San Francisco police and street cleaners take aggressive approach to clearing homeless encampments [Video]

SAN FRANCISCO – Police in San Francisco will start clearing out homeless residents living in public areas under new policies announced Tuesday by the office of Mayor London Breed, who has pledged a more aggressive approach to tent encampments following a key U.S. Supreme Court decision.

In a memo, Breed’s office said city workers will continue offering housing and services to homeless people as they work to dismantle tent encampments, but street cleaners, police and other city workers will have greater leeway to prevent tents from popping back up in areas that have been cleared or to prevent smaller encampments from growing into larger ones.

San Francisco has nearly 4,000 shelter beds for an estimated 8,000 people who are homeless. Breed has expanded capacity since taking office in 2018, but the city is still short.

“The goal of this enforcement is for people to accept offers of shelter and know that they …