A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Jack Bragen
The U.S. is at war. Our government has been lying to us.
This war exists despite the absence of a specific external enemy. This is a war being waged from the inside out, on multiple fronts, with no physical line that could be drawn on a map. Our nation is fighting a war on truth.
The weapons of this war are words. And this doesn’t mean the weapons are soft or lack impact.
by Kenyota
The need for stable housing is of utmost importance to the unhoused because with it they have a basic human need met: the need for safety. San Francisco’s city leaders and its citizens have demonstrated a great empathy to a large number of its homeless population by providing affordable housing in the form of single room occupancies (SROs). Nonprofit property management agencies, under city contracts, oversee housing placement and management of these SROs located in the Tenderloin.
On Friday July 24, Trump signed an Executive Order to make it easier to remove people from the streets. This executive order follows a trend of draconian measures enacted by the Trump administration that targets the country’s most vulnerable communities. This Executive Order doesn’t solve homelessness, it criminalizes it. It scapegoats people in crisis, ignores decades of data, and wastes taxpayer dollars on failed, punitive approaches.
Through this plan the Trump administration seeks to criminalize homelessness through increased encampment sweeps,
by Lukas Illa
On July 22, less than a year after London Breed attempted to restrict oversized vehicles from parking overnight on certain San Francisco streets, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan to effectively expand the ban on recreational vehicles (RVs) citywide passed the Board of Supervisors in a 9-2 vote. The ordinance will take effect on August 28.
The legislation has been broken into two parts: a two-hour parking restriction for large vehicles and a “Large Vehicle Refuge Permit” program under the SF Municipal Transportation Agency that would exempt RV households from the ban for six months.
by Jordan Wasilewski
In May, Mission Local broke the story that 835 Turk St., a new permanent supportive housing complex that I vocally supported in early 2022 will have to undergo extensive repairs which will require tenants to (supposedly) temporarily move out. The article, which has been the only to cover this story so far, focused heavily on how tenants rightfully distrust the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to ensure a just transition and a right of return once the building’s rehab is completed.
by Amy Romer
Garth Mullins has spent years telling other people’s stories — amplifying voices of drug users through his award-winning podcast Crackdown and organizing with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). Now, he’s turned the lens on himself.
His memoir, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs, is not a victory lap or redemption tale; it’s something rarer: a grounded,
by Jack Bragen
Living with a mental illness can sometimes be a no-win scenario.
If you fail to take your medication or if you fail to follow other rules, you are subject to being thrown out on the street from your housing because you are considered a troublemaker.
If, on the other hand, you’re taking your medication and you’re doing all of the things you are expected to do,
by Justice
Cashless society can be harmful to low-income and homeless people. It makes basic needs more inaccessible, increases surveillance and gives government and private companies more control over people. As society moves in an increasingly technologically dependent direction, people are relying on cashless payments for convenience and ease. But this current wave of invisible currency, which stands in the shadow as the pandemic’s primary use, becomes a gaping hole when it comes to homeless and low-income people of the city.
by Marisa Kendall/ CalMatters
In major cities and more rural areas, arrests and citations rose in the months following last summer’s Supreme Court decision. In some places, officials insist the events are unrelated.
Homeless residents of some of California’s biggest cities increasingly are facing criminal penalties for the actions they take to survive on the street, according to a first-of-its-kind CalMatters analysis of data throughout the state.
UPDATE: On July 23, both sides agreed to settle the lawsuit out of court, pending approval by the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor’s office.
What’s at Stake: Coalition on Homelessness is a challenge to the City and County of San Francisco’s efforts to criminalize homelessness through an array of unconstitutional practices, including confiscating and destroying the personal property of unhoused people without adequate notice or due process,
