homelessness – Lee's Perspective

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 2.2.2026

Law enforcement harassment of the ‘unhoused’ population is amongst the worst form of discrimination. Whether the ‘unhoused’ person is behind the wheel of a vehicle, riding public transit or living on the street.

**San Francisco Transit Authority ‘minder’ and a rider – photo Lee Heidhues**

This type of economic profiling illuminates law enforcement at its worst. Taking advantage of the most vulnerable amongst us.

Official harassment of the unhoused is also an easy way for the cops to buttress their statistics. Giving the impression they are performing meaningful work.

It is nothing more than a form of blatant economic racism.

**Unhoused man grabs some sun rays on a winter day** **– photo Lee Heidhues**

The truth of the matter is that many people fear the homeless. And therefore feel the best way to handle this population is to keep it down and out of sight. The cops are the useful vehicle to serve the paranoid fantasies of the better off citizenry.

Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle – Bob Egelko – 2.2.2026

**Unhoused citizen at Bus stop – Geary and Masonic – photo Lee Heidhues**

When police in California stop a driver or pedestrian whom they believe to be homeless, they’re far more likely to search, handcuff, deploy force against and arrest that person than others they pull over, according to a new state report.

The ninth annual report by the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, or RIPA, based on data from 5.1 million police stops in 2024, reaffirmed previous findings that Black and HIspanic drivers were much more likely than others to be stopped than other motorists. But the disparity in treatment of those who appear to be homeless was new information that officers were first required to provide in January 2024.

Among more than 181,000 stops of people perceived by officers to be unhoused, the report said, 43% were then searched or frisked; 37.9% were handcuffed; 38.68% were subjected to use of force and 47.3% were arrested.

**Unhoused in San Francisco – San Francisco Chronicle photo**

The report comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2024 ruling, in a case from Grants Pass, Ore., that opened the door for cities and states to evict homeless people from street encampments, confiscate their property and subject them to criminal prosecution. The 6-3 decision said such actions do not violate the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.”

**Trying to get** **some** **rest** in **San** **Francisco**

The ruling has led to a wave of local ordinances authorizing sweeps of street camps and imposing criminal penalties for camping or sleeping on public property, even when no shelters are available.

San Francisco responded with hundreds of arrests and seizures of property from homeless encampments, though the city agreed to pay nearly $3 million last year to settle a lawsuit by the Coalition on Homelessness for similar actions it had taken before the Supreme Court ruling.

Top photo: Unhoused person at a bus stop – photo Lee Heidhues

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.16.2025

The Supreme Court effectively criminalized homelessness.

San Francisco, the City of St. Francis, was shamefully in the lead.

I have lived in San Francisco most of my life. I have never felt intimidated, afraid, concerned or fearful being around and amongst the unhoused.

The problem is not with our marginalized citizens. The problem is with the uptight, paranoid citizenry which has been unleashed to put their obsessions on full display. Shame!!!

A long time subscriber I posted this ‘Comment’ in the Wall Street Journal response section. I was deluged with responses attacking the unhoused in general and my thoughts in particular.

Below you will find these comments. I have deleted the names of the authors to spare them the personal embarrassment of having their intolerance publicly exposed.

A homeless man asks for money in the Financial District in San Francisco, California REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES – Tags: SOCIETY POVERTY BUSINESS) – RTR300S7

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 8.16.2025

San Francisco Has Embraced a New Tool to Clear Homeless Camps

In San Francisco, homelessness became a defining issue in last year’s mayoral race, won by Daniel Lurie. The Levi Strauss heir, allied with the city’s tech sector, won on a platform emphasizing cleaning up streets to boost economic growth.

Former SF Mayor London Breed talks with a homeless man in front of Outfit on Castro Street as she takes a neighborhood walk this morning on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

City officials point to cleaner streets as evidence that a more active approach is working. Some say the tactics are making conditions worse.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cities more power to penalize people for sleeping outside, handing city leaders a new tool with which to clear homeless people from the streets.

Since then, San Francisco has been among the most aggressive in wielding it.

Between July 2024 and July 2025, the city arrested or cited more than 1,080 people on illegal-lodging charges, over 10 times the number of illegal-lodging arrests during the same period a year earlier. In April 2025, illegal-lodging citations and arrests hit 130, the most in a single month since the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In the 12 months following that ruling, around 220 new anticamping ordinances have passed across the country, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nowhere has the ruling had a bigger impact than in California, which accounts for a third of those ordinances. The state is home to nearly half of the unsheltered homeless people in the country and includes about 70,000 shelter beds to accommodate more than 187,000 homeless people.