SF mayor adopts bus ticket first strategy for homelessness 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s latest plan to address homelessness starts with a bus ticket out of town.

Breed this week issued an executive order calling for the city to offer homeless individuals bus tickets out of town before attempting to place them in temporary shelter or other housing, San Francisco Standard reports. The program can also extend to air fare and relocation aid, on a case-by-case basis.

The emphasis on addressing the street-level effects of homelessness comes as Breed fights for reelection. It also reflects the fight of landlords in Downtown San Francisco to find footing for a rebound of an office market devastated by the pandemic and related crime and quality of life concerns that might have peaked several years ago but remain a mark on the reputation of the city’s center.

Breed’s move comes as homeless shelters reach capacity and California Gov. Gavin Newsom urges sweeps of informal encampments in public areas. Newsom recently ordered sweeps on state property and urged local governments to do the same.

Gavin’s moves, in turn, come after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that counters a circuit court’s injunction that all but prohibited clearances of homeless encampments. 

It remains unclear if transportation plans would aim to get homeless individuals in touch with family or friends or who would choose the destination.

Breed indicated the goal would be to send people back to hometowns around the state or nation. She told the Standard that San Francisco has seen steady increases in homeless individuals coming from other places since the onset of the pandemic. Breed said such transplants now account for about 40 percent of the estimated homeless population of an estimated 4,300 in the city. 

The data Breed reviewed with the Standard came from the city’s annual census of homelessness, which is generally regarded as imperfect, with critics claiming various degrees of inaccuracies.

Breed stuck to the data as a guide for her latest effort.

“We’ve made significant progress in housing many long-time San Franciscans who became homeless,” she said in a statement. “But we are seeing an increase in people in our data who are coming from elsewhere. Today’s order will ensure that all our city departments are leveraging our relocation programs to address this growing trend.”

The mayor’s latest plan isn’t new — San Francisco has long offered bus tickets to recently arrived homeless individuals. Breed is essentially consolidating past efforts and emphasizing the tickets out of town as a first option.The city’s shelter had topped 90 percent capacity, with about 300 beds available, when Breed issued the directive.