A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
The paper is published by the Coalition on Homelessness, a policy and advocacy organization that fights for housing justice and human rights of San Franciscans.
The Street Sheet is an independent street newspaper dedicated to covering issues of homelessness and poverty in San Francisco from the voices of homeless people themselves.
Street Sheet vendors sell the paper and receive 100% of everything they sell, providing them with employment and a source of income.
The Street Sheet hosts creative writing, poetry, and journalism workshops, fostering community, creativity and expression.
A partial victory, but congregate shelters are still being used to house the majority of homeless people
Less than 24 hours after our story “Mayor Breed Opts for Mass Indoor Camps” broke, the City announced a change of approach for addressing the pandemic in shelters. But don’t be misled by the headlines!
The real change, which is significant, is that the city has abandoned its plan to move shelter residents into the Moscone Center,
UPDATE: Our coverage of this outrageous plan prompted a shift for the city. Get the latest coverage HERE
A look inside the new Moscone Center congregate “Shelter”
While hundreds of advocates have been desperately contacting Mayor London Breed imploring her to place homeless people in hotel rooms and vacant units, it seems she has her own plan for addressing poverty during the pandemic: opening indoor camps to further concentrate vulnerable people.
HOUSE HOMELESS PERSONS IN VACANT HOTEL ROOMS NOW.
The Current Situation: The City is only placing homeless people being discharged or diverted from SFGH beds who test positive or who are symptomatic into hotel rooms. The city announced today they are prioritizing hotel rooms for vulnerable people on streets, in shelters and in SRO’s but they have not moved any of them into a hotel room.
What We Want: We are calling on the City to shelter all homeless people and those in congregate settings into vacant units as a preventative measure, … READ MORE
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, San Francisco Mayor London Breed has refused to use executive powers to house San Francisco’s 9,000 homeless residents living in the City’s streets and shelters. Under the Mayor’s emergency powers in the Charter and Administrative Code, Breed has the authority to commandeer a portion of the 33,000 vacant hotel rooms to house homeless residents, but has yet to utilize those powers in spite of the dire situation at hand.
Unfortunately we will not be publishing a print version of our April 1st edition because of the risk to our vendors and readers. In the midst of this pandemic, our Street Sheet vendors need your support more than ever. Please consider making a donation to our EMERGENCY VENDOR SUPPORT FUND to help vendors cover essential costs while they are unable to sell the newspaper.
Today we spent time figuring out how to organize collecting and distributing tents across the City for folks who have no place to ‘shelter in place’ during the pandemic.
