Across from Mission High School

This person was in front of what looked like an abandoned building across the street from Mission High School on Church street near 18th street. At first I couldn't tell if there was a person there at all or if it were just a pile of blankets. Until it moved.

Boutique man

This man was very well geared as far as his backpack and sleeping bag were very high quality. Not what you see with the other homeless. What struck me was the boutique that he was sleeping in front of. Something about the sign saying "Gorgeous little things" with this far from gorgeous human in front of it. Down on his luck. I took this photo late night. Around 12 or 1 am on 18th street near Gurerro street. 

Heroine addicts

This was a very young guy. He was on Market street near Van Ness. Looked maybe to be in his early 20's. He was beaten up and had lots of damage to his face and hands. He had all the tell tale signs of a junkie like swollen hands and face. He was awake and was slumping around and moving quite a bit. His belt was what caught my eye. As I was about to ask him if I could photograph his face a Transvestite around the same age walked up to him and crouched down beside him. They exchanged a few words and she gave him a few wadded up dollars.

Recycler

There are clearly many homeless people that are collecting and recycling glass and plastic all over the city. This is nothing unusual. The front half of his cart had bottles in bags. The back half were all stuffed with what looked like soft material. Maybe bedding or something like it. This man was old but was surprisingly fit. He was trying to interact with the lady and her child right next to him. They were unresponsive. 

Abandoned encampment

These types of encampments are all over the city. This one was under the freeway at Division and Valencia street right next to several other men and women who were set up all around the overpass. The smell in this area was unmistakable.

Man with 2 pairs of pants

Many things were striking when I noticed this man but the two pairs of pants and the two belts really informed me as to this mans situation. To have all of your possessions on you at the same time. It was surely for purposes of warmth and to have less in bags to carry around. He was under the 101 freeway at Division and Valencia street. There were dozens of encampments all over the area.

Before and after

As I was walking with my wife to our friends house at 19th and Dolores street right across the street from Dolores Park I saw this man. The rain was really starting to pick up and when we came back by a few hours later the man was gone. The bedding remained. There were many camps all over the sity that I wish I had taken photos of. I got a few of them.

Men at the Caltrain Station

I myself many years ago missed the last train out of San Francisco to the South Bay and had to sleep in the station. I didn't get much rest that night. These men didn't look like commuters that had missed the last train. This was taken around 7 pm at the station near 4th and King street.

Lady pan handling on Market street

This woman was around 50 years old I guess. She had clearly been sitting here for quite a while. I noticed that she had a wad of cash and would take any thing that anyone would put into her cup, remove it and pocket it to make her cup look empty again. In the 30 minutes or so that I watched her no one stopped and gave her much.

Church huddler

It had been raining all day and all night the night before I came across this man. Im not really sure that it is a man or a woman. The Church was not open from what I could tell. This was on 18th and Valencia streets.

Man on Misson Street

I had only been in the city for a few minutes when I came upon this man. He was much younger than he looked. He was sitting on Mission street and 29th. The Mission is full of transient characters. Something about the way he was seated, with his shoe off and all of his possessions in the cart broke my heart.

San Francisco March 2012

While on a trip to San Francisco for my friends wedding I was struck by the homeless situation in the city. Growing up in San Francisco I had become a bit numb to the catastrophic conditions of the homeless community there. Of course I remember the homeless when I lived there, but after spending the last 10 years in New York City I had almost forgotten the issue.

It is horribly saddening to see the problem today. I feel it has gotten much worse recently. Every where I went in the city you would see them. Whether it was under a bridge, under the freeway, on corners, in the backs of buildings. Pan handling on the streets, in wheel chairs, stoops of homes, Church entries. There was evidence of them everywhere.

Now moving into my mid 30's, I find myself often thinking about the how I would like to build a home for my wife and I. A structure that would shelter us from the elements. A place where our children would feel safe. A place where our friends and family would be able to come and relax. These are basic rights that I feel every person deserves. These people on the streets of San Francisco must have at one time or another had similar dreams.

The Victorians of San Francisco have always been a point of pride for that city. The shapes, the colors, the individual expression of the owners. Ive never seen another city in the US that has such vibrant and unique looking homes. Isn't it ironic that the city also has one of the largest homeless communities in the industrialized world. The stark contrast of multi million dollar Victorians that have had so much love and attention devoted to preserving them through fires and earthquakes, while right in front of them or down the block are the ancestors of some of the people that originally helped construct them.

I sourced this from Wikipedias, Homelessness in the United States page:

 The city of San Francisco, California, due to its mild climate and its social programs that have provided cash payments for homeless individuals, is often considered the homelessness capital of the United States^[90], together with Los Angeles. The city's homeless population has been estimated at 7,000-10,000 people, of which approximately 3,000-5,000 refuse shelter. The city spends $200 million a year on homelessness related programs.^[91] On May 3, 2004 [17], San Francisco officially began an attempt to scale back the scope of its homelessness problem by changing its strategy from cash payments to the "Care Not Cash" plan. At the same time, grassroots organizations within the Bay Area such as the Suitcase Clinic work to provide referrals for housing and employment to the homeless population. In 2010, a city ordinance was passed which will disallow sitting and lying down on public sidewalks for most of the day, from 7am until 11pm.^[92]

The 10,000 number in my opinion is completely inaccurate. When I lived in San Francisco in the 90's the number was officially around the same, but many officials cited it as being much larger than that. In a city as small as San Francisco you can just feel its brimming with a much larger number.  There are so many kids and young adults who live in Golden Gate Park and many other public areas who would never end up on a census.

I worked in a volunteer position from time to time at Glide Memorial Church's soup kitchen in The Tenderloin district of San Francisco, serving the homeless on Saturdays. This gave me an interesting perspective on their situation. It also afforded me the opportunity to see and interact with these people face to face. I was too young then to have the compassion I have for them now.

Stopping to photograph them on this last trip at times would make me feel like some opportunist, or that I should give them a dollar or a cup of coffee instead of taking a snapshot. Shedding light on this problem through this blog is my best attempt to spread some awareness and hopefully start some sort of dialogue.