‘Puffy T. Awesome One,’ who declined to give his legal name, 66, is a resident of the Wood Street community in Oakland, a homeless encampment where more than 100 people are living in tents without access to running water or sanctioned electricity. Puffy says he has been homeless for 51 years. Photo: Jungho Kim
Story and photos by Jungho Kim
The Bay Area, like much of the United States, is sheltering in place. For the region’s tens of thousands of homeless residents, the global pandemic has shed a new light on their existing challenges and brought with it a slew of new ones.
Though local governments have suggested they will provide support to homeless residents during the pandemic, many initiatives have failed to materialize in meaningful ways. Efforts have largely been left to community outreach organizations and networks of volunteers. In addition to the work these groups were already doing, they’ve now had to adapt quickly to undertake new projects in response to the current situation with limited volunteers and resources.
As a documentary photographer, I took these photos during the first month of quarantine in California. They are part of an ongoing series documenting the lives of the Bay Area’s homeless residents and their support networks during the pandemic.
The streets are quiet and nearly empty in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco on the evening of March 20. Six Bay Area counties including San Francisco County issued shelter-in-place orders that began March 17.Larry, a resident of the Wood Street Collective, poses for a photo while eating lunch in Oakland on April 12.Members of the United Front Against Displacement host a weekly community meeting for residents of the Wood Street Collective in Oakland. The group has been working with residents to understand their needs to provide support and essential services not provided by the city.Left: A protestor urges San Francisco Mayor London Breed to provide shelter for homeless people in vacant hotel rooms, leading chants from their car outside the Moscone Center homeless shelter in San Francisco on April 3. Right: Signs on the windows of the Multi-Service Center South homeless shelter inform people that one-night reservations are no longer available due to Covid-19. Three days later, 68 long-term residents at the shelter and two staff members tested positive for Covid-19. The most recent report puts those numbers at 96 residents and 10 staff. Homeless advocates have called for the city to house homeless residents in hotels during the pandemic to avoid the spread.Floor mats and pillows for homeless people fill one of the halls at Moscone West shelter in San Francisco. The city said it would use the convention center and other designated locations as temporary shelters but later revised its plans after backlash from homeless advocates who said the layout of the rooms didn’t allow for proper social distancing.Dayton Andrews, an activist with the United Front Against Displacement, holds face masks to distribute to residents of the Wood Street Collective in Oakland.Portland (left) and Xochitl Bernadette Moreno prepare soup for residents of Wood Street at Restore Kitchen in Oakland.Volunteers bottle homemade hand sanitizer to be distributed to homeless residents in Oakland. Many people experiencing homelessness don’t have access to running water or the ability to wash their hands regularly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends both handwashing and using hand sanitizer to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.Dayton Andrews (left) serves food to a Wood Street resident with the help of Dale Smith (right) in Oakland. The United Front Against Displacement serves residents meals to take back to their tents and vehicles several times a week.Bacon (foreground) and another dog play in the afternoon sun at the Wood Street Collective in Oakland. The United Front Against Displacement also provides food for residents’ pets.Wood Street resident Amanda stands in front of an Oakland Police Department vehicle parked within the Wood Street Collective in Oakland. Residents have complained about increased police presence since the shelter-in-place order went into effect.Homeless residents and members of the United Front Against Displacement protest in front of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s house. The group’s demands include services and support for homeless people and an end to police harassment.Christin Evans with Homeless Youth Alliance unboxes donated tents inside her garage in San Francisco. Evans and other homeless advocates solicited the donations on Twitter and have received as many as 40 tents in a single day. Tents are distributed to homeless residents across the city in collaboration with several outreach organizations.Supplies for a temporary homeless shelter at Moscone West are pictured in the hallway of the convention center in San Francisco.Xochitl Bernadette Moreno carries a box of supplies for providing homeless people with meals in Oakland. Moreno is a member of Essential Food and Medicine and works with multiple organizations to feed people in need throughout the East Bay.Volunteers build handwashing stations for homeless people in Oakland.An activist performs maintenance on a handwashing station after receiving feedback from a Wood Street resident. This is the fourth generation of handwashing stations that the United Front Against Displacement has built for residents.Ben and Cassidy of the United Front Against Displacement walk through the Wood Street Collective while checking in with residents.Tony Fuentes Diaz, 40, sits in front of his RV with light from his truck headlights at the Wood Street Collective. Diaz is a trained solar technician and is planning to build a solar power station for all residents to use because the city doesn’t provide sanctioned electrical service to the community.A sign in the windows of Multi-Service Center South, the largest homeless shelter in San Francisco, offers a positive message. Nearly 100 residents of the shelter and 10 staff members have tested positive for Covid-19.
