Five years in the past in San Francisco, a federal appeals court docket upended homeless coverage in California and throughout the West. In a 2018 ruling in opposition to the town of Boise, Idaho, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said that cities couldn’t implement native legal guidelines in opposition to out of doors tenting in the event that they didn’t supply sufficient shelter beds for individuals dwelling on the road.

Since then, the ruling in that case, Martin v. Boise, has made it exceptionally tough for cities to clear tent encampments in the nine states beneath the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction. The choice has spurred state and native governments to deal with homelessness in new methods.

But billions of {dollars} in authorities spending haven’t but solved the issue. And as tent cities have grown, political pushback has intensified, even in cities dominated by liberal voters. Which brings us to San Francisco once more.

In current weeks, a associated authorized battle — the latest in a series — has led to an uproar, to the purpose that Mayor London Breed of San Francisco shouted about dead bodies at a rally final month exterior the federal courthouse as advocates for the homeless demonstrated close by.

Even some San Franciscans are confused by the furor. Here are some often requested questions concerning the scenario.

What’s this about?

The Coalition on Homelessness, an advocacy group, filed a federal lawsuit a 12 months in the past, claiming that San Francisco’s enforcement of public tenting legal guidelines was unconstitutional as a result of the variety of individuals sleeping unsheltered — almost 4,400 every evening, based on the newest head depend — far exceeded the variety of out there shelter beds. In December, a federal decide issued an emergency order briefly banning the enforcement of metropolis legal guidelines in opposition to tent camps, elevating the stakes as winter set in.

What do the 2 sides say?

San Francisco officers say the town’s homeless scenario is basically completely different from Boise’s. The metropolis has spent billions of {dollars} on housing and companies for homeless individuals, including hundreds of shelter spots and housing items. But the town says that many campers refuse to sleep within the out there beds. Local legal guidelines making it unlawful to sleep outdoor apply solely throughout about 4 hours of the day, not across the clock.

Advocates for homeless San Franciscans say that the town has made little actual effort to supply sufficient shelter, and as an alternative has criminalized homelessness. The battle comes as the price of dwelling in California continues to rise and as inexpensive housing stays scarce.

Why has the rhetoric intensified now?

The metropolis requested the Ninth Circuit this summer time to switch the federal decide’s non permanent order. As a three-judge panel heard arguments in San Francisco in the future in late August, metropolis officers and housing advocates held dueling protests exterior.

Breed, who had simply come from a ribbon-cutting ceremony for an Ikea retailer in a commercially fragile a part of the town, referred to as it “inhumane” to not transfer individuals out of tent camps. “We have found dead bodies,” she shouted. “We have found a dead baby in these tents.”

The identical day, Gov. Gavin Newsom — a former mayor of San Francisco — introduced that the state was sending cities and counties an additional $38 million to “clean up encampments,” and he accused the courts of “creating costly delays.”

How did tech executives become involved?

Two days later, on X, the San Francisco-based social media website previously often known as Twitter, Elon Musk and different tech figures advised a boycott of the law firm Latham & Watkins, based mostly in Los Angeles, whose legal professionals have been representing homeless plaintiffs professional bono. Newsom, who is just not normally a Musk bedfellow, later mentioned on X that Musk “has touched on a key issue” and that the federal courts had been the issue.

A liberal Democrat who’s broadly thought of to be a 2028 presidential contender, the governor told The San Francisco Chronicle that he as soon as turned so pissed off with authorized choices defending encampments that he thought of letting the judiciary deal immediately with complaints from the general public. “I literally was talking about putting a big sign with the judge’s phone number saying, ‘Call the judge’,” he mentioned.

Anthony York, a Newsom spokesman, in contrast the governor’s present stance to his previous criticism of conservative federal judges who’ve sought to overrule gun controls in California — one other group of “ideologues” whose rulings threatened public security.

What’s the most recent?

It is unclear when the Ninth Circuit will rule on the town’s full attraction of the sweep injunction. But late Tuesday, the court docket denied the town’s request to switch it and clarified that homeless campers who’re provided housing may be instructed to maneuver.

The subsequent written arguments within the lawsuit are due later this month, and a listening to is unlikely to be held earlier than then. Still, the outcry, coming because it has even from Democrats like Breed and Newsom, is an indication that political strain is mounting for a reconsideration of the case law that has sprouted from the Boise choice.

Breed is combating for re-election in 2024, and her ballot numbers have been flagging; political rivals see a ripe opportunity to defeat her. Critics on every finish of the political spectrum have accused Breed and Newsom of making an attempt to move the buck for the homelessness drawback to courts.

For extra:

Where we’re touring

Today’s tip comes from Joe Macpherson:

“One of the places we like to visit during a fishing trip to the Delta is Locke, also known as Locke Historic District, an unincorporated community in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta off River Road. The 14-acre town was first developed between 1893 and 1915 as a Chinese community. There are a few restaurants, gardens, shops, museums, and Strange Cargo, a funky old book store, if open, is well worth a visit.”

Tell us about your favourite locations to go to in California. Email your recommendations to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the publication.

And earlier than you go, some good news

While the Strokes have turn into a kind of shorthand for New York’s early 2000s downtown rock scene, on the other coast, in Southern California, the group is having fun with a contemporary wave of fandom that’s distinctly Californian.

Juicebox, Southern California’s main Strokes tribute band, which pulls enthusiastic multigenerational crowds, is main one thing of a West Coast resurgence for the Strokes. The group’s followers, in addition to most of its members, are predominantly Latino.

As Eric Ducker wrote in The New York Times final week, the Strokes themselves have a serious presence in Latin America, and it follows that Los Angeles, the place greater than 4.9 million individuals determine as Hispanic or Latino, ought to have many Latino Strokes followers. But the band’s particular attraction amongst first-generation Americans, Ducker writes, can also be tied to its historical past of self-invention, an interesting message for these with difficult emotions about their identifies and which tradition they belong to.

“As people have moved away or they’ve aged out of certain subcultures or music scenes, it does seem like in Los Angeles, Latinos have moved in to take the reins,” José G. Anguiano, a professor of Latina/o research, mentioned of the resurgence. “What’s really cool is they’re taking the reins, not just in terms of being fans, but also fronting these tribute bands and producing their own music. They’re fully participating in every sense in these subcultures.”