San Franciscans Join Homeless on the Streets to Raise Awareness

With a stack of newspapers in one hand and a microphone in the other, Charles Davis told a crowd in front of the Powell Street cable car turnaround that his entire livelihood is dependent upon the sales of the paper he carries, Street Sheet.

He has been without a home since he was 16. He is now 58.

The Coalition on Homelessness organized a sleepout for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week to shine a light on the ongoing encampment sweeps and the adult city shelter waitlist that has exceeded 1,100 people. Davis, dozens of other unhoused people and community allies gathered for the event at 5 p.m. Thursday as  people left work and rush hour began.

“This is one of the biggest ways to inform the public because people have been stopping by asking what’s going on, so it’s going to make a real big impact on the community,” Davis told KQED.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said the group is in the planning stages for a ballot measure next November to secure an estimated $100 million primarily for housing, along with emergency services. It is exploring progressive funding methods, including taxing corporations that would receive a cut if the GOP tax bill passes.

“We need housing, we just don't have enough,” Davis said.

An estimated 7,500 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night, with 58 percent of them being unsheltered, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing spokesman Randolph Quezada.

“[Homelessness and Supportive Housing]  is working with our partners to create a homelessness response system that is client-centric and data driven focused squarely on making homelessness in San Francisco rare, brief and one-time,” Quezada wrote in an email.

The organizers of the sleepout also wanted to raise awareness about the city’s sit-lie law. In 2015, homeless people were cited for this more than 11,000 times, according to San Francisco Police Department data. The fine for these citations is more than $76, and doubles after 21 days if it goes unpaid or unresolved.

Police were present at the event, but were not issuing tickets to those lying down. “We’re going to be working with organizers to ensure their safety and that others in the area are safe,” Officer Grace Gatpandan, an SFPD spokeswoman, said earlier in the day.

As the night continued, Davis sat alongside a row of other attendees at the event’s free haircut station for a trim of his bushy gray beard. People received free hot meals and enjoyed a lineup of speakers, movie screenings and live music.

“Oftentimes there are stereotypes around homeless people, there are myths around homelessness. And tonight we want to really talk about it by centering around homeless people’s voices themselves,” said Sam Lew, the Coalition on Homelessness’s director of policy.

Attendees danced together as the Brass Liberation Orchestra played music and led chants like “house keys not handcuffs, house keys free haircuts.”

Rain began pouring down as midnight approached, and the coalition made the decision to move people to their office, where it was dry. They wanted those without a roof over their head to be able to have a good night’s rest.

“The next step after tonight is really to continue to do the work we’ve been doing, to continue to fight for housing and to fight against the criminalization of homelessness,” said Kelley Cutler, the coalition’s human rights organizer. “A number of people, just from what they learned and saw tonight, are wanting to get more involved.”