How effective are San Diego’s Encampment sweeps?

It's been 3 years since the San Diego City Council passed the Unsafe Camping Ordinance, which bans all overnight camping on public property when a shelter bed is available. Since then, the city has carried out nearly 16,000 encampment removals but has seen only a small reduction in the city's unsheltered homeless population. With encampments still appearing around town, outlets such as Governing.com are beginning to question the effectiveness of this policy. Let’s explore the policy and whether it truly is making a difference.

What Governing.com found

Governing.com didn’t have to look far for data; the City of San Diego provided it. The city found that “Encampments often reappear days — sometimes hours — after they’re cleared. In East Village, at K and 16th streets, the city cleared encampments at least 107 times in 2025, the Union-Tribune analysis found.” In Fiscal Year 2025, the city spent nearly $7 million on clearing camps alone. Health complaints also commonly arose during the sweeps as people found themselves navigating human feces.

What this means for the future

San Diego is facing a $100 million+ deficit. With the budget already as tight as it is, some lawmakers might push to end these encampment sweeps. However, these sweeps do help homeless individuals in more than one way. Social workers conducting the sweeps clean up the area while also helping individuals with shelter referrals, something that can ONLY occur through a social worker. The city must protect these sweeps and target other services to fix the deficit, or risk isolating individuals on the street from the help they need the most.