A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
BY THE NUMBERS
By TJ Johnston
The San Francisco County Jail system is closer to expansion, despite objections that the expansion would be too costly, and opposition from advocates of currently and formerly incarcerated people,
By Kat Callaway
The church looks like a cheerful place of worship, brightly colored and welcoming, right at home in the Mission. But you don’t really see how remarkable it is until you step inside.
The church has welcomed and serves its community, successfully housing each day a school, Mission Kids, its own church gatherings, and a union office. At night, it welcomes 57 men off the streets and into shelter.
This past month, the Coalition on Homelessness released the eagerly anticipated The Roadmap: A Five-Year Plan to End the Crisis of Family Homelessness in San Francisco. This was in response to the rapidly growing homeless family population, as we now have an estimated 3,222 homeless children in San Francisco. The report was highly applauded, and its primary goal of housing all currently homeless families in San Francisco was mentioned as a top priority by Mayor Edwin Lee publicly on several occasion.
by Kat Calloway
San Francisco emergency shelters were first established in the 1980s in response to the increasing number of homeless people as a result of reduced Federal funding to public housing. Meant to be a short term solution to a temporary problem, they are still operating today to house at least a portion of San Francisco’s 7,000+ people without housing. About 1,100 adult beds are available each night for anyone who asks while these limited beds are still empty.
This is the second in a series of articles drawing from the Coalition on Homelessness’ new report Punishing the Poorest: How the Criminalization of Homelessness Perpetuates Poverty in San Francisco.
San Francisco has more anti-homeless laws than any other city in California—23 ordinances banning sitting, sleeping, standing, and begging in public places. Political disputes over these laws are well known. But what often goes overlooked are the consequences of such laws on homeless persons.
by Mike Lee
I find being homeless to be funny. Keep in mind, 97% is trial and tribulation; it still has its moments of comic relief.
Just the way folks with shiny shoes avoid acknowledging me sitting on the sidewalk. They’ve even got their dogs trained to avert their eyes, avoiding us, the great unwashed. “No, Fido. Don’t say, ‘Hi,’ to that person: he’s homeless and his socks probably stick to his feet.” Gawd only knows what they teach their kids.
by Jason Albertson, LCSW
Wednesday afternoon is the meeting at the Tenderloin Task Force, with the “70 unit”—the cops who have the homeless outreach beat. They are all volunteers, attracted maybe because it’s about helping in a specific way, maybe because it combines law enforcement and street knowledge of the community and isn’t just pulling runs off the computer. Or maybe because it’s a more reasonable shift and is a little bit outside the eye of the station commanders.
Homeless families, individuals, and their supporters are ecstatic that the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee funded critical housing subsides for homeless people. At the same time, folks are very disappointed that as a means to squash dissent, the board committee refused to fund any citywide tenant defense work.
On June 24, the Board of Supervisors budget committee made their final decisions on what items would be funded in San Francisco’s budget. The Board of Supervisors has the power to cut items out of the budget that was presented to them June 1 by the Mayor,
