Heather’s testimonial highlighted injustices and cruelty toward unhoused people
Originally published in the Street Sheet
San Francisco, CA. Heather Lee, an unsheltered woman who was interviewed by the Stolen Belonging project that documented San Francisco’s theft of unhoused and unsheltered people’s possessions, died on July 26 at Laguna Honda Hospital after a long illness, Street Sheet has learned.
“Heather’s presence was more than friendship—she rocked exceptional strength and dignity, earning my trust and admiration like a sister,” Stolen Belonging project member Couper Orona wrote in a Facebook post announcing Heather’s death. “The realization I’ll never see her again is a weird feeling, it’s hard to process coping with the void and disbelief that my friend is actually gone. She will be missed by so many, I’ll miss her so much. She’s finally pain free and probably taking (her dog) Louis for a heavenly stroll right now.”
In 2019, San Francisco Public Works seized a green wagon containing Heather’s belongings, including recent birthday presents, artwork, photos of her children and her ID during an encampment sweep. She recalled another incident where a Public Works crew tore away tarps and blankets covering women who were changing their clothes underneath them. The crew also threw away Heather’s recently prescribed medication.
Stolen Belonging followed Heather, recording the first of two unsuccessful attempts to retrieve her stuff at the San Francisco Public Works storage yard. The video showed Heather and project member Couper Orona being stonewalled by office workers and instructed to wait for staff to search for her property.
Heather waited for more than an hour in the rain without reclaiming her stuff.
Heather told the project how heartbroken she was and how the workers’ lack of compassion struck her. “I was crying and like you know, not even hysterically, I was being really rational with the workers,” she said. “But I was crying asking them to please not throw my stuff away, and there was like, no reaction. They were completely unaffected by anyone, mine or anyone else, that was their emotion about the whole thing, you know?”
The City agency’s policies and practices were the focus of a recently settled lawsuit filed by the Coalition on Homelessness, the homeless advocacy organization that publishes Street Sheet. The “bag and tag policy” mandates that City workers document and store property taken at sweeps for up to 90 days. Under the settlement, pending a Board of Supervisors vote and the mayor’s signature, the City agreed to outside sweeps monitoring from the American Civil Liberties Union to ensure compliance with Public Works’ policy.
Heather, who was never named in the lawsuit, died three days after the settlement was announced. She told Stolen Belonging in 2023 how she believed the City could be held accountable for its improper—and arguably illegal—confiscation of homeless people’s survival materials and treasured possessions.
“The best way they could make it right with me is to not continue what they’re doing, the way that they’re doing it,” Heather said. “Be professional, be a human being and care about other people and their stuff when they’re out there. I don’t think [those responsible for the sweeps] would like people going into their homes and doing what they do to us out here. This is our home for the time being for whatever reason.”
Heather also pleaded for empathy from housed people by asking how they would react in a similar situation.
“The only way to do that is to try to describe to them whatever it is that you’ve gone through and make it like, how would they feel if it was happening to them in their environment, like these horrible things were happening to them in their workplace or in their home and how they feel about it? And a lot of times if you ask people that question their tune changes pretty quick. Start opening your eyes, these things are happening out here to us and nobody is believing it or doing anything about it, you know. It’s ridiculous that abuse is going on, you know, out here, and it needs to stop because it’s happening from the people that should be helping us the most.”
Heather’s sister, Abby Lee, said that when thinking of the sibling whom she called Sissy, she’s reminded of a Dr. Seuss quote: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
“I’ll miss Heather for the rest of my life, many will, but she would want us all to try and be as happy as possible,” Abby said. “She’s no longer in any pain, and is beyond her suffering, free of that cage. No sorrow will live in me with that joy. I love you, Sissy.”
Heather is survived by her two daughters, Norah Geiger and Olivia Keaton; her brother, Sean Lee, and her sister, Abby Lee; her niece, Avrion Zerbe, and her nephews: Ever Zerbe, Austin Lee, and Alex Lee.
TJ Johnston is the editor-in-chief of Street Sheet, which is published by the Coalition on Homelessness, a San Francisco based homeless advocacy organization. He has contributed to several Bay Area publications.
