The Lost and the Found with author Kevin Fagan and Erin Baldassari

Join author and journalist Kevin Fagan in conversation with KQED Senior Editor on Housing Affordability Erin Baldassari on Fagan’s new book, The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances.

The Lost and the Found, set in San Francisco—one of the wealthiest cities in America—takes an empathic, character-driven approach to exploring the human side of what’s behind the homelessness epidemic. An award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee who has covered homelessness for decades and spent extensive time on the streets for his reporting, Fagan experienced it himself as a young man and brings a deep understanding to the crisis. He introduces us to Rita and Tyson, telling the deeply moving story of two unhoused people rescued by their families with the help of Fagan’s reporting, and their struggle to pull themselves out of homelessness and addiction, ending with both enormous tragedy and triumph. But The Lost and the Found is not just a story of individuals experiencing homelessness, it is also a compelling look at the link between homelessness and addiction, and an incisive commentary on housing and equality. Fagan shines a sharp light on this national calamity, and in sharing Rita and Tyson’s stories, The Lost and the Found has the potential to change the way we see and help the homeless.

About the Speakers

Kevin Fagan is a longtime, award-winning reporter, having spent over three decades at the San Francisco Chronicle. He won the Bill Workman Award from the San Francisco Press Club, the James Aronson Award for Social Justice in Journalism, and the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. He has also been nominated several times for the Pulitzer Prize. During his career, he has covered homelessness, the 9/11 terror attacks, serial killers, California’s wildfires, and much more. Follow him on X @KevinChron.

Erin Baldassari covers housing for KQED. She's a former print journalist and most recently worked as the transportation reporter for the Mercury News and East Bay Times. There, she focused on how the Bay Area’s housing shortage has changed the way people move around the region. She also served on the East Bay Times’ 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning team for coverage of the Ghost Ship Fire in Oakland. Prior to that, Erin worked as a breaking news and general assignment reporter for a variety of outlets in the Bay Area and the greater Boston area. A Tufts University alumna, Erin grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and in Sonoma County.

Host or Publisher Mechanics' Institute