Yeah. If we champion here where can we reporterbe . A challenge . Around . The bay, a. And across the country . We want to be in queens safe environments. With the city state and federal governments arent healthy reporterenough to help People Living on the streets. People would be afraid to come into business just like this. When this is a lot of people gathered or in reporteron the street. Today we look at the landmark case before the Supreme Court. Do the homeless have some cuts that tuchel protection. From being criminalized for what they have to reporterdo. And the new solutions. In the works right here at home. Of innovation, greatest concentration of wealth. Weve got to be able to figure out this homeless crossed. Lizhi there, and thanks so much. For joining. Us today. Homelessness. Is taking the spotlight on a national level. As a Supreme Court considers a landmark case. The outcome. Could affect cities here in the bay area, which, as we know, are all searching for solutions to get people off the streets over the next half hour. We look at the case and what it would mean for us here and whats being done about homelessness. Across our major cities. First, though, lets take a look at todays news headlines. Oakland police are investigating issue a shooting and car crash. You can see shattered glass and debris on the road there in east oakland. A witness told us his wife was driving their child to school today. When a car involved in a rolling gun battles t bone them. Luckily, nobody was injured. That this happened on cherokee avenue near 98th street. So far, no arrests. More than 100 protesters at ucla are in custody after clashing with Police Hundreds of officers in riot gear breached the perimeter of a pro palestinian encampment. Today, President Joe Biden said he supports the right to free speech. But condemns protests that have turned violent. In San Francisco. Fire ripped through the roof of a 3 Story Building on. Hill broke out on leavenworth near jackson. Street this morning. The ground floor is commercial and the upper floors are residential. Luckily, no reports of any injuries there. And the bay line store returning to the bay bridge, the nonprofit illuminates says its raised 10 million. 0 to bring them back the lights went dark last year due to the cost to maintain them. The bay lights are expected to return in spring of next year. Yeah. A car collided with the vta light rail train in san jose. It happened at the intersection of north first street and metro drive. Near the san jose airport. As you can see that train has been stopped in the sedan was left with a busted windshield first aid crews were seen checking on the driver by the side of the road. San Francisco Mayor london breed has appointed honey mahogany to serve as the new director for the ossoff transgender. Initiatives. Mahogany is a well known advocate drag queen and artist. Who was elected chair of the Democratic Party in 2021. As he transgender initiatives director, she said she will fight for equity. And uphold San Francisco. As a sanctuary. City for the trans community. All right, lets get to your 1st alert weather now enjoy this gorgeous, warm weather while it lasts because it wont be around much longer. Im sorry to say when you look outside, its hard to believe a storm system is coming our way. Meteorologist jessica birch is in the virtual view studio to help us plan ahead to the weekend, jess. Reporteryeah. Has been breezy along the coast all day long. But despite that were still seeing mostly blue skies throughout the bay area, but along our coastline specifically along bodega bay, were seeing wind speeds anywhere up to around 40 miles. Mph. Gusting up to 40, so just take it slow out there, especially on those coastal roads in our inland areas, though its not nearly as bad were seeing light winds all throughout the east bay down into the Santa Clara Valley, lasting into the evening hours tonight, but still close to those coastal areas. Even Half Moon Bay and pacifica. Dealing with some gusty conditions just around dinnertime. Other than that, though, in the big weather story for us is the cold front thats moving in as we head into this weekend, and this 1 comes in from the gulf of alaska, so its bringing in cold dense air. Along with all that rain and windy conditions. Its a winter like storm considering the fact that its so chilly, its going to bring in some snow up into the sierra to so watch this future cast is such a great tool in a day like today, especially as we head into this weekend because as we advance the clock we noticed those partly cloudy skies becoming a lot more dense. Into friday evening just ahead of that 1st cold front band of rain sweeping in like a windshield wiper starting up in the north bay around 6 a. M. On saturday by 9 00 am now its starting to Impact Communities anywhere from San Francisco with light, ma moderate rain stretching all the way up into the sierra in this storm will continue to sweep to the south down into the Santa Clara Valley by around 2 00. Whats interesting about this storm, though . Unlike all the past areas of low pressure that moved their way in, were not really seeing too much on the bay. Back and its lot drier this time. So once that initial band of rain moves through, were kind of left with drier conditions heading into saturday evening. And by sunday, were talking about sunshine, so in total, were going to see roughly about an inch of rain throughout the bay area. Is going to be a pretty impressive storm that happened. Just like that, but other than that, were also