slamming their doors shut for good in the seemingly hopeless area.

In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions leading some analysts to predict that the city has entered a ‘doom-loop’ of permanent decline.

Restaurants on one of San Francisco’s most storied streets are closing at an alarming rate – and owners are saying it’s due to the city’s spiraling crime.

In June of this year – a group of fed-up San Francisco residents cobbled together $25,000 to buy garden planters, typically used to feed livestock, to line streets in the city’s troubled Mission District in order deter homeless people from setting up camps there.

The post San Francisco conducts huge cleanup operation, clearing homeless encampments and eradicating vagrants from road forward of APEC commerce summit appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

By now. You may be familiar with the name Jordan Neely. Protesters in New York City have been chanting his name ever since the young Black man was put in a chokehold and died on a subway train earlier this month. They demanded the man who put Neeley in that chokehold be held accountable. And on Friday, after days of waiting, there was movement.

Manhattan District attorney’s office says they will charge 24 year old Daniel Penny with manslaughter.

Marine veteran Daniel Penny turned himself in to authorities and was arraigned on a charge of second degree manslaughter. Now, his attorneys say Penny risked his own life and safety for the good of his fellow passengers and could not have foreseen Neely’s death. However, a witness said Neeley didn’t hurt anyone and wasn’t armed. And we’ve since learned nearly was experiencing homelessness and mental health issues, shouting at passengers that he was hungry, thirsty and out of money.

If you didn’t have the intention of killing Jordan Neely, I believe that the least he did not have consideration for his life because he was poor, homeless and Black.

And Neely’s death has reignited a conversation about the overall crisis of homelessness in this country. Public intolerance for panhandling and tent cities is helping fuel a debate over safety and poverty in America’s largest cities. And that has advocates for the unhoused asking: does pushing the problem out of view actually solve the problem?

My guest this week is CNN’s Gabe Cohen. He’s going to take us to Phoenix, where a judge’s ruling to clear a huge homeless camp could provide a template for other cities, while leaving hundreds of vulnerable people in limbo. From CNN, this is One Thing. I’m David Rind.

Gabe, you’ve been reporting on the homelessness crisis in America, and I know we hear about it a lot. But can you just put it into perspective? How big of a problem is this?

So, David, it varies city to city, but there’s no doubt that homelessness, the crisis in this country has really exploded in recent years, especially coming out of the pandemic. So many cities right now are facing a housing crisis and more and more people are ending up on the street. Of course, so many of the images we’ve seen with regard to homeless encampments are in cities along the West Coast, cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, which is home to Skid Row, the largest homeless encampment in the country.

And we’ve also seen homelessness become more polarized and politicized. More states are passing laws to ban public camping, really trying to clear it from public view. And so with all of that, in this context, that’s what brought us to Phoenix, a city that is really struggling to deal with the homelessness crisis there. It has now one of the largest homeless encampments in the United States in downtown Phoenix. But it’s about to be cleared out. And so we wanted to get on the ground in Phoenix to see what that looked like.

And so what did you find?

Good morning. How you doin?

So what we found is a massive, sprawling encampment about a mile long. Tents on just about every inch of sidewalk. Nearly a thousand people, right around 900, live in this encampment, which has been called “The Zone” by locals.

Why do you think most people end up here?

It’s different challenges, honestly. You’ll get so many different stories. Nobody’s story is the same.

And it popped up several years ago. But it has grown rapidly in recent years, along with the homeless population in the Phoenix area, Maricopa County. Homelessness there has grown 46% since 2019.

As they are struggling to create enough affordable housing for everyone. And housing prices have just skyrocketed across the Phoenix area, really across Arizona. And so we met so many people on the street and it gave us a much better sense of just how nuanced this issue is.

How long have you been here for?

About a year and just about a year.

And what happened? How’d you end up here?

I lost my husband. My husband passed away. So he was a head of household.

One of them was a woman named Rayann Denny, a 37 year old widow. She lost her husband last year. She said she ended up on the street in a tent because she couldn’t pay the bills by herself. Now she is dealing with addiction.

What would it take to get you out of this place? What do you need?

Really, just a stable, you know. I wouldn’t mind, you know, getting a job. But there’s very little, you know, resources to help me.

She does not want to be in a shelter, but she does want housing. She wants somewhere safe to be. And she acknowledged just how unsafe she feels inside this sprawling encampment. How are you feeling down here?

I don’t want to be here. I came down here to give me an apartment.

We also met a 73-year-old woman named Beatrice. She said her kids left her at The Zone, unable to afford to take care of her. And she is now in a shelter bed right next to this encampment, right inside the Human Services campus. That’s right next door.

You have social Security?

That’s all I got. I only get $800 a month. You can’t afford; you can’t live off of it. What can you do with $800 a month. Some people live off of $800 a week. I’m trying to go back to school, to get my GED, so I can get a job.

