:( Ok So as you all know I am still homeless and trying to save money until a housing list opens up or something else comes along. I had a tent and a sleeping bag and a pillow and a few blankets. I had left for a little bit to use the restroom. I had been just fine there before near the beach. But as soon as I come back i see a guy in the dark who has spread my things everywhere and disassembled my tent. On top of this he had numerous other things. I guess he was beach collecting. I came up to him nervously and he got startled. I then told him that, this was my tent and such. He started to get real vicious in his tone and started saying things like "its mine now, move on" and which he got to the point of threatening me with harm, If I di not leave. So I screamed at him and said I am calling the police. He laughed darkly and said "prove it, prove its your property.
I did not have a phone as someone had stolen that a few weeks before. There were no open places to get a phone. No people. No nothing. I waited 30 min on the highway to find a bike rider and they barely stopped for me. A few people came by earlier and I was waving them down and they would not stop. So finally I call the police on the bike rider's phone. They come 20 min later. By now I saw that the guy was moving things to another part of the beach. I was far but close enough to see that. When the police came, he started walking off the beach to the street as I am sure he saw the lights. I then was questioned and so was he. What makes this worse is, instead of trying to help me initially, one lady officer decided to berate me for being homeless and saying how you can't be at the beach at night and so on and so forth. She then said flat out since I was gone for more than 10 minutes, my property belonged to him now. But cooler heads prevailed about an hour later when I spoke with another lady police officer. She finally saw what was going on. I even described the markings inside the tent. So he decided to not fight it anymore, the guy. He gave up on it and I think he was getting nervous.
1 hour later I gathered my things, but the mean lady officer i spoke with before would not let me collect all of it and said "leave and cut your losses".
When I went to the bus to find yet another place to sleep, the same guy followed me and shouted something about my tent from across the way and then left.
To makes things more crazy, the day before I got a letter from MUNI (the local bus company) stating I have to pay a $218 fine for fare evasion, even though my other tickets were dismissed. I had gotten 3 from them for not having money on my clipper card. You see I had had all my stuff stolen in November too. And alot of things. I did not have the money to place anything in storage at the time. Anyways I am dead tired now and emotionally drained. I don't know how much more of this garbage I can handle. I hope I get a place soon.
Wow, I'm so sorry to hear you've been having such a rough time. I'm not really sure what to say, but hang in there. I'm sure things will improve for you in time. If I lived near SF, I'd offer to let you stay with me for a while.
Have you tried looking into local shelters? :(
I know it seems kind of sketchy, but you can post something on Craigslist. Not about every detail of your situation, but essentially ask for help. Room and board till you can get on your feet and pay the person back. My mother and I have done that for someone. Housed them, fed them, found them a job, and got them situated. They were able to make a decent income and all that was required of them was to do a few chores around the house till they were able to get out of debt.
It might not be the most ideal situation, but it is worth a try? I hope everything gets better for you. :(
local shelters are very limited, you can not always get a bed every night. I am ok so far though. Just got some money.
As I work with homeless people in the UK I hear about this sort of thing quite a bit, I'm sorry you have to go through this.
If you must leave your property for a few minutes then try to hide it, not always easy though.
In case of aggression at night always carry a cheap, bright LED torch, as a last resort close your eyes briefly as you turn it on then off as aiming the light at their eyes, they'll loose their night vision for about 20 seconds, you can get a damn good head start in those few seconds whilst they're temporarily blinded, head straight for a crowded area.
It's disgusting how the police treated you, that's just so wrong
Stay strong, you've made it this far, you can hang on till things pick up
I really feel for you that's so horrible I can't even imagine what it must be like being homeless. I hope you will find a place soon. I would totally let you stay at my place for free if i was living in your country.