Settlement Ends Lawsuit Over SF Homeless Sweeps

SF settles for $2.8 M without changing sweep rules—shelter and storage must come next.

The Facts

San Francisco settled the lawsuit brought by the Coalition on Homelessness that alleged the City's encampment cleaning policies were unlawful. The City will pay $2.8 million, with two formerly homeless individuals receiving $11,000 each and the remainder going to ACLU legal counsel.

Io Yeh Gilman at Mission Local reports that, beyond preserving the 72-hour notice and 90-day storage rule, the city will now mandate enhanced Public Works training, photo-document every sweep, and give the Coalition on Homelessness access to sweep records and the storage yard. If 10 violations occur within 90 days, the Coalition can trigger judicial mediation, with these enforcement rights lasting five years. New minimum notice standards require 48 hours’ written notice for planned sweeps, one hour of oral notice for unplanned actions, and four hours’ written notice before removing unattended items

The Context

In December of 2022, Judge Donna Ryu ordered San Francisco to stop moving people indoors due to a lawsuit brought by the "Coalition on Homelessness" against the city. This ruling left San Francisco with no choices but to leave people in tents and unsanitary living conditions. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in Grants Pass v Johnson that cities could enforce anti-camping (which the Coalition's lawsuit had blocked). Then in August 2024, the Breed administration implemented "aggressive" encampment sweeps.

The City always followed the law by offering shelter to people before clearing encampments, but the Coalition on Homelessness argued that the City was not doing enough to protect people’s belongings during sweeps. The lawsuit claimed that the City violated the Fourth Amendment by destroying personal property without due process.

The GrowSF Take

We hope that this settlement doesn't prevent the City from making more progress on housing people and ensuring our sidewalks are clean. Luckily, it doesn't change the core of San Francisco's encampment sweep policies—the City will continue to enforce its 72-hour notice and 90-day storage rules, which are essential for maintaining public health and safety.