She told me that she gets about $800 every month in Social Security, and yet it is not enough to afford rent. And so she feels like her safest option is a shelter bed.

What you won’t hear from a lot of people. There is a feeling that this is a safe space. People acknowledge that there is human waste all over the ground. There is garbage everywhere. There are a lot of police calls to this area. There are fires frequently in this encampment. We watched a tent go up in flames while we were there on the ground. And so there is a lot of concern about safety in this area. And that gets to how local businesses and residents are feeling about this.

Right. What do residents say it’s been like living next to this encampment?

They’re struggling with it. And what we have seen is a massive pushback from business owners and residents who feel like this is a public nuisance and the city is not doing enough to deal with it. And so what we saw in Phoenix is a lawsuit filed by these neighbors of the camp that said that the city has not done enough, has not done its duty to abate the nuisance that is The Zone.

So what are you experiencing day to day? Talk me through. What, what’s happening here?

Oh gosh. Sure, sure. You know, and you never know what you’re going to experience. You know, we start on a monday morning with a knot in our stomach because we don’t know what we’re going to come up to at our business.

So two of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit against the city of Phoenix were Debbie and Joe Faillaci.

So it’s, it’s disgusting. That’s pretty much it. And it’s never ending.

It’s been they run a sandwich shop right near The Zone. They have tents right outside their property. They say they have been dealing with property damage, human waste on their property, people in crisis scaring their customers and their employees now, for years. The way they described it was a sense of lawlessness in this area. And they said they filed this lawsuit because they want to get their neighborhood back.

But then what’s the goal? You want it swept. You want it cleared. Like, what’s the.

Personally, I want it out of here.

We want our neighborhood back. We want to feel safe when we come to work. And we want our employees to feel safe when they come to work. We want our customers to feel safe when they come into our business.

And they won. The judge sided with them in this lawsuit and ordered the city of Phoenix to clear this camp in the next couple of months. It is a very unique situation. As I mentioned, we’ve talked about states that are passing laws to clear encampments. This was different. This was a lawsuit brought by residents and business owners who said enough is enough.

So people just not even waiting for laws. They’re saying this is a nuisance. I feel unsafe, my businesses being harmed. So get this out of here, basically.

Exactly. And so the question is, will more people in other cities say, let me file a very similar lawsuit and see if I can get a judge here to agree and force the city to clear the camp.

So now that a judge has ordered this camp to be cleared, what does that look like? Because you said that the shelter system was under strain in Phoenix. There’s just not really enough beds for these people. So where are these people supposed to go?

Yes. So that’s the question. There is a major shortage. And so the question is, where will these 900 or so people go when they’re cleared out at the peak of Arizona’s brutal summer heat?

We know that the city is saying they are going to go block by block and they’re going to try to offer services and a space for any person that they’re clearing out. But as of now, there just isn’t enough space. So the city says to try to meet that demand. They’re going to lease vacant buildings and hotel rooms as temporary shelters, and they’re going to try to build some sort of sanctioned campground with sanitation, with security, where people can go when they get cleared off the streets.

So it’ll still be outside, but it’ll be under the city’s purview.

Exactly. Exactly. And they’re not the first city to do this, but it is a controversial approach for several reasons. People are concerned with the idea of forcing people experiencing homelessness into a space like that. There are also concerns about who will turn down those services.

Roger Manzanilla

00:10:52

I don’t know if I would or not because I don’t know anybody that’s staying in a shelter right now.

Having spent time in The Zone, there are a lot of people who say they don’t want to go into a shelter.

So I don’t like that type of environment. I’d rather be, you know, how here where I could do, you know, what I do without being told what to do.

They want housing, but they’re not comfortable with the rules and the curfews that go along with a large shelter. And so there is major concern that people aren’t going to all accept these services. And what you’re going to have is a lot of people who are currently living on the street just moving down the road into other neighborhoods where we’re going to see more camps popping up, where they’re going to be more isolated from services, and they’re going to potentially be in more dangerous situations.

Like it’s out of view of the public eye. But the homelessness continues.

Exactly. It’s this concern about invisible homelessness. Advocates are saying this is just going to increase the amount of invisible homelessness in a city like Phoenix, where people are struggling in the shadows, where they can’t be seen. And what that could mean is more people get sick and end up in the emergency room, or perhaps more people even die. More than 700 people experiencing homelessness died in Maricopa County last year. That is a massively troubling number, especially as Phoenix tries to grapple with this problem that’s only growing. Last year, more people became homeless in the city of Phoenix, not less.

Wow. And broadening it out to other cities around the country that are dealing with similar problems. Is there any kind of long term fix here? Because when I listen to what you’re saying and to the conversations you’ve had with people in the zone, the thing that kind of runs through all of this to me is the idea of affordable housing and just the physical spaces that are not affordable to a big chunk of people in these vulnerable situations. So like, how are people grappling with this?

