November 12th 2023.
San Francisco is preparing for President Joe Biden’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit by sanitizing the city's homeless population. The summit is expected to draw thousands of visitors and protestors, and the city is doing its best to make the city look presentable. Unfortunately, this effort by San Francisco is doing more harm than good, according to experts.
Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness, says this effort won't have the desired effect. She believes that the city is trying to "clean up the city's image" and draw back tourism, but this effort won't work because the homeless people don't have the power to disappear. Friedenbach cites a lack of housing and shelter as the main reasons there is a large homeless population in San Francisco.
A 2022 report from Applied Survey Research shows that the homeless population in San Francisco is mostly Black people, making up 60% of the homeless population despite being only 7% of the total population. In December of 2022, a federal judge blocked the city from clearing homeless encampments unless there was a offer of shelter, albeit temporarily. Friedenbach’s organization sued the city earlier in 2022, alleging they were attempting to remove visible signs of homelessness from the streets.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, echoing the sentiment that the homeless need to be cleared off the street, compared the efforts to what people do before company comes over to visit. Business owners in San Francisco are hoping to capitalize on the estimated $53 million that will be generated by the APEC summit, according to the San Francisco Travel Association.
Christie Palominos, a homeless person in San Francisco, described her feelings about those who think they are better than the city’s homeless population. She said, “Usually I stay as long as I can, but it’s kind of hard because there are certain people who pick on you. They think they’re better than you. Walk a day in my shoes. I guarantee that some of these rich people who walk around in these high-rises wouldn’t survive.”
San Francisco's efforts to sanitize the homeless population ahead of the summit is doing more harm than good. Unfortunately, the city's homeless population are the ones who are suffering the most, and they won't have the same opportunities to benefit from the influx of tourists and money.
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