SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 On a frosty December morning, Victoria Solomon recounted how San Francisco police had rousted her awake hours earlier, and threatened to take her to jail if she didn\u2019t clear out within 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
They tried to force her out of a public area without offering a shelter bed as required by law, Solomon said. At least this time city workers didn\u2019t trash her belongings, she said. This would have forced her to find a new tent, bedding and clothes \u2014 not to mention new identification and Social Security cards, as well as a cell phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be as tough as you want on people, that\u2019s not going to magically create a house for them. And they don\u2019t have disappearing powers,\u201d said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
In September, the organization and seven individuals who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless again sued San Francisco for violating the city\u2019s own policies regarding providing shelter beds. They also said that city workers have thrown out peoples\u2019 personal belongings such as medication, wheelchairs, prosthetics, laptops and cell phones, against city policy.<\/p>\n
Solomon is among an estimated 7,800 people without a home in San Francisco, a city that has come to be seen as an emblem of California\u2019s staggering inability to counter the homeless crisis. Homeowners, businesses and local leaders in San Francisco are frustrated with visible signs of homelessness \u2014 which includes public streets blocked by sprawling tents and trash.<\/p>\n
Solomon is frustrated too. \u201cWho says I\u2019m not part of the community just because I\u2019m homeless?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n