San Francisco's ever-shifting strategy to address the crisis of homelessness shifts again this week to an aggressive effort to clear encampments off of streets and push individuals to accept shelter and/or substance abuse treatment.

"We are doing everything we can to make it clear to people that our expectation is that you take us up on our offer for services and if you don't, we want to make things less comfortable for you," Mayor London Breed said, per KTVU, about the stepped-up efforts.

Earlier this month, the mayor announced that more aggressive encampment-clearing would begin in August, and it appears the effort already began on Monday.

KTVU spoke to a couple of individuals whose tents were being cleared Monday off of a block of Baker Street near the tip of the Golden Gate Park Panhandle. One, Geoffrey Frye, called the process a "hassle," and told the station that he planned to just move his stuff about a block away, and maybe return to this same block later.

At least one of the men KTVU spoke to said he was threatened with arrest if he did not move, and he or another man said he was "just trying to stay out of jail."

Mayor Breed said that potential criminal penalties would be on the table during this latest set of sweeps, which comes just over a month after the Supreme Court ruled in favors of cities wanting to enforce anti-camping laws. The Ninth Circuit later affirmed that San Francisco could proceed with encampment clearings, however the city had to improve its efforts to store and keep track of belongings that were taken in the process — called "bagging and tagging."

"The problem is not going to be solved by building more housing,” Breed told the Chronicle earlier this month. “Thank goodness for the Supreme Court decision.”

Breed has taken a harder line on the subject of homelessness in response, perhaps, to competing candidates for the office in November's election like former Supervisor, and briefly mayor, Mark Farrell. Not delving into the nuances of the law and an earlier court ruling that kept the city from doing so, Farrell has vowed to be aggressive with tent-clearing himself.

Critics say that unhoused individuals shouldn't be penalized, or shuffled from block to block, just because they refuse offers of shelter. People have various reasons for refusing a shelter bed, however those who want to keep their pets and belongings can potentially move to a Navigation Center — though space at these centers remains limited.

"Giving a short notice and then coming in and removing an encampment doesn't change the basic problem of someone having nowhere to go and not having a place to live, not having a shelter," said Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness.

The Chronicle's Kevin Fagan, who has been covering homelessness in the city for 40 years, wrote a piece earlier this month about city officials' inadequate strategy for addressing homelessness has mostly amounted to the "ping-ponging" of people from block to block. And year after year, these efforts never put too great of dent in the homeless population as a whole.

Previously: Breed Vows Major Encampment Crackdown Coming In August, Says There May Be ‘Criminal Penalties’

Photo: Joe Kukura/SFist