San Francisco crews are not negotiating w/the homeless around Division St. anymore. Today is clear out day. pic.twitter.com/UO8eaiFYb1
— Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) March 1, 2016
ABC 7 estimated the remaining tent city tent count at about 50, while KRON 4 put it at 30, as of this morning. Reportedly, the cleanup and move-out this a.m. was peaceful, and we're not hearing of any arrests.
Holdouts cited a lack of adequate places to move to the temporary shelter at Pier 80 has presumably reached its 150-person capacity at this point, after some 200 people have already left the area of Division Street under the freeway, and as of Friday the math seemed to indicate that about 50 people were going to be left with nowhere to go except somewhere else on the street, in a different part of town. DPW spokesperson Rachel Gordon seemed to indicate to KCBS this morning, however, that capacity at these shelters had not been reached. "They’ve had a lot of opportunities so far to go to Pier 80, to the Navigation Center and to get into other services. We are not being confrontational with them," she said.
Some campers remain resistant to services, and some likely do not want to abide by shelter rules against drug use. Others cite crime and assaults that can take place in shelter environments.
Contrary to CBS 5's report this morning, this tent city did not just pop up this winter, but has appeared in this same Division Street location in smaller forms for three consecutive winters, at least. El Nino rains, however, caused it to grow to include about 250 people as of early February.
In recent weeks, city officials declared the area a health hazard, and local businesses were complaining about piles of discarded needles and human waste.