talking about temperatures to on saturday because its going to be a chilly day for us 50s in the forecast 60s in the forecast way. Different from what we have today. I mean, were talking about 80s off into the east bay up into the north bay we go. Were having 70s in the forecast this afternoon. Down into the Santa Clara Valley a very similar trend with those light winds. We just talked about taking a look at the next 7 days saturday is really just the anomaly. A little bit of rain, and then suddenly, sunshine on the back end with sunnier skies all throughout next week, and a nice warm up into the upper 70s as well. Lizall right, jess, thanks so much. Case before the us Supreme Court could define how cities across the bay area and across the country for that matter tackle homelessness. The case out of grants pass oregon is about whether a ban on people sleeping in public parks is constitutional. The law there finds people nearly 300 for sleeping outside. Even when no shelter beds are available. Repeat offenders can be sent to jail for 30 days. Lawyers for the city of grants pass just argued the law is compassionate. And so far, the conservative justices seem open to those claims. But the liberal justices questioned whether this law criminalizes homelessness. A ruling is expected by the end. Of june. Justice has heard those arguments last week. A coalition on homelessness held a rally in San Francisco. They sued the city over homeless sweeps. And homelessness has also been a huge challenge in oakland. Its been more than a year since the city shut down the wood. Street encampment just under the macarthur maze. It was about a mile long and firefighters called the encampment. A hazard. They put out several fires there and said the situation was just becoming more dangerous. The city eventually close that camp to make way for the construction of more affordable housing. And help relocate the people who live there. Armed amanda harry visited the wood street site with the man who used to live there, he says, 12 months later, he is still struggling. To survive. Reporteronce home to more than 2. People. Would wood street encampment is now a shell of what it once was. Ford says. He helped build it. Was nothing um, weve watched it grow into something phenomenal, but its really sad reporterbecause, he says they cultivated a community and it saved his life. Meant the world to me at the time. I came out here to commit suicide. But instead i found the community. Thats standing behind me. Now. Its nothing that i wouldnt do for them. Nothing that they wouldnt reporterdo for me. Says they turned other peoples garbage. Into their homes. But since he was evicted from wood street 1 year ago his life has deteriorated. Since then. Ive been arrested. Um my addiction is picked back up. Embarrassing to say, but being transparent helps me along the way. Reporterhe says. Now is communities spread out, and many are struggling. Theyve seen about a dozen people who once lived on wood street die since the eviction. Vicki baker is another former wood street resident. Just struggling to get by. Specht. Miracles. And were like capable of that. But its really champion. He here working can we be . Baker now lives in an rv with all her pets on willow. Street, just a block from wood street. Somebody had told me this was how i was going to spend my retiring years. Yeah. The left, reportershe says she doesnt feel safe anymore. She doesnt leave her rv after dark, and she wishes this wasnt her reality. Didnt choose this on people have it was not my choice. I would love to favorite yeah. Really would have anything available for us after reporterthis boardwalk. Ford walked through what is now left behind on wood street. Disappointed by what he saw. That you see it sickens me. But what are we going to do with it . A lot of it is illegal dumping. Reporterford says the city doesnt provide the encampment with dumpsters, to dispose of their waste. He wishes the city let them keep being camp mint, he says they were successfully providing a sense of community. And mutual aid for those experiencing. Homelessness. Reduced the numbers for arrest. We did see a decline in addictions. We did provide things for people to reporterdo. Now when the camp closed last year, the city, said 39 people accepted shelter a cabins. And 11 moved to a safe. Rv program. Still ahead a bay area homeless. Advocate joins me live to talk about what has changed in the efforts to get people off the streets. And a Small Business owner weighs in to follow. Thats fair. Theyre supposed to follow. Do you have to move them around . You know, moving from 1 place. Is supposed to follow and move out. [narrator] at kpix, were taking weather to the next level. We can show not just whats happening at ground level, but we can show whats happening in the upper levels of the atmosphere. Lets lift the clouds off of ground level and talk. It really spotlights how unique the geography is here. Its dynamic. Its different. As i lift this, you can actually see it in realtime. This is shaking it up for me as an meteorologist. [narrator] the bay areas only virtual weather studio. Next level weather. Only on kpix and pix . Lizour conversation this afternoon. Senators. Around home and the bay question. Are bands. That target homeless encampments and in 2022, a federal judge issued an injunction preventing San Francisco from sweeping its encampments. But Officials Say they only cite or arrest on housed people when they refused, offers of shelter. And that they only clear encampments if they are a Public