Caroline Gutman

Photographer

Nowhere to Go

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Location: Washington, DC & Philadelphia, PA

Nationality: American

Biography: Caroline Gutman is a freelance photographer and writer based between Washington, DC and Philadelphia, PA, USA. Her work often looks at gender and economic inequality, climate change, and art and cultural innovation. Her work has been featured by... MORE

Focus: Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Writer, Researcher, Reporter, Politics, Travel, Environment, History, Photo Assistant, Documentary, News, Video, Photography, Domestic, Foreign, Portraiture, Stock, Lifestyle, Conceptual, Culture, Foreign Desk, Arts & Culture, Journalist Investigative, Freelance, Civil Rights and Social Inequality, Humanitarian, Assignments, Commercial, Entrepreneur, Fellow, Consultant, International, Creative Professional, Editorial, Photo Shoots, Editing, Storyteller, Visual Artist, Climate, Digital Journalism, Photo Coordinator, Feature Stories, Environmental Stories, International Stories, National Park stories, Still Photographer, US Politics, Portrait Photography, Reportage

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Editors Only Story

Nowhere to Go

Copyright Caroline Gutman 2024

Updated Jan 2021

Location San Francisco, CA

Topics Civil Rights, Community, Documentary, Editorial, Historical, Homelessness, Human Rights, Oppression, Pandemics, Photography, Photojournalism, Poverty, Reporting, Senior Citizens, Veterans

At the outset of the pandemic, a number of politicians and media outlets praised San Francisco for “flattening the curve” of Covid-19, but all the while the City failed to protect SF’s 8,000+ homeless, some of the city’s most vulnerable residents who were already living in close proximity.

In May 2020, the University of California Hastings Law School filed suit against the City of San Francisco for the “dangerous and illegal conditions in the Tenderloin Neighborhood,” emphasizing the safety needs of businesses and housed residents.

It was only after reaching a settlement in June the the City began relocating select unhoused people from streets surrounding the law school and into Safe Sleeping Sites and hotels, while still requiring others to move to homeless encampments elsewhere int he city.

In April, I began photographing the crisis within a crisis: The crowded, tented streets of SF followed by the overdue and chaotic resettlement of several hundred homeless individuals in the span of a few weeks. These images provide a glimpse into what transpired.