San Bernardino to begin moving homeless out of city parks

San Bernardino will resume removing homeless people from city parks, now that a court-ordered injunction against the city has been lifted.

Those cleanups are expected to start within the next few weeks, Mayor Helen Tran said during a news conference Oct. 2 in front of city hall.

“San Bernardino has been working for nine months to get this injunction lifted,” Tran told the gathering. “The (U.S.) Supreme Court has said homeless encampments can be restricted, and that’s what we’re going to do.

“It will be the city’s No. 1 priority.”

In August 2023, a lawsuit was filed that charged the city with disregarding the constitutional rights of three homeless people when those people were ordered to leave a city park. The city’s parks have become overcrowded with homeless people since the injunction went into effect in January, according to Tran.

The injunction was lifted after the city and the American Civil Liberties Union – one of the parties that filed the original lawsuit – reached an agreement under which the city will take better care of homeless people’s personal property when seeking to move them. The agreement also requires the city to better accommodate homeless people with disabilities.