Homeless people in San Francisco say the sprinklers at Bonhams are turned on at night to soak their belongings and discourage them from staying on the sidewalk

A luxury fine arts and antiques auction house in San Francisco is facing criticism for its use of an external sprinkler system, which homeless residents say has been intermittently turned on to douse their belongings and to discourage them from camping on the sidewalk.

The sidewalk outside the San Francisco salesroom of Bonhams, one of the world’s largest and oldest auctioneers, is exactly the kind of wide, windowless expanse that attracts members of the city’s large homeless population, many of whom live in tents around the neighborhood.

But on Thursday morning, the cluster of tents on Utah Street had moved down the block, away from the building where, starting next week, customers will have the opportunity to bid on items such as a pair of 17th-century German pistols, valued at $50,000-$70,000.



“They treat us like we’re not even human,” said Angelique, who lives in a tent on Utah Street and asked not to be identified by her last name. “It’s already too much, but to be wet too – that’s crazy.”

They treat us like we’re not even human Angelique

Angelique provided the Guardian with video she took earlier this week of a sprinkler system at Bonhams pouring water on to the sidewalk in the middle of the night. She said the unexpected shower destroyed much of her food and belongings.

Angelique and her partner Cedric, who also asked not to be identified by his last name, moved to the area after the city cleared out a large encampment under a highway overpass nearby. She expressed frustration with the sprinkler system, which only exacerbated her already difficult life.

“I just want to have a life,” she said. “I just want somewhere to live.”

Kristin Guiter, a spokeswoman for Bonhams, told the Guardian that the sprinkler system was turned on in order to clean the sidewalk, and that it was only used over the course of 48 hours.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Angelique and Cedric had their tent and belongings doused by an auction house’s sprinklers. Photograph: Julia Carrie Wong/The Guardian

“The action to clean Bonhams’ building and perimeter sidewalks during non-business hours intermittently over a 48-hour period was not intended to disrespect the homeless or any visitor to our premises,” she said in a statement.

“We and our neighbors have worked with the city for many years, including attending hearings and meetings, but the situation has escalated as of late, leading to dozens of encampments, garbage piles with feces and needles, fires, theft and other crime,” she added.

Whether the sprinklers were used to clean pavement or deter the homeless, their use is prohibited under emergency water conservation regulations implemented by Governor Jerry Brown to address California’s severe drought, according to Suzanne Gautier, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco public utilities commission.

The drought, now in its fifth year, has become less severe in recent months, but in May, Brown issued an executive order to enact new conservation provisions, including regulations that will “permanently prohibit wasteful practices, such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes.”

San Francisco only permits washing driveways and sidewalks if there is “an immediate health and safety need”.

The conflict between property owners and San Francisco’s homeless population has escalated in recent years, alongside growing inequality between the city’s tech-cash-infused affluent and the working-class and poor people struggling with the ever-increasing cost of living.



While some complain bitterly about living alongside the poor and homeless (including one resident who wrote in an open letter to the mayor, “I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day”), others appeal to the city’s liberal values.

Sarah Thibault, an artist who works near Bonhams and shared video of the sprinklers on Instagram, told the Guardian that she thought the sprinklers were “a disgusting practice – like using a spray bottle to keep a cat from climbing on the table”.

“It dehumanizes the homeless and wastes precious natural resources during what I assume is still a period of drought,” she added.

Still, anti-homeless design features are ubiquitous around the city.

In 2015, the archdiocese of San Francisco was forced to apologize when a local news crew revealed that it had installed a sprinkler system to prevent homeless people from sleeping in the doorways of St Mary’s Cathedral. But elsewhere in the city, park benches that can be folded up and locked at night and planter boxes with iron spikes are just a few examples of “defensive architecture” designed to repel the homeless.

Michael Foley, 49, who lives in a tent nearby Angelique, said that he had also experienced a drenching courtesy of Bonhams.



“They’ve been raining on folks,” he said. Foley has been homeless for about two years and says that he camps in the neighborhood near Bonhams because it is close to public transit, a soup kitchen, and a supermarket that allows homeless people to use its bathrooms.

But Foley said he understands why Bonhams might not want homeless people living outside their building.

“I can see their point of view,” he said from inside his tent. “One tent, two tents, pretty soon you have 24 tents, the trash, feces, needles, and the whole deal.”