San Francisco busing homeless as far away as Florida as it tries to reduce population

City shelters reported they were at 94 per cent capacity on Thursday

The San Francisco program that ships homeless individuals out of the city — to as far as Florida — has ramped up after Mayor London Breed issued an executive order Thursday telling city workers to offer people bus tickets out of the city.

The program isn't new — San Francisco has bussed 857 homeless people to other California counties and other states under its Homeward Bound program since 2022, according to The San Francisco Standard.

A second program, Journey Home, was launched in 2023. According to the San Francisco Standard, 27 percent of the individuals transported out of the city were sent to other counties in California under the 2023 version of the initiative.

People sent out of the city through the program aren't required to have a shelter lined up at their destination, but they do have to have a previous connection — like a prior address — to the location.

Homeward Bound and Journey Home are operated together, and both attempt to connect homeless individuals with family at their destinations. They also provide cash, airfare, and other assistance to help with relocation.

Activists hold signs at a news conference opposing Mayor London Breed's crackdown on homeless encampments in San Francisco (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The San Francisco Standard compiled a breakdown of the final destinations of the program participants. It found that of the 65 people who used the program between September 2023 and August 2, 25 were sent elsewhere in California, while the rest were sent as far as Florida, Indiana, and Ohio.

According to Breed, the executive order was necessary as city shelters are reaching capacity and the number of homeless individuals moving to the city has been on the uptick.

On Thursday, shelters in the city reported they were 94 percent full. The city typically tries to keep total capacity to less than 95 percent in the event of an emergency.

She shared data with The San Francisco Standard showing that homeless people moving to San Francisco increased from 28 percent of the total homeless population in 2019 to 40 percent of the total homeless population in 2024.

“We’ve made significant progress in housing many long-time San Franciscans who became homeless,” Breed said in a statement. “But we are seeing an increase in people in our data who are coming from elsewhere. Today’s order will ensure that all our city departments are leveraging our relocation programs to address this growing trend.”

In addition to the executive order, the city ramped up its homeless camp sweeps last week.

“The goal of the engagements is to prevent re-encampments for areas recently cleared...SFPD will be able to offer connections and information about shelter or services and Public Works staff will follow all bag and tag policies,” Breed said, according to ABC 7.

Both city crews and San Francisco Police Department units have been conducting the sweeps of the camps.