Two new reports say the city of San Francisco and the state of California are making significant progress in the homelessness crisis, but are things really getting better, or are unhoused people just being shuffled somewhere else, with a shortage of shelter beds still a very real problem?

San Francisco officials declared this week that the number of tents and tent encampments on the streets has dropped significantly, 41% since last summer.

They say that’s proof that the crisis is easing, partly because a federal court ruled that police can take down tents if the people in them are voluntarily refusing shelter, as opposed to having no choice because there are not enough shelter beds available.

Meanwhile, another report said Governor Newsom’s Project Roomkey program did help move more than 60-thousand people off the streets into hotel rooms, declaring it a success as well, but most of those people ended up moving back into homelessness eventually. 

For more KCBS Radio's Doug Sovern, Bret Burkhart, and Patti Reising spoke with Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco.