A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Leslie Dreyer
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
