SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Washington Post
By Abby Ohlheiser March 18
In order to prevent homeless people from sleeping outside of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, the Archdiocese of San Francisco installed a system that dumps water onto the ground near its sheltered doorways, where people tend to rest at night.
On Wednesday, after facing substantial backlash for the deterrent, the archdiocese announced that the system will be removed “by the end of the day.”
In the statement, the archdiocese said it initially decided to install the controversial system “after learning from city resources” that similar deterrents were “commonly used in the Financial District” in San Francisco to “avoid the situation where needles, feces and other dangerous items were regularly being left in these hidden doorways.”
“The Archdiocese of San Francisco is, along with the Catholic St. Vincent de Paul Society, the largest supporter of services for the homeless in San Francisco,” the statement adds.
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