Well, you hit on it there. In short, most advocates will tell you a housing-first approach is the only proven approach to start making a dent in homelessness across this country, that we need to start building more housing now. And unfortunately, it’s been met with a lot of pushback in cities across this country. A lot of people who don’t want affordable housing in their area. And we know that most cities are just not building enough affordable housing right now. But you can’t build your way out of this with shelter beds. If the city does come in and sweep this place in the next couple of months, what does that means for you.

It’ll mean I have nowhere to live.

We spoke with a young woman named Stefanie Powell. She says she hasn’t been able to work in a while because of medical issues dealing with fibromyalgia, dealing with neuropathy, and she’s ended up in a tent inside The Zone.

I can see the emotion in your eyes talking about it. What is that?

Fear, anxiety, worry. I don’t want to wind up having to walk the streets again.

She fears as the city comes to clear the camp that she’s going to end up roaming the streets again as she did when she first ended up homeless. She fears that that’s going to leave her in a far less safe situation.

Just because you clean out an area doesn’t mean that you wipe the problem away. It’s still there.

She feels that this initiative to clear away the camp is not to fix homelessness, not to help people like her, but simply to make them less visible, simply to push them to areas where the problem won’t be seen.

We’re not all strung out on drugs. I know several people who live out in these tents who have jobs, legitimate jobs, but the cost of living is just too high for us.

She told me. Help us find housing. Help us find somewhere where we can stay permanently. We don’t want to live in this situation, but at this point it feels to her like it’s falling on deaf ears.

One thing is a production of CNN Audio. This episode was produced by Paolo Ortiz, Eryn Mathewson, and me David Rind. Matt Dempsey is our Production Manager, Faiz Jamil is our Senior Producer. Greg Peppers is our Supervising Producer. And Steve Lickteig is the Executive Producer of CNN Audio. Thanks for listening. And if you’d like what you hear, you can leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts. And we’ll be back next Sunday. Talk to you then.

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NORTHSTAR AT TAHOE (CBS SF) – A California Highway Patrol helicopter equipped with high-tech detection equipment began traversing the skies over the Northstar ski area Thursday morning in hopes of receiving a signal from an avalanche safety beacon who may have picked up missing truckee skier Rory Angelotta.

The Placer County sheriff said Angelotta was a skilled skier and reportedly had avalanche gear with her when he disappeared in a snow storm on Saturday.

The search for missing skier Rory Angelotta on @Northstar_CA resumed today. More than 60 employees met today on the first clear day since the search began on Christmas night. CHP will fly the area with a RECCO device to scan a large part of the mountain from above. pic.twitter.com/bA43h0Krty

– Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) December 30, 2021

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So far, four days of searching in difficult weather conditions have found no trace of Angelotta.

Tracks in deep snow in a remote mountain area had raised hopes on Tuesday, but then found they were being pulled by a bear.

The last of a series of violent winter storms finally moved east early Thursday. As of December 21st, 135 inches – over 11 feet – of snow have fallen at Northstar.

According to the sheriff’s office, friends of Angelotta reported him missing when he failed to show up for Christmas dinner on Saturday night after a day of skiing. Authorities said his car was found in the resort parking lot and his calls went straight to voicemail.

Missing Truckee Skier Rory Angelotta (Placer County Sheriff’s Office)

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The sheriff’s social media accounts announced Tuesday that the Nevada Air National Guard was deploying a pioneering infrared-equipped Blackhawk helicopter to assist searchers in the current extreme weather conditions.

The sheriff’s office said other resources put in to assist with the search were Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue, Placer County Search and Rescue, Nevada County Search and Rescue, Butte County Search and Rescue, Bay Area Mountain Rescue, Tahoe Backcountry Ski Patrol and Northstar California Ski Patrol.

The social media posts featured videos and pictures of the search efforts.

The search for Rory Angelotta continues today at @Northstar_CA Ski Resort.
The following resources have been provided: https://t.co/IcikqHIOEy#PCSO #LakeTahoe #MissingPerson #PlacerCounty pic.twitter.com/oCSWrQjqVc

– Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) December 28, 2021

The search for the 43-year-old Truckee resident was hampered by harsh weather conditions that dropped more than four feet of fresh snow. Angelotta was last seen at the Northstar ski resort on Saturday morning.

The investigations have shown that Angelotta’s ski pass was scanned at the Comstockbahn at around 11.30 a.m. No other activity has been recorded on his passport since then.

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“Seekers responded and combed the mountain and surrounding areas despite the extreme weather,” said the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. “Rescuers were on their search with skis, snowmobiles and a snowcat. They were confronted with a high risk of avalanches, strong winds, whiteout thunderstorms, icy temperatures and heavy snow loads. “

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