Judge trims suit over San Francisco’s homeless encampment sweeps before trial

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed several claims against the city and county of San Francisco in a lawsuit accusing it of violating homeless people’s constitutional rights by destroying their belongings during encampment sweeps.

In her order, Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu tossed any claims brought by the Coalition on Homelessness for violations of its own rights, saying that because the coalition doesn’t argue its own property was unlawfully seized or destroyed by the city, only that of its homeless members, it lacks standing for such claims.

“In sum, the court finds that even if organizational standing exists, coalition cannot pursue its own claims against the city because it did not allege that the organization itself suffered an unlawful seizure or deprivation of property without due process,” Ryu said.

Standing, simply put, is a party’s right to bring a lawsuit against someone else in court. To have standing for a lawsuit in federal court, the plaintiff must demonstrate a clear injury it has suffered that gives it cause to sue.

Because the organization itself lacked that clear injury, Ryu dismissed certain claims for a lack of “organizational standing.”

But the judge’s ruling didn’t stop the lawsuit completely. Ryu said that the San Francisco-based nonprofit advocacy group still had the right to bring claims against San Francisco on behalf of its homeless members — a concept known as “associational standing.”

“For this reason, coalition cannot seek relief for claims based on its own injuries but may continue to pursue those claims in its representational capacity through associational standing,” Ryu said.

The judge’s decision comes just over a month before the case is scheduled for a bench trial on July 28, 2025.

Although the judge didn’t hold a hearing for both sides to argue their case on this issue specifically, many of the same arguments were addressed at a summary judgment hearing in early May.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, was brought against San Francisco by a group of current and formerly homeless residents alongside the Coalition on Homelessness. The homeless plaintiffs claim that San Francisco violated their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights by failing to invest in affordable housing and destroying the property of homeless people to hide evidence of the city’s homeless problem.

The coalition claims that many of its active members have been personally impacted by the sweeps, which have resulted in citations, arrests, law enforcement threats and property destruction while living unsheltered in San Francisco. It further claims that the city and county have illegally seized its members’ phones, medication, identification, medical devices, mobility aids, tools, tents and shelters, clothing, vital records and many other personal property items.

The plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction preventing San Francisco from seizing and disposing of homeless individuals’ property and a court order compelling the county and city to properly train their staff so that any future seizures respect their constitutional rights.

This case was filed in the Northern District of California.