Episode 2: What is an Encampment Sweep?

Street Speak

Episode 2: What is an Encampment Sweep?
Feb 14, 2020
What happens when enough 311 complaints come in and the city decides to clear out a community of people? What happens to their belongings? And importantly, with over a thousand people on the shelter waitlist, where are people supposed to go? Today we answer the question, what is an encampment sweep?

To get a better sense of what an encampment sweep is, we sat down with Couper Orona, who has experienced sweeps firsthand during her ten years of homelessness and who is a team member of the project Stolen Belonging, led by artist Leslie Dreyer. The project explores the impacts of encampment sweeps on homeless people by documenting the personal items confiscated by police and DPW.
We also spoke with Human Rights Organizer Kelley Cutler, whose work at the Coalition on Homelessness has involved speaking with hundreds of people impacted by sweeps and advocating for policy changes through organizing and action.
The weather report for this episode is brought to you by Banda Sin Nombre, a five-piece street band from San Francisco's Mission District dedicated to performing folk music from around the world. Mixing rich vocal harmonies with acoustic instruments including guitar, fiddle, cajon, charango, and bass, the band's inspirations range from Peruvian chicha to Catalan rumba and Appalachian old time to cumbia. You heard their original song Yo No Quiero Trabajar.
On this episode:
Stolen Belonging Project: https://www.stolenbelonging.org/
Coalition on Homelessness: http://www.cohsf.org/
Solutions Not Sweeps: https://solutionsnotsweeps.org/
Banda Sin Nombre: http://www.bandasinnombre.com/

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