San Diego Resumes Pre-Pandemic Crackdowns on Homeless Encampments

The City of San Diego and the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) resumed pre-pandemic crackdowns on homeless encampments this week, with police requiring the homeless remove tents from city streets and sidewalks during daytime hours due to municipal code violations.

In recent years, the city of San Diego has made strides to reduce the homeless population with many crackdowns occurring in tourist areas, shelter space going up by 38% since 2020, and a multitude of programs being started up. However, the population has also increased significantly, with the city now having an all-time high of homeless people, especially within the downtown area. In May, a half year count even found out that due to COVID restrictions expiring, the number of homeless people in the city shot up by 10% since January.

With the homeless situation growing more dire, and many suburbs seeing record numbers as well due to spillover from within San Diego, the city began cracking down even harder. On Monday, the San Diego Municipal code for encroachment was reinforced following a two-and-a-half year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The code states, “It is unlawful for any person to erect, place, allow to remain, construct, establish, plant, or maintain any vegetation or object on any public street, alley, sidewalk, highway, or other public property or public right of way, except as otherwise provided by this Code.” While the code has been ramped up before, such as during the 2017 Hepatitis A outbreak amongst homeless people in San Diego as a public safety measure, the growing number of homeless as well as more available shelter, as well as hygienic concerns, has caused the city to once again do it.

“The city is constantly refining our approach to the unsheltered community, trying everything we can to get folks to accept shelter and get off the streets for good,” said Mayor Todd Gloria on Wednesday. “This policy of asking folks to take their tents down during the day I think is an effort to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the community. It’s safety for both the unsheltered and for the sheltered community and the neighborhood.”

“As San Diegan’s got vaccinated, as we’ve had more ability to offer more services. We said we would start doing more enforcement much like we did pre-pandemic. This is a part of an expansion of those efforts to do that. We have converted more of our properties in the shelters, we have expanded citywide outreach and we’ve built hundreds of new homes that are affordable and reserved for the formally homeless. We need to encourage people to accept that help.”

According to the SDPD, while tents will be taken down during daylight hours, they can be pitched back up at night, with San Diego not having enough total shelter beds available for all the homeless of the city. Park enforcement will not fall under encroachment as well, with violators instead being cited for illegal lodging. The crackdowns are hoped by the city and SDPD to help stop encampments from forming, especially in the downtown area.

“SDPD officers will be asking individuals violating encroachment laws to voluntarily deconstruct their tents during daylight hours,” said the SDPD in a statement on Thursday. “If individuals do not wish to comply, they may be subject to enforcement, which always comes with an offer of services and shelter.”