We are so heartbroken to share the news of another lost Coalition family member. Scott Nelson was the backbone of the Street Sheet vendor program for years, serving as the vendor coordinator on a volunteer basis, getting this paper into the hands of hundreds of vendors who make their living selling it. As a volunteer he also fought for recycling programs to remain in operation across the City, helped countless homeless people navigate the system to get their towed vehicles back and redistributed abandoned transportation devices to people who needed them.

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By YHW

My name is Yaas. I, and my 9 year old sister, are residents at the Oasis Hotel, which is now a family shelter. It isn’t a matter of if this property should be permanently purchased, but when. For families like mine, it is the last option and for many, a safe haven making the name “Oasis” very fitting.

My sister and I are former foster youth—members of an oppressed class that makes up the majority of both homeless and imprisoned populations.

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by Joanna Piercers

I remember forcing open my simple blanket. It is light—maybe too light. But you know what they say: Beggars can’t be choosers, and I was not going to be one, not ever. I was taught better and I was not gonna forget that. And anyway, it was a small gift from a stranger, one I was not ashamed to appreciate.

One year and two days. One whole year and for some reason it feels like always,

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by Leslie Dreyer

www.stolenbelonging.org

The biggest thief and abuser in San Francisco, by far, is the City itself. Mayor London Breed’s administration—including the Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC), the police department, and the Department of Public Works—enacts violence against unhoused folks daily by sweeping encampments. 

Photo montage by Leslie Dreyer

Stolen Belonging, a project of the Coalition on Homelessness,

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https://www.stolenbelonging.org

TJ Johnston and Leslie Dreyer conducted this interview for the Stolen Belonging Project. It was recorded by Jin Zhu. 

Photo by Jin Zhu of interviewee’s hands and her official City and County of San Francisco DPW badge.

For the past two decades, San Francisco’s Department of Public Works (DPW) has largely ignored incidents of their employees committing acts of abuse,

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https://www.stolenbelonging.org

With encampment sweeps in San Francisco becoming as common a sight as street dwellings themselves, some things are easily observed: large Public Works trucks pulling up, police officers enforcing the operations and unhoused residents scrambling to hold onto what’s left of their possessions that isn’t already thrown in the trucks. 

Video still of Diana Valentine by Jin Zhu

What’s less visible are the traumatic effects unsheltered San Franciscans suffer long after the streets are cleared of sidewalk habitation.

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Interview with Lisa Mahmoud by the Stolen Belonging Team, Bayview District, San Francisco

https://www.stolenbelonging.org

San Francisco resident Lisa Mahmoud gestures as if she’s holding one of the most beloved and irreplaceable items stolen from her in the sweeps: a basket woven by her grandmother who has passed. Photo by Leslie Dreyer

My name is Lisa Mahmoud. I was born in Ethiopia but I came here when I was five.

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An Interview with Meghan “Roadkill” Johnson, conducted by the Stolen Belonging team

https://www.stolenbelonging.org  

Photo of Roadkill by Leslie Dreyer

Meghan “Roadkill” Johnson is a shelter client advocate who was homeless for 10 years, on and off the streets of San Francisco and throughout California. Her cherished and vital belongings were taken by employees of the City’s Department of Public works and the police department during the sweeps.

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by Quinn Hailey

Sunday night, family dinner as usual. It was all fun stories, chatting, and TV –until normal programming was interrupted for some breaking news. Something was definitely happening. 

“Reporting live from California, we interrupt normal programming to bring you some terrible news,” the reporter began. “There has been an outbreak of an unknown infectious disease that’s killing people in a matter of hours. The dead bodies have also been waking up within a few minutes with bloodshot eyes and an urge for blood.

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by Terry Johnson

CONTENT WARNING: VIOLENCE AGAINST GAY MEN, BODY HORROR

Here is evil, the pure poison of the soul, the darkness we are all afraid lurks within ourselves. We are  afraid of it, and of what we are capable of doing if we lose control. Afraid, but also tempted, because  there is freedom in doing exactly what we want. Freedom for a time and a price. 

The fear,

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