Overview:

As the City aggressively displaces its unhoused residents for APEC, a compassionate daytime shelter is considered sacred by many

Lydia Bransten, 57, the executive director of The Gubbio Project, stands for a portrait inside the church of the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Bransten says that the biggest challenge around the unhoused community is stability. “Something that becomes clear with people experiencing homeless is that they are an afterthought to the general public,” Bransten said.

“People experiencing homelessness are an afterthought,” Lydia Brensten said from her office chair. 

Bransten is the executive director of The Gubbio Project, a nonprofit that provides unhoused people with a safe place to sleep during the daytime, keeping some of the city’s most vulnerable population away from the bustling sidewalks. Toiletries, socks, food, beverages and compassion are provided every weekday from the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District. 

With high-level political and economic interests at stake for this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, San Francisco has taken aggressive measures to confront homelessness by allocating more beds for shelters, conducting encampment sweeps, and deploying 1,000 more police within the 12-square-block radius of the southern part of the Market neighborhood and the Moscone Center, which underwent a $551 million expansion a few years ago. 

Brensten anticipates an influx of displaced unhoused people from APEC sweeps in the coming days, but isn’t certain how it will impact their 45 bed capacity, currently. The Gubbio Project is one of the most beloved shelters in the city that has operated for almost two decades, first at the Saint Boniface Catholic Church in the Tenderloin, before being moved out of the space and into the Mission District after the pandemic. Donations flooded in support after it was announced that it was on the verge of shutting down.

Many unhoused guests have frequented the nonprofit’s services for years like Marlene Vasquez, a 64-year-old woman who has struggled to find affordable housing for the past three years. The Gubbio Project has also given elderly Spanish-speaking Latinos and Indigenous people living in the Mission District a safe place to eat, socialize, rest and sleep. 

Marlene Vasquez, 64, who lived on 19th and Mission before becoming homeless three years ago, poses for a portrait at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Vasquez seeks the resources from The Gubbio Project due to the unsafe conditions at the other daytime shelters.

Certainly, the APEC conference has generated a lot of attention to homelessness, while many people believe that the issue is being swept under the rug to accommodate its wealthy visitors. The people of The Gubbio Project are a representation of the humanistic side of homelessness, an issue that is a polarizing topic. 

Lydia Bransten, 57, the executive director of The Gubbio Project, stands for a portrait inside the church of the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Bransten says that the biggest challenge around the unhoused community is stability. “Something that becomes clear with people experiencing homeless is that they are an afterthought to the general public,” Bransten said.
Salvador Martinez, 70, from Nicaragua, stands near the entrance of the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Martinez first experienced homelessness after getting a divorce, where he was in and out of shelters. Martinez worked as a painter, a gardener and a handyman throughout his five decades in the United States. He now has housing through the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, but says he wants to go back to Nicaragua. “There is a lot of people wanting to come here [to San Francisco], and I don’t know why,” Martinez said. “The American dream is over.”
Andy McCabe, 37, the manager of The Gubbio Project, spins a freshly-heated pizza that will be served to the unhoused community at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. 
Andy McCabe, 37, the manager of The Gubbio Project.
Andy McCabe, 37, the manager of The Gubbio Project, looks for a hair comb at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. McCabe moved to the Bay Area from Houston, Texas in 2015 with a close friend, shortly after his fiancé and father died from undisclosed reasons. Two days after he and his close friend arrived to the Bay Area, the close friend died of a heroin overdose.
Leon Victoriano-Garcia, 63, originally from Guerrero, Mexico, rests in the patio of the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Victoriano-Garcia worked as a handyman and gardener since moving to the Bay Area in 1991.
From left: Nelly Mendez with her dog Luna, and Maria DePilla with her dog Pilla, taking a moment to eat and drink coffee provided by The Gubbio Project.
Nelly Mendez has a moment with her seven-year-old chihuahua, Luna, at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Mendez currently pays $2,200 a month for a studio just outside of the Mission District, but claims that the studio has mold and lacks proper ventilation. According to Mendez, she is a licensed caregiver but is struggling with affordable housing and stable income. “The only reason why I can’t leave is because I don’t want to be homeless,” Mendez said, who lived in the Mission District for more than 40 years. Mendez also suffered from lung cancer, and had one of her lungs removed. Aside from experiencing housing insecurity, Mendez’s health is another uncertainty.
Gloria Pool, 57, has been experiencing homelessness for more than three months, and takes a moment to rest at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Pool and her husband left their seven children in Yucatan, Mexico, 22 years ago to find better working conditions in San Francisco. Pool has worked as a dishwasher, a carwasher, and a cook, until her husband got into a car accident that hindered their ability to work and commute throughout the Bay Area. “It’s impossible to live in this city, unless you have citizenship,” Pool said. “We were paying $2,600 a month for a small apartment before we were forced out into the street—it’s terrifying.” Pool is currently staying inside a shelter, but likes utilizing the daytime services that The Gubbio Project provides. 
A Colombian man who calls himself, “El Gato,” sits for a portrait at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif.
Marlene Vasquez, 64, who lived on 19th and Mission before becoming homeless three years ago, poses for a portrait at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Vasquez seeks the resources from The Gubbio Project due to the unsafe conditions at the other daytime shelters.
Marlene Vasquez, 64, who lived on 19th and Mission before becoming homeless three years ago, poses for a portrait at the Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in the Mission District on Nov. 13, 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Vasquez seeks the resources from The Gubbio Project due to the unsafe conditions at the other daytime shelters.

Pablo Unzueta (b. 1994 in Van Nuys, CA) is a first-generation Chilean-American documentary photographer and CatchLight Local and Report for America fellow whose stories focus on the environment, air pollution,...