Mayor Signs Settlement with Coalition on Homelessness–Winning Significant Protections for San Francisco’s Unhoused People’s Property Rights

by Contributing Author

On Friday, September 19, 2025, Mayor Daniel Lurie signed a settlement that requires the City to follow its bag-and-tag policy and establish strong accountability and oversight measures. This marks a significant hard fought victory for all unhoused people across San Francisco.  The lawsuit was brought by  the Coalition on Homelessness, its members, plaintiffs, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. 

In 2022,

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Street Speak Interview with Apple and Josh

by TJ Johnston

This transcript of the Street Speak podcast was edited for brevity and clarity. Listen to this episode in its entirety at streetsheet.org/street-speak-podcast.

We welcome Apple Cronk along with her partner, Josh Donohoe, who are co-plaintiffs in the Coalition on Homelessness’s lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for their practices in encampment sweeps and the destruction of property belonging to unsheltered residents. That case was recently resolved and signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie on Friday,

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Trump Threatens to Deploy National Guard to San Francisco—What Does This Mean?

by Contributing Author

by Lupe Velez

The Trump Administration, during its short time in power, has waged strategic attacks on nearly every marginalized group in the country. It has slashed funds for health care, education, environmental protections and more. President Trump’s direct attack on the homeless population began in August of 2025, when he deployed the National Guard to clear homeless encampments in Washington, D.C. This followed his executive order on July 24, when he outlined his plan in a press conference to increase sweeps,

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Trump’s New Substance Use Policy Would Have Made My Own Recovery Impossible

by Contributing Author

by Apple Cronk

Last month, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14321—“Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” By criminalizing homelessness, addiction and mental health crises, the order strips federal support from lifesaving public health solutions like Housing First and harm reduction—the very policies that saved my life and my daughter’s, and made my nearly three years of recovery possible.

I spent over a decade unhoused in San Francisco.

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San Francisco and Other Cities, Following a Supreme Court Decision, are Arresting More Homeless People for Living on the Streets

by Contributing Author

by Stephen Przybylinski

Homelessness is on the rise in the United States, and in some places, it is becoming more common for the police to arrest someone for sleeping or living in a public space.

In June 2024, the Supreme Court issued a ruling, Grants Pass v. Johnson, that determined it is constitutional to issue citations to or arrest homeless people,

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Rules of the Road: RV Dwellers Deserve Answers on SF’s New Permit Program

by Contributing Author

by Charlie Fisch 

When I work with vulnerable populations at risk of further marginalization, I often don’t have answers to people’s pressing questions. When RV residents ask whether or not they will be able to stay in their homes for another year, it feels almost irresponsible to answer without concrete information. I’ve spent the last three months knocking on RV doors, trying to give RV residents access to local government and warn them of just how little the City has to offer.

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Homeless Residents React to Donald Trump’s Threats to Clear Encampments in D.C.

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Madi Koesler

With D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) now under federal control and the National Guard coming to D.C., the fate of people living in encampments remains up in the air.

During a press conference on 11 August, President Donald Trump said that law enforcement had already begun to clear encampments, but Street Sense has been unable to confirm this,

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I’ve Buried 17 Friends. Sweeps Won’t  Stop the Next Funeral.

by Contributing Author

By Sister ’Nita House

I have buried 17 friends in two years. Fentanyl stole their breath. If punishment or shame could end addiction, they would still be here. But San Francisco’s new “drug-free sidewalks” plan does only that: punishes the poor, shames people in crisis, and hides suffering instead of healing it. 

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “Recovery First” law makes abstinence the City’s guiding star. Nonprofits that once handed out clean syringes or pipes are now forced to attach treatment counseling or else lose funding.

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Trump’s Crackdown on Homelessness: What Does It Mean for California?

by Contributing Author

By Marisa Kendall/CalMatters

President Donald Trump’s new law-and-order approach to homelessness bears several striking resemblances to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s.

Trump wants cities to enforce laws that make it illegal for homeless people to sleep outside. So does Newsom. 

Trump threatened to withhold funding from places that don’t. So did Newsom. 

And the president wants to make it easier to force homeless people living with serious mental illness or addiction into treatment.

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Coalition on Homelessness Response to Trump Administration’s Executive Order to Criminalize Homelessness

by Contributing Author

On Friday July 24, Trump signed an Executive Order to make it easier to remove people from the streets. This executive order follows a trend of draconian measures enacted by the Trump administration that targets the country’s most vulnerable communities. This Executive Order doesn’t solve homelessness, it criminalizes it. It scapegoats people in crisis, ignores decades of data, and wastes taxpayer dollars on failed, punitive approaches.

Through this plan the Trump administration seeks to criminalize homelessness through increased encampment sweeps,

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