Old surveillance footage from one of the Tenderloin’s most famous nonprofits has sparked new questions about the potential abuse of an unhoused person, as well as concerns about how organizations that operate in the community address disorder outside their doors.
The incident took place at the Family, Youth and Childcare Center run by GLIDE, a celebrated service provider and church that advocates for solutions to poverty and provides health programs and crisis intervention.
A roughly two-minute clip of the incident shows a man emerging from a door at 434 Ellis St. and gazing at a person laying in the middle of the sidewalk, swaddled in a blanket. It is unclear whether the man who opened the door is a staff member for GLIDE.
The man then uncaps a jug and pours liquid around the sleeping person while scanning the street. After a few minutes, the sleeping person startles awake and appears to turn their face and body away from the liquid on the ground. At that point, the man who stepped out from the GLIDE facility grabs a broom and begins sweeping directly into the body of the person on the sidewalk.
The clip was posted earlier this month on X by a local videographer dubbed “Tenderloinactivities,” who has gone viral in the past for documenting what happens on the streets of the district, including police busts and drug use.
A timestamp on the footage shows March 24 at about 4 p.m. — but according to GLIDE spokesperson Tri Nguyen, the previously unreported incident took place last year, not in 2025.
Nguyen did not answer Gazetteer SF’s questions about GLIDE’s investigation into the matter, how it was resolved, or its protocol on potential abuse of an unhoused person by staff. He only provided a statement that confirmed the incident happened “roughly a year ago.”
Nguyen claimed he cannot provide any further information because “it is an HR and union matter.”
“We are aware that an old video has recently resurfaced on social media. At the time of the original incident, we conducted a thorough investigation and responded appropriately,” he told Gazetteer. “Please know that all individuals involved were treated fairly and with deep compassion.”
(OPEIU Local 29, which represents some GLIDE employees, did not respond to Gazetteer’s questions about the incident by press time.)
The footage has led to some sharp criticism of GLIDE, especially after conservative commentator Kevin Dalton, a frequent detractor of San Francisco governance, shared the footage with his 86,000 followers on X.
It also recalls another viral incident — the 2023 spraying of an unhoused woman by art gallery owner Collier Gwin, who claimed he had no other choice because the city had failed to respond to his requests for assistance in moving the woman away from his property. Gwin was ultimately sentenced to 35 hours of community service over the misdemeanor battery.
Gwin’s actions triggered a major swell of outrage and a citywide debate about how private individuals interact with unhoused people, especially when they do not comply with the former’s demands to move.
