Everyone agrees there’s a homeless crisis in the US. Plans to address it vary among mayor candidates

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Mayor London Breed has launched a new crackdown on people sleeping outside in a campaign to clear the sidewalks of homeless encampments that have come to define the city.

Her four challengers in November’s election, all Democrats, say she hasn’t handled the crisis effectively, though the city last month counted only 300 tents and other temporary structures, which is half as many as a year earlier.

But her opponents don’t agree on a strategy.

“You can truly change the reputation of San Francisco from a place that today people believe they can come to our city, pitch a tent and stay as long as they want, to a city where — if that is the lifestyle they’re choosing — they look elsewhere,” said Mark Farrell, perhaps the most conservative of the challengers.

It’s a similar story in other big U.S. cities electing mayors this year.

Most are in the West, where a long-running homelessness crisis was spurred by high housing costs and has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic, which upended the nation four years ago. There are thousands of people without a place to live, and for many residents who are housed it has become a quality-of-life concern, which has made it a prime political issue.

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