Will there be a ‘homeless sweep’ before APEC?

Phil Mayer
·2 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The APEC summit will bring a massive influx of visitors to San Francisco next week as world leaders including President Biden descend on the Moscone Center. But with the conference coming up soon, many are asking whether the city will do anything about the homeless people living nearby.

In fact, some KRON4 viewers are sending pictures of tents popping up in streets and neighborhoods where they normally wouldn’t be. These residents are claiming that the city is relocating homeless people from the area near the Moscone Center to these new neighborhoods.

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There is precedent for a cleaner area around the Moscone Center for large events. Following the Dreamforce conference in September, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff described San Francisco as “incredibly clean, beautiful, and safe,” after he had earlier threatened to pull the event from the city due to safety issues.

For the APEC summit, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is not opening up any special shelter options, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said. However, HSH is opening the Interfaith Winter Shelter on Friday, in time for the conference. That will add 300 beds to the shelter system.

“When our community hosts events, like APEC, we want to put our best foot forward,” SFDEM said. “Dedicated outreach interventions will be focused on the conference vicinity and offering safe places for people experiencing homelessness will be a priority. The SF Homeless Outreach Team will connect people experiencing homelessness with services, shelter, and housing assessments in real time in the field.”

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When asked, Mayor London Breed said similar — the city is doing the same work on the homeless issue this week that it does every week. San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott did admit that the city will be in the spotlight, and the San Francisco County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol will be helping SFPD out.

“To make sure that this city shines next week, that we do everything possible to show what San Francisco is and what we’re made of,” Scott said.

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