On Wednesday, April 21, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman brought his “A Place For All” legislation before the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee. It was met with negative reactions from members of the committee and many of the dozens of people who gave public comment on the topic. While that reception and the decision of committee chair Matt Haney to not pass the legislation on to the full board mean that the legislation has no clear path to being passed,
COVID-19 Command Center Announces Plans to Close Moscone Center
On April 20, the COVID-19 Command Center told the roughly 150 residents sheltering at the Moscone Center West emergency shelter location that they would soon have to find new accommodations, as Moscone Center plans to reopen for regular business. The projected date for the site to fully shut down to shelter guests is June 30.
Since last spring, hundreds of otherwise homeless residents have been sheltering at the Moscone Center. The site houses people who were referred by the Homeless Outreach Team or Guest Placement Team,
SAN FRANCISCO TAKES FIRST STEP TO MOVE DIAL ON HOMELESSNESS
The Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee released its first big disbursement including funding for exits out of homelessness for over 3,200 households. Included in the plan is funding to acquire over 1,000 units, to prevent homelessness for an estimated 21,000 San Franciscans, and to add over 1,000 new beds to the shelter system. The Oversight Committee is appointed by the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor, and charged with recommending how Prop C funding should be used.
We Have the Power to House Each Other
In celebration of May Day, housing activists in Oakland staged a demonstration of the power of communities to house each other. A march wound through the streets of West Oakland and ended at a formerly vacant property that had been transformed into a home. Organizers said they hope to inspire community members to take action and open up vacant properties, while also highlighting the failure of politicians and corporations to address the housing crisis.
Outside the house was a U-Haul set up like the inside of a living room,
Shelters Have Standards. SROs Should, Too!
In previous issues of Street Sheet, I have written extensively about the fact that some of our lowest income tenants in supportive housing are paying much more than 30% of their income toward rent — a problem that we are closer to fixing than before — as well as about the lack of WiFi and cooling systems, and infantilizing policies such as not allowing people to pay their rent by check.
But then I came to realize a certain irony in our homelessness response system.
