A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by the Stolen Belonging Team
My name is Guy Jeffries. I’ve lived in San Francisco for 15 years. About a month ago I had DPW [the Public Works department] stop by and give me a warning to pack up and leave. They said I had a whole day to do this, so I went to the store to retrieve the trash bags I needed to pack up my things. I came back.
by the Stolen Belonging Team
Paul Boden: I’m currently with the Western Regional Advocacy Project. Before that, I came up off the streets through Hospitality House, where a bunch of us together created what is the Coalition on Homelessness, in the mid-eighties.
I was homeless for six years, as a kid, from the time I was 16 till 23, when I hooked up with Hospitality House and have been engaged in fighting against homelessness and helping out my brothers and sisters that happened to be homeless since I was 23 years old,
by the Stolen Belonging Team
My name is Veronica Ocampo. I’ve been here for over 15 years. The other night I had gotten into it with this guy and he came back to my tent later that night when I was by myself, and he was trying to start problems. I was a little shaken up so I left. When I came back the police and DPW [the Public Works department] had taken everything.
by Nick Marzano
Mission Gold (2015–2023) is a photojournalism series and independent magazine exploring street entrepreneurship, creativity, and courage on the streets of San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood.
When I first moved from Australia to the Mission in 2014 , I arrived at the epicenter of a 21st century Gold Rush created by the tech boom. I was a prospector myself, an immigrant drawn to the glittering work opportunities of the Bay.
The Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART) was envisioned by a broad coalition of homeless people, activists, service providers and community members as a safe and dignified way to respond to complaints from the public about street-based folks. The idea was to replace the current—often traumatic—police response with a compassionate response rooted in meeting the needs of those on the street.
After years of advocacy, CART was finally funded and set to be implemented,