Health issue, kenny choi talked to a Business Owner in the tenderloin about the recent changes that hes seeing. Reporterresidents in many of the house in the tender boy. Near 11. Leavenworth. Avenue, say sidewalks sweeps happened several times a week, amigos market owner nice parade. Has noticed the difference over the last couple of months. So many people hanging around its being its been cleaned. Reporterthe Small Business owner opened his storm leavenworth and ellis 20 years ago. He says the proliferation of tent encampments on nearby sidewalks. Has been problematic. In the way of people through that. You know, walking through the sidewalk trying to get to here. And people in hanging. Like its attention. Like and then thats something. You know, you can be concerned. Reportersupports the citys effort to keep the sidewalks clear. Some people would be afraid. Come into business just like this. When they see a lot of people gathering or on reporterthe street. Cities like San Francisco have been limited to how they can enforce encampment cleanups because of previous lower court rulings. Question in this case is thought. Do the homeless have some constitutional protection. From being criminalized . For what they have reporterto do. A little is a constitutional law professor at uc law, San Francisco. Likely result is that they will right . Reverse the 9th circuit. Reportercourt reversal would give cities more leverage and how they address homelessness. Including encampments on sidewalks. And parks. Get into the business and detailed regulation. And the the homelessness. Issue. And that in itself. Will be in a sense of victory for the city of grants reporterpath. Little believes federal courts will have less of a role to play in the detailed day today. Day treatment of the homelessness issue. For najib corporation. Hes open to more city enforcement to keep sidewalks clear of tents. Supposed to follow. Problems. Yes. Fair. Theyre supposed to follow. Do you have to move them, all right, and moving from 1 place used to be to follow and move. Reporterhe believes thats good for Small Businesses and the city as a whole. Lizjoining me now is jennifer frieden, bach, the executive director of the coalition on homelessness. Here in San Francisco. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having lizme. What are your thoughts on this case before the Supreme Court justices . There, you know, theyre deciding. On whether or not its ok to site and jail people who have no other choice but to be on the streets. Of course, from our perspective, we dont think thats ok. Anne. Um we have sued the city because we have evidence that was undisputed by the city that they cited arrested 3000. People who have no other choice but to be homeless. Lizso how do you think their decision however they rule will impact the homelessness crisis here in the bay area. One thing we can say for sure is that we will not see a decrease in encampments. If this constitutional right is overturned. Which may sound counterintuitive, but these kind of operations actually exasperate homelessness. They make it much worse. So people get fees and fines that they cant pay. It destroys their credit. They cant get into housing. If theyre being moved around constantly, which they are right now in San Francisco, theyre being swept even with our preliminary injunction in place. Um and what that means is that they lose contact with their outreach workers. And if there on the q for housing, theyre unable to get in. A a and you know, really it also disintegrates trust with folks. And theyre less likely to engage with a city officials because um theyre not instead of building trust. Their threatening in doing quite the opposite, and a lot of folks on the streets, especially folks with mental illnesses. Have pretty you know severe amounts of trauma, and this is whats considered a trauma. Uninformed approach. Its not recommended. And for that very reason because it makes homelessness worse. Lizwhy do you think homelessness is such a big issue here in the major cities here in the bay area im talking talking about San Francisco . Oakland . And 70 county, where you 1st started your career . Yeah, we see homelessness. Up and down the west coast rising. Because of rising rents. But its you know, its the case across the country. We have a situation where there is a huge disparity. Between the amount of money that people are earning or receiving if theyre on a fixed income and what the cost of the rental market is. Tons of studies have looked at this and theyve looked at it from all different angles. And that is the fundamental reason and thats what drives up homelessness. So the solution then is really kind of obvious. And housing is foundation on so we need a we need a serious ongoing effort to invest in housing at the federal state and local lizlevel. Its not mental, illness. Its not drug abuse. Its rents. Its how expensive it is to live here in california. If you look at the data, its really interesting because people on entrance into homelessness. Very small proportions are entering homelessness because of Substance Use and Mental Health issues. But as their homeless for longer and longer those rates start increasing because of the trauma of homelessness. And its impossible to address those issues to recover from those issues in for employment and all the other things that people need to thrive and survive. Is impossible if theyre on the streets, but once theyre in housing they have that bed. They have that door to lock. They have the stability theyre able to address