San Francisco’s techies and homeless residents seem like opposite poles of the city. But not for Ronald, a 26-year-old programmer living in a Honda Odyssey. He can often be seen working at the desk he sets up next to his car on Albion Street between 16th and 17th streets. Sometimes he strings a tarp from his van to a nearby tree branch, and sometimes his laptop is hooked up to the solar power he generates from the panels atop his car.
Originally from Miami, Florida, Ronald moved to the city both for its community of programmers and its liberalism, simultaneously confirming contradictory ideas of the city: One as a tech magnet, and the other as a bastion of progressive hippies.
“The people here seemed very kind and intelligent,” he said. “A lot of people here program, which I like. I want to meet more people and grow my skills, to try to get better.”
A friend of Ronald’s taught him to code in 2017. This friend then got a job at Uber, and in 2021 Ronald came out to San Francisco to see him.
“My friends from Miami were going on a road trip to visit. So, I hopped on. And I liked the city a lot, so I stayed,” he said.
He lived in a hostel for two months, reaching the maximum stay. Then he started hanging out at Noisebridge, a hacker space on Capp Street in the Mission.
“I started going there every single day until like 5 a.m. and leaving, sleeping outside somewhere. But then I realized I could just sleep there. So I did, for like 10 months,” he said. When others found out, however, he was kicked out of the community.
“After that, I stayed outside for a while, I just decided to be so cheap I wouldn’t even get a van,” he said. He started sleeping outside of the Smitten ice cream store on Valencia Street.
“I had my spots. I had a cart. I rolled around,” he said. This lasted for about six months.
“Then I stepped on a slug in my socks one night and I thought, this is so disgusting, I’m traumatized. Like, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened,” he said. “And that’s when I decided to finally get a van.”
A year ago, he bought the Odyssey on Craigslist for $2,000. The van has 270,000 miles on it, a number which won’t be increasing.
“It’s broken down as fuck,” he said. “Actually, when I said hi to you, it’s because you were the first person around. I wanted to maybe get your help to push it back.”
Though Ronald had spent time in the Mission before getting his van, he didn’t end up on Albion Street by choice.
“I just happened to end up here, because it broke down,” he said, of the van. “It broke down right in the intersection in the middle of 16th and Valencia.”
He pushed it onto Valencia, then to Duggan’s Funeral Service, at 17th and Albion streets. He was then told that there was going to be a funeral and that he’d have to move the car.
“I just started pushing it by myself,” he said. “I’ve been here for a month, and I realized it’s actually fucking great.”
“It feels really safe. It’s right next to the police station. I just got a fridge two or three days ago,” he said. Before having the fridge, his solar panels were capturing too much energy. Though now that he has the fridge, his fortunes have turned.
“I’m depending on the clouds to really not fuck me over,” he said.
He’s working on a couple of projects at the moment: Coding a multiplayer shooter game, and building a motor, which he wants to use to build an e-bike.
“On Craigslist, I put up an ad that I was tutoring coding, but this firm hired me for robotics, to program this motor,” he explained.
He’s enjoying San Francisco, though he’s unsure of what the future holds.
“Maybe it doesn’t have the same glow as before, but I still prefer it to other places,” he said.
“I like how everything’s close together, it’s the perfect city to skate in,” he adds, describing it as a big, but small town.
“I run into the same people often. It feels like a community.”
For now, he’s focused on his coding — and avoiding parking tickets.
“I got a note on my car like a week ago that said, ‘Hey, us neighbors that are actually paying for parking would appreciate it if you would leave. We contacted the city and they haven’t done shit.’”
“And that’s another thing I really like about San Francisco, is that it’s super liberal,” he said. He’s gotten some tickets, but he isn’t fazed.
“I don’t plan to pay any of them. I think maybe the city will help me out eventually.”
Go the fuck home !!! We got so many people growing up here who are on the streets through no fault of their own and his ass just shows up like “hey, I am going to be a homeless coder!”
This is absurd and frankly, pathetic. What is he contributing to the City other than parking his eyesore on the street? Sadly, he knows the City will pick up his tab as he continues to leech off the system that enables this behavior.
Thank you Christina for this article, it shines a light on the issues faced by people across the board that are homeless. Shows that the stereotype of displaced people are not just folks with substance abuse problems. I truly hope this young man can find support so can become whom he’s meant to be in a thriving and safe place in the city. Thanks again, and good luck to him and may God bless him on his journey.
Run it ’til the wheels come off.
Not sure what this article is supposed to be conveying but for me, it brings up all the issues with this city has and that we are expected to be sympathetic to this leach. Get off the streets already!
I imagine it’d be annoying to have this guy living outside your home.
Why? What am I taking away besides a single parking spot?
This 26-year old able-bodied free loader seems to think that he is a hippie enjoying the Summer of Love. He’s another street dweller who arrives here from somewhere else and decides that he will live on our streets, even though he apparently can support himself by coding. If this guy is getting city money and/or benefits, I would like to know why.
“He’s gotten some tickets, but he isn’t fazed. I don’t plan to pay any of them. I think maybe the city will help me out eventually.”
I liked him up to that comment.
So he moves here, chooses to “be cheap” by living on the street, houses himself in a van because his sock for wet, doesn’t have any plans to contribute to improving the community in any way, and expects the community to take care of him? Sounds like he’s selfish, lazy and entitled to me. We don’t need any more of that here.
I liked him until he set up camp, in the street, in front of my house.
I still like him!
“Maybe The City will help me out”
He broke rules at a Hacker’s Community and got the boot…
Go to Social Services to
1) Sign up for a shelter bed and get involved with actually doing something to help the city. Hanging out and lurking in the Mission won’t last long and there are going to be some hellacious storms coming through soon. They will tow your heap and your happy tune will change .
2) Get into the Homeward Bound Program and go home.
Either way, start at the Social Services building. Good luck…..