Kevin Fagan | Writer

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781668017111

 

Seeking to put a human face on the homelessness crisis, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Fagan took to his city's streets to experience the lifestyle firsthand. In this riveting account, he describes camping out on a concrete median nicknamed "Homeless Island" by those who sleep there, forming close-knit relationships with Rita, a former surfer girl now in her 50s, and Tyson, a young man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. In detailing their stories, Fagan traces the uniquely American slippery slope that leads to homelessness—a combination of high rents, precarious employment, drug addiction, lack of mental health care, a penchant for free-spiritedness verging on stubbornness, and a commitment to individual responsibility that wears away at family ties. Rita, a mother of four, always rebellious by nature, as an adult fell into a bohemian lifestyle in the Florida Keys that eventually led to drug addiction. Tyson, raised middle-class, had an erratic personality that left him floating from job to job, eventually ending up on his grandmother's couch until she passed away. In an emotional turn, Fagan reports that after publishing profiles on Rita and Tyson, he was contacted by their siblings, who were eager to help. Fagan then chronicles Rita's and Tyson's passages through rehab, halfway houses, and on to what seem to be successful new beginnings. The result is a haunting proposal that the homelessness crisis is caused above all by a startling lack of compassion in American society. (Feb.)

 

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https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kevin-fagan/the-lost-and-the-found-2/

 

Putting a face on people who don't have homes.

 

The homeless epidemic afflicts every American city, and yet San Francisco has often been designated by the national news media as the homeless capital of America. After all, as veteran San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan writes, "If you have to be homeless, there's no better place than San Francisco. This is where the booze and dope are plentiful, the cops are lax, and the homeless culture is so widespread you can disappear into it." With compassion, an eye for detail, and an instinct for the human stories behind the statistics, Fagan gives voice to the often-anonymous individuals propelled on downward spirals that take them from suburbia and middle-class comforts to mean streets rife with panhandling, AIDS, fentanyl, disease, and death. When needed, Fagan brings in facts: 35% of San Francisco's unhoused are Black, yet they make up only 6% of the population.

 

Born and raised in the Bay Area and briefly homeless himself, Fagan knows what it's like to be without a bed at the end of the day. In his book, he focuses on a traffic island that's dubbed "Homeless Island." Perched between the Tenderloin and Mission districts, it's not far from City Hall. Fagan contrasts Homeless Island with the beauty and wealth of a city that has long prided itself on its caring—but that often doesn't want to acknowledge the waves of refugees from elsewhere who arrive without resources and must find a space on a sidewalk or under a bridge. "The Shame of the City," a Chronicle series on homelessness that Fagan produced, helped inspire California Gov. Gavin Newsom to create "Homeward Bound," a program that reunites the unhoused with family and friends. Like that series, this book is powerful, offering a humanizing and hopeful portrait of an abiding problem.

 

A rare look at citizens often denied their dignity.

 

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"The Lost and The Found" has been selected as a "must read" book for 2025 by the national Next Big Idea Club, which was founded to provide "a better way to discover and interact with today's great writers and thinkers."

"Fagan is a reporting legend in San Francisco, and this book shows why. An astonishing feat of immersive journalism and empathy, The Lost and the Found traces how two people ended up living on the city streets, addicted to drugs, separated from their families — and how they ultimately fought to save themselves, with help from loved ones who never gave up searching. It will forever change the way readers think about homelessness."
—Jason Fagone, author of the bestselling The Woman Who Smashed Codes

 

"The American epidemic of homelessness and addiction cannot be understood or solved without knowing the stories of the people living on our streets. Kevin Fagan's The Lost and the Found is an unflinching examination of a human catastrophe and a heart-felt portrait of people we can readily recognize as our brothers and sisters. Against all odds, they cling to hope. You can't help but root for them in this piercing, masterful study of how the crisis began and how, with political will and moral conviction, we can end the suffering."
—Steve Lopez, bestselling author of The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music

 

"The most authentic account of homelessness by the author who literally slept next to his subjects on the cold pavement of San Francisco. The book is riveting and painful, hopeful and depressing. Kevin Fagan captures the desperation of those on the street who simply want to survive and their attempts to overcome their addiction. I couldn't put the book down. It's a must read for anyone who wants to understand this vexing problem in our society. Kevin's humanity is breathtaking."
—Congresswoman Jackie Speier (ret), author of Undaunted

 

"Hundreds of books have been published on the homeless. Forget them--read The Lost and the Found. There's nothing out there like it. Kevin Fagan spent decades immersed in the lives of two people who many view as forgettable human wreckage on a sidewalk. The nightmare of America's tent cities is told through the stories of Rita and Tyson. The 'homeless' become human. Real people whose lives we care about. An ink-stained Kevin, notebook in hand, practices old-school shoeleather reporting: he listens. That's our job as journalists. Kevin really listens. Bro, you got great ears."
—Dale Maharidge, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning And Their Children After Them and American Doom Loop

 

"Fagan has been there - homeless at one time himself, now on the streets as a journalist - he is an astute chronicler of the misery and aspirations of our homeless neighbors. For anyone who wants more insight and understanding, a street level view, either to be more empathetic or to take action - The Lost and the Found is a primer. You can trust Fagan not to romanticize or politicize. He's straight up, savvy, and realistic."
—Philip Mangano, CEO, The American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness and former "Homelessness Czar" under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.