those issues and much more fundamental way. In fact, the federal government invested in veteran homelessness and thats exactly the kind of thing that we need to see and what happened was, is it an ongoing investment . That was a serious investment and weve seen veteran homelessness decreased by 50 . That initiative was wholly focused on housing on the housing 1st model and has been tremendously successful here and across the country. Some cities have gotten to 0 if you know, basically 0. So homelessness among among Homeless Veterans as a result. Lizdown 50 . Thats from possible so we have solutions. We have a ton of solutions. What were saying is, lets spend money on the solutions that work. Lets not spend money on the solutions that dont work in these criminalization efforts are incredibly expensive. We have a huge shortage around Police Officers. Theyre always talking about in San Francisco 15. Of our Police Officer time is spent responding to homeless complaints. Mostly people are going on arrival. Its a huge waste of resources, so we really need to shift gears. And put our money where were going to get some real results lizyouve been doing this work for 25 years you started in san mateo county. Now youre in San Francisco. How is have you seen the problem . Change over the past 25 years since youve been doing this, its so hard to answer that question because theres so many lizdifferent angles. Sure, i think the hatred against the population has definitely lizincreased. And so theres a lot more vitriol more than ive seen, and ive seen a lot of vitriol. At the same time, interestingly enough in San Francisco. We were the only city up and down the west coast in the entire west coast. Its all a decrease. In homelessness coming out of the pandemic. Thats because we had put on the ballot prop. See it led to thousands of people prevented from being homeless. Thousands of people getting housed and now um, and in santa clara, they had a similar effort. The only saw 4 increase the citys who didnt do that. Massive increase oakland 20 portlands 20 increase you know we had yeah. Just huge increases in all these other cities that didnt have similar efforts, and so, um i think we are smarter and know how to how to do. This issue at the same time, the politics are so bad around it, and so we continue to do these very performative kind of, you know, um political theater approaches. That really dont make a visible difference for san franciscans where theyre seeing less homelessness or um, for Homeless People themselves, getting off lizthe streets. You believe politics is slowing this down very much, slowing it down this this whole cases is a prime example and i think with all these different politicians weighing in, its really kind of political theater because they all know that even if they can arrest people for being homeless, its not going to decrease almost this even, you know, judge kavanaugh was mentioning that in the you know in the oral arguments, judge roberts mentioned you know, obviously housing is its a policy issue thats going to solve this issue, so we all know what the solution is. We know jailing doesnt work. Yet. Were still talking about it. Lizjennifer frieden, bach. Thank you so much for joining us, and hopefully well have you back to continue this conversation. Thanks. Thanks for lizhaving me. Thank you for being here. Well still ahead, we take you to the south bay, where a valuable lift the clouds off of. Virtual weather, only on kpix and pix . Continue our conversation now on how bay air city are fine. New ways to being too bring People Living on the streets inside. San jose is trying a new idea with the help of a well known philanthropist. The city is leasing a private lot to build 150. Temporary Housing Units on via del oro and standing nishio avenue in south san jose. Mayor matt mahan actually jumped into the drivers seat and took the controls of an excavator. To break ground on this project. Its the 1st time san jose he has set up an interim Housing Solution on private land. Two acres on via del oro, owned by longtime too. John subroto. Its about 5 0 worth of industrials. Zoned real estate at his leasing to the city. For 1, a year for 10 years. Actually started. Developing this neighborhood. Back in the mid 70s. And this is the last parcel. That we havent developed yet. They we have no plans to do anything on this site. For a few more years. So it just seemed logical. To make it. Available to the city of san jose. Lizdignity moves will develop 150. Housing cabins and other buildings to provide support services to help the people who move in find permanent housing. The city will give housing preferences. To people already camped in that neighborhood like g. Archibald. Shes been on the streets since losing her job during covid in 2020. Want to playing doors because thats what i need to be. Thats where i want to be. Thats where im comfortable and i feel like im safe. Um and its time. For me. I feel like it. Lizyeah. Housing will be built, modular style so it can be moved to another site. When the 10 year lease thank you so much for joining. Us. For todays heavy khan. About the homelessness. Crisis. Here in the bay area and the landmark case before the us Supreme Court. We love to hear what you think about all of this poster thoughts online using the hashtag. Kpx. The cbs evening news is next right here on kpix. [interesting shouting] james President Biden condemns campus violence, speaking out for the first time in a week. Violent protest is not. Peaceful protest is. James as protest across