In what appears to be an echo of a trend that was happening before the pandemic, likely spurred by increased hassling by police and outreach workers in the city, SFO has been seeing increased numbers of homeless people taking the train there and hanging out, or sleeping.
Back in July 2019 we reported on a nightly “caravan” of unhoused individuals who were seeking refuge at San Francisco International Airport, generally taking BART trains there and camping out where they could find a quiet spot. Two years earlier, in 2017, the issue of homelessness at the airport also made headlines when a San Francisco police officer was stabbed, allegedly by a homeless person. At the time, the SFPD had a practice of “meeting the last train” into the airport’s BART station at night, and offering inviduals rides back into the city.
Just before the pandemic began, in January 2020, Supervisor Aaron Peskin pointed the finger at SamTrans, San Mateo County’s bus system, for “dumping” homeless individuals picked up at the airport at the Embarcadero’s Sue Bierman Park, generally on the last bus that dropped off there at 2:30 am on weekends…