""I see feet, and I don't see luggage," she says. "So you notice when it's a homeless [person], and you notice when it's people who are missing the flights, and they decide to stay in the airport.""
""A lot of the clients, I need to reestablish their ID, I need to get their Social Security, their birth certificate," Paxton says. "A lot of them don't have any of those items, and it makes it hard to get services.""
""They're in their own world," Snodgrass says. "They're going somewhere nice or coming back from someplace nice, and are just oblivious to you, really. It's like you don't even exist.""
Unhoused people are staying at San Francisco International Airport, with some sleeping overnight and others living there long-term. Airport employees provide informal assistance, offering seating, food, and occasional companionship. Outreach case managers from LifeMoves visit periodically and distribute snacks, hygiene kits, and shelter offers. Many clients lack identity documents such as IDs, Social Security cards, and birth certificates, which creates major barriers to obtaining official services and housing. Outreach workers rely on airport staff to act as eyes between scheduled visits. Most travelers remain unaware of the nearby unhoused community and often do not notice or engage with them.
Read at Kqed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]