At a press conference yesterday morning in City Hall's South Light Court, religious leaders spoke out against contradictory aspects of San Francisco's treatment of homeless people. Their goal - to raise awareness about those city policies which they feel are unjust and lacking in compassion, including the dramatic spike in citations against sleeping outdoors since Mayor Gavin Newsom took office.


"We come to urge changes in these negative aspects, so that our community's policy on homelessness will be compensatively compassionate and just, thereby honoring the dignity and basic human rights of our thousands of neighbors who have no homes," said Sister Bernie Galvin, director of Religious Witness with Homeless People, a group that since 1993 has actively pursued human rights for the homeless.

Sister Bernie applauded the fact that during the two years Newsom has been in office, there has been an important shift in San Francisco's homeless policy to include a more compassionate approach. Project Homeless Connect, for instance, enlists more than 2,000 volunteers every other month to interact with the homeless and connect them to vital services. According to the project's Web site, more than 10,000 San Franciscans have participated in the program which began in October 2004.

Also, the city finally has prioritized housing. As of Sept. 30, 2005, 1,025 homeless welfare recipients have been transitioned into permanent housing, Sister Bernie noted.

Still, "We are disturbed that the city calls for compassion with one hand, while with the other hand, it continues the policies of the past decade - hard hearted policies that indicate an utter lack of compassion for those still on the streets," said Rabbi Alan Lew of Congregation Beth Sholom.

He mentioned such policies as awakening homeless people between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. as they sleep on sidewalks and asking them to move, impounding homeless people's vehicles which often serve as their housing, and using abusive, insulting and racist language when speaking to homeless people.

"But today we want to focus on one aspect of this policy which is an indisputable fact, a matter of public record, and that is, that the number of citations given to homeless people for camping in public places has increased dramatically under the Newsom Administration," Rabbi Lew said.

While the Police Department reportedly has formed a homeless outreach team of ten officers whose task is to approach homeless individuals more humanely, issuing referrals instead of citations, the number of camping citations issued thus far during the Newsom Administration is nearly triple the number issued during the last 22 months that Mayor Willie Brown was in office, said Michael Bien, a leader in San Francisco's Jewish community.

Camping in parks or in public is just one of the 'quality of life' violations for which citations are given. Other violations include carrying open containers, urinating in public and blocking sidewalks.

An exhibit that Bien presented illustrated that 718 camping citations had been given under Brown, while 1,860 have been issued under Newsom.

"The enforcement of this ordinance is so lacking in justice and fairness so long as there is insufficient housing," said Bien. "The aggressive enforcement of this camping ordinance reflects an aspect of this city's policy on homeless that is devoid of compassion."

More than being unjust and unfair, such 'quality of life' citations are expensive. According to a report prepared by Budget Analyst Harvey Rose in 1993, each citation costs the city approximately $23, based on a police officer's salary and fringe benefits, as well as the average amount of time it takes to issue a citation. At that rate, the 11,296 'quality of life' citations already issued would have cost the city at least $259,808.

Bien further reported that if the same formula were applied to the Consumer Price Index, the current estimated cost of each citation would be $30.24. Thus the 11,296 citations would actually have cost the city $341,591 in police officer's salary and benefits alone.

"We do not have records of how many of these citations led to arrest, jail time or court appearances, all of which drastically increase the cost to our city," said Bien.

John Fitzgerald, with St. Anthony's Foundation, concluded the conference by reading from a resolution that members of Religious Witness with Homeless People wrote for Newsom. In it they request that until adequate housing and critical services are available to poor and homeless people, enforcement of 'quality of life' ordinances be suspended.

"Be it further resolved that the money saved from the suspension of 'quality of life' enforcement shall be redirected to provide desperately needed affordable housing and critical services for homeless people," the resolution reads.

Religious leaders emphasized the fact that anyone engaging in criminal behavior or posing a threat to the public should be dealt with under the appropriate criminal code, but that enforcement of 'quality of life' ordinances is expensive and diverts resources from housing and other services that homeless people need.

"It is morally wrong to criminalize poverty through 'quality of life' citations and arrests for homeless people whose only choice is to sleep outside while housing and critical
services for these individuals remain woefully inadequate," reads the resolution.