Cole Haddock and Maria Toldi (2025)
Swept off the Map
Encampment sweeps have become the predominant method of managing homelessness across the East Bay, significantly intensifying following the 2024 Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. These sweeps profoundly disrupt lives, destroying critical survival resources, severing community bonds, and inflicting lasting trauma. Despite their increased frequency and lasting consequences, the scope, methods, and human impact of these sweeps remain largely invisible and inadequately documented. Swept Off the Map addresses this critical gap by creating a publicly accessible, comprehensive database and interactive digital story map that documents encampment sweeps in Richmond, El Cerrito, Berkeley, and Oakland throughout 2024 and 2025. By combining quantitative data analysis with oral histories from impacted encampment residents, this project offers a multidimensional account of encampment management in the East Bay and situates these practices within broader legal and policy frameworks.
Biography
Cole Haddock and Maria Toldi are journalists and researchers whose collaborative work centers on homelessness, displacement, and community resilience in the Bay Area. Their partnership began during their sophomore year at UC Berkeley while producing the documentary Unhoused and Unseen for San Quentin News, and has continued through ongoing collaborations with Street Spirit News. Over the past three years, their work has centered on dignifying and respectful journalism, mutual aid, and collaborative storytelling.
Cole Haddock is a recent graduate of the Geography Department at U.C. Berkeley. He makes maps, hangs out with his two favorite pitbulls, Boston and Bastet, and scribbles on everything. He works as a researcher at the Human Rights Center, investigating human rights violations across the world. His senior thesis used maps and written work to demonstrate the complex dynamics of encampment sweeps in Richmond, CA.
Maria Toldi is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she earned her degree in Interdisciplinary Research Studies with a minor in Political Economy. Her academic work integrates sociology, public policy, ethnic studies, and psychology to critically examine structural inequality and systems of social control. Her senior thesis explored the constrained and complex decision-making processes that unhoused individuals navigate when considering offers of interim housing.
