Photo credit: Brannin Dorsey

Silicon Valley man launches a hunger strike…against housing the homeless

Concerned neighbors ignore him, and keep working to solve local homelessness crisis

Fremont, California sits at the north end of Silicon Valley, and is the second largest city in Alameda County. The city is home to at least 608 homeless residents — as well as retired Silicon Valley engineer Ruiping Sun, who is now putting his body on the line to ensure that homeless neighbors are not housed anytime soon.

Local elected officials have been searching for solutions to the homelessness crisis, and discovered a model that has been successful in nearby cities: a housing navigation center to provide temporary housing to homeless residents, while supporting them with health and wellness needs and helping them find permanent stable housing. Centers in nearby Berkeley and Oakland have seen 65% of their clients manage to enter permanent housing, without the need for any ongoing subsidies. Berkeley’s new center helped 20 people find homes in its first 3 months of operation, with one excited resident telling the San Francisco Chronicle that the facility was “a dream come true.”

The city of Fremont started developing a proposal for a new navigation center, and asked residents for input. Elected officials and staff organized three public meetings about the proposal, accepted comments online, and heard from hundreds of residents at city council meetings. Fremont residents wore white to city hearings to express support for the proposed center; others wore either red or blue, to express their opposition to specific proposed sites.

Still from KTVU interview

This is when Ruiping Sun jumped into action. Sun began a hunger strike on September 3, 2019, demanding that elected officials halt the public process midway, wait until the next election, and use a majority vote to allow mostly-housed voters to decide whether to allow housing navigation for homeless neighbors.

Sun, a former marathon runner, came equipped with a tent and a large backpack full of camping gear so he could sleep overnight in front of city hall. He had reading material ready, including a copy of What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength.

While Mr. Sun was careful to say he’s neither for nor against the idea of a homeless navigation center, some of his supporters took a more explicit anti-homeless position, arguing that a homeless navigation center would endanger public safety. Fremont’s police chief disagreed, publishing an open letter explaining how a homeless navigation center would “contribute to a safer community for all,” and directing residents to recent research that finds navigation centers have no effect on neighborhood crime.

Local reactions

The hunger strike was met with astonishment by many Fremont residents reacting in person, on social media, and in local news outlets.

Raj Salwan, the Vice Mayor of Fremont, told journalists that delaying a decision on the center could cost the city $2 million in funding from the city and state. “I’ve been in city government for 15 years and we’ve never had a hunger strike on any decisions.”

Fremont city councilperson Yang Shao stopped by to talk, then urged Sun to end his hunger strike. “But I refused,” Sun explained.

Friends of the Fremont Navigation Center, a network of Fremont residents in favor of the center, encouraged members to continue working to help homeless neighbors, despite the hunger strike. In addition to advocating at city hall, they kicked off a community food drive in support of Tri-City Volunteers, a nonprofit that provides emergency grocery assistance to almost 6,000 local families.

Fremont resident Rob Larisch and his family are donating a dollar for every hour the hunger strike goes on to the nonprofit that would operate the center.

Neighbors expressed their feelings on social media. “This is a mockery of all the legitimate hunger strikes ever done in the name of actual injustices,” one Fremont resident said. “It’s gross and he should be ashamed of himself. Promoting it like this is…dressed up elitism and prejudice.” Another asked, “So, basically…Protesting homeless encampments by starting an encampment?”

Still from KPIX story

Water bottles and medical support

Some of Sun’s supporters bought him dozens of plastic bottles of water, while another checked his vitals and health.

An elected official expressed surprise, asking “Is the woman checking his vitals out also checking on the welfare of those who have been without food or shelter for more than 24 hours? This is disgraceful.”

Reported Fremont resident Laurie Manuel, “As Mr. Sun sits with his bottles of water lined up around him like some protective moat and supporters check his blood pressure, a block away there are two women seated on a bench with their belongings in bags next to them, a mother and child waiting for help near City offices, and a man asleep behind a bush trying to be out of sight.”

Sources: City of Fremont Housing Navigation Center information, Friends of the Fremont Navigation Center, KTVU “Fremont resident on hunger strike over proposed homeless center”, KPIX “Fremont Navigation Center Opponent Goes On Hunger Strike Outside City Hall,” Fremonters interview, letter from Mr. Sun, Brannin Dorsey, No HNC in Downtown interview.