Homelessness Walking Tour

San Francisco, California

2 hours

1 - 10 People

6 Reviews

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Most people shy away from the homeless. But I will take you around to see what it's really like.”

–

Milton A.

The Tenderloin is at the heart of San Francisco, just minutes from Union Square, yet most organised city tours pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s beautiful, full of hand-painted signs on historic buildings, but it has a very visible problem - a large population of homeless people. Let's be honest here. Milton’s tour is not a jolly stroll. It’s provocative, challenging, unusual and occasionally upsetting. But it’s totally authentic, there's no tourist board sugar-coating going on. It's a slice of life from the margins of society. These are stories that need to be heard. It's where the Vayable concept can make a difference.

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Details

Come with me on a truly unique tour where I'll tell you about what it's like to be homeless, the issues many homeless people face, and social services available to those in need. Many people have strong opinions about homelessness but few people actually venture out to experience what it's like for themselves. I'll give you that experience.

Itinerary

We'll go to a couple of shelters, day centers for children, soup kitchens, workplace training programs, and so forth. The Tenderloin is a unique part of San Francisco, where poverty is rampant and many people are on the streets, so it's best to go around with a seasoned habitant. A guided experience of what it's like to be homeless from a friendly homeless person.

**All fees collected by Vayable will go to the local shelter you visit.

Reviews

Matthew L.

I've been visiting San Francisco for years and I've long been intrigued by the Tenderloin, an area right next to Union Square where the poverty is very visible and often discomforting. It was so interesting to get Milton's take on why the Tenderloin is this way; it's a product of containment, he says, a long-term policy of keeping poverty controlled and limited to one area rather than trying to solve the problem. This is a tour about homelessness, drug abuse, charity and mental illness - and it's also very much a tour about Milton, a charismatic and mysterious guide who will answer all your questions, while also generating lots of new ones.

Kenley S.

...had thanksgiving week off, wanted to do something different/educational...this tour seemed appropriate. I exist in the borderline 1%, tech industry worker bubble, so it was good to get away from that nonsense and see how other folk get on with their lives. Hanging out with Milton was great, he is streetwise, has an appreciation for history and culture, and was just a really colourful and funny character to have as a guide...would have loved to have hung out with him even longer to hear more of his crazy stories and his take on life and how things get the way they are. Highly recommend it.

Will P.

Great way to learn more about the tenderloin and see some details of what some residents are dealing with just a few blocks away in the city. Milton seems to know all the buildings in the neighborhood and how things are changing for the better or worse. A must for any SF resident.

Nick S.

Milton is the man! He's also someone you would likely never meet unless you were homeless yourself. On his exceedingly candid tour of the Tenderloin, Milton provides both objective insights and complex opinions about the overlapping cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, mental illness and other misfortunes that plague this small section of town. Overall, it's a very unconventional tour, and that's what makes it so enlightening. My entire family took the tour and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jake M.

Milton is a charismatic guide who understands the realities of living on the street as well as the underlying social problems that keep people on the street. The tour is inspiring and we'd highly recommend it, with our only suggestion being that it could be slightly shorter.

June L.

I went on this tour and worked in a soup kitchen with Milton, and he is such an amazingly inspiring, friendly, and imaginative person. Even though he's homeless, he volunteers at GLIDE and helps to feed others who are also in need. He embodies what Vayable is: he has a unique perspective and gives you access to a world many people have strong opinions about yet do not understand. After spending a few hours with Milton, you'll understand the day-to-day on the streets, the chronic issues that prevent progress, and what it's really about.