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As thousands of people descend upon San Francisco this week for Super Bowl LX, the city is looking to put on a sparkly show for tourists and locals alike — and telling unhoused individuals to move along to make way for activities downtown.
In addition to running existing interfaith winter shelters, the city is funding additional shelter beds specifically during the week of the Super Bowl, KQED has confirmed. Many homeless advocates and unhoused people say the efforts are merely pushing the issue out of view of Super Bowl fans.
“They’re trying to cover up a problem that, you know, exists. It’s dehumanizing. If you don’t have anywhere else to go, they’ll still tell you, ‘We don’t want you here,’ because it makes the city look bad,” said Jered Thomas, a 33-year-old who is homeless and recently was sleeping near the South of Market and Mission neighborhoods. “But I don’t really feel like they’re solving the problem by moving us around or policing us, making it illegal to be homeless. It just makes the problem even worse.”…