Mayor London Breed speaks during a rally held outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to demand the court overturn and injunction prohibiting the city from sweeping homeless encampments @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/JstlKsi0WH

— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) August 23, 2023

After an explosion in crime and drug use in 2020 and 2021, the city issued a state of emergency in December 2021 and began more stringent enforcement, then in November 2022, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu of the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, issued an injunction barring the city from enforcing its homeless ordinances. City officials and Breed rallied outside the court, demanding that the court allow the city to enforce its homeless ordinances, saying it is inhumane to allow homeless people to live in tents on the streets and do drugs, according to video of the rally.

“We are compassionate, we are supportive, we continue to help people, but this is not the way,” Breed said.

Ryu’s injunction barred the city from enforcing city ordinances such as San Francisco Police Code Section 168, which criminalizes the obstruction of sidewalks and streets and San Francisco Police Code Section 169, which prohibits sidewalk encampments without permits.

[Give Breed credit for *trying* to enforce vagrancy laws. That’s better than Minneapolis and Jacob Frey. — Ed]