Stopping Sweeps Saves Lives, Research Shows

A tent is in the center of the frame. In front of it is what looks like a white dollhouse, laying flat on the ground. The image is in Black and White

by TJ Johnston 

For years, the mantra for advocates of unhoused people has been “sweeps kill.” Now, their tagline has science and hard numbers to back it up.

In a study focused on 23 U.S. cities including San Francisco, researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and several other academic institutions determined that unsheltered people who inject drugs and who are repeatedly forced out of street encampments are likely to suffer higher illness and death rates than their peers who stay put.

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What’s Up With the Prop C Lawsuit?

The city is currently in court to resolve whether two voter initiative taxes on the June 2018 ballot required approval by simple majority or two-thirds of voters (Prop C/childcare and Prop G/teacher salaries).  Proposition C, Our City Our Home, passed in November and received 60 percent of voter support but did not reach the two-thirds threshold. Its fate rests on the fate of the other two measures.

The California Supreme Court made a ruling that based on constitutional wording,

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Violent Threats Posted on Tents at Mission Camp

On Friday afternoon a handful of Mission District residents experiencing homelessness found shockingly violent threats taped to their tents. The typed notices referred to the campers as “JUNKIE MOTHER F***ERS” and warned that they would be the targets of vicious attacks if they were still present in the area after sunset that night.

The sign itself contained shockingly violent language, threatening “IF YOU ARE STILL HERE AFTER DARK TONIGHT, the hunters will become the hunted.

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