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When Ei Kay Khine Zin closed her SoMa restaurant for Thanksgiving two years ago, she returned to find someone had taken up residence inside. They’d broken in, eaten everything they could get their hands on and left behind a mess. It’s just one effect the Bay of Burma owner has felt from living in what she and her neighbors call a “containment zone” for the city’s unhoused residents.
Khine Zin blames the city for making the area a hub for shelters and services. “We really need to stop the city dumping all of those facilities in the same neighborhood. This really is not fair,” she said.
While she loves her city, working in SoMa means sweeping used syringes off the restaurant doorstep many mornings, and fending off drug-addled passersby who wander in to yell at customers and snatch food off their plates. Living here means that friends who live outside the city refuse to visit. “All my girlfriends are afraid,” she said. “That makes me really sad.”…