Coalition on Homelessness et al v. San Francisco: City Balks on Settlement Offer

by TJ Johnston
A tent is in the center of the frame. In front of it is what looks like a white dollhouse, laying flat on the ground. The image is in Black and White

The Coalition on Homelessness offered to settle its lawsuit against San Francisco for its illegal practices of sweeping unhoused people off sidewalks. The City rejected the offer.

In a Thursday letter to City Attorney David Chiu, Mayor London Breed and others, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the American Civil Liberties Union Northern California said that both sides could work together toward a shared goal of tackling the dual problems of street homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. 

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The Future Starts Now

by Contributing Author

When Mayor London Breed submitted her budget to the Board of Supervisors on June 1, it had many problematic elements, but one in particular stood out for the Coalition on Homelessness: The mayor’s plan would raid $60 million from youth and family housing to pay for short-term housing, subsidies, shelter and other temporary funds for adults.

While visiting a tiny home site, Mayor Breed announced her plan that she wanted to fund shelter beds for unhoused San Franciscans.

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A Record Add-back Year for the Budget!

by Contributing Author
Members of the Budget Justice Coalition inside Board of Supervisors chamber at SF City Hall

by Jennifer Friedenbach

It was a record add-back year, even though there was a decrease in General Fund revenue and we had a Mayor’s proposed budget that cut many community programs including $60 million from housing for homeless youth and families and $30 million from child care in two voter initiatives (from 2018).  In total the add-back pot for an overall $14.6 billion budget was $80 million over two years.  

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These Researchers Lived Through Homelessness. Now, They’ve Analyzed It. 

by TJ Johnston
Let This Radicalize You

The latest study of unhoused Californians made headlines, even though its findings are already considered common knowledge among people engaged with the issue. However, what was unusual about the research team investigating homelessness in California is that the team are formerly or currently unhoused residents of the Golden State—and similar groups are emerging around the state. 

Call them lived experience boards, lived expertise boards or community advisory boards—bodies with formerly and presently unhoused folk are becoming commonplace in nonprofit organizations and municipal agencies,

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Celebrating a Five-year Victory for Transit Justice!

by Contributing Author

by Zach

Pop the champagne corks—or the apple Martinelli’s! It’s been five long years of struggle to access buses in my wheelchair and reach a settlement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the City and County of San Francisco. The ink is dry, and it’s time to celebrate!

What has this long and arduous litigation accomplished? Actual changes to SFMTA rules, training, website access, disability discrimination reporting process,

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Interview with an Unlikely Transit Justice Ally: Roger Marenco

by Contributing Author

by Zach

Throughout the years of work I put into my lawsuit against the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA), my most unlikely ally was Roger Marenco—a man who was brave enough to look beyond his immediate needs, to see the struggle of the vulnerable and disenfranchised. While currently on the outs with the Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 250A, the union he was elected president of from 2018 to 2022,

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Anti-Homeless Violence

by Quiver Watts

The New Lynchings of the 21st Century

Updated on May 16th to reflect current developments

What does Walgreens carry on its shelves that could be worth a human life? Banko Brown was a young Black trans activist who had been unhoused in San Francisco for a decade. In his volunteer work and community organizing with the Young Women’s Freedom Center, he consistently advocated for basic access to services, and was beloved by his community. 

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We Need Multifaceted Solutions to Homelessness

by Contributing Author

What We’re Looking For as Prop C Funds Roll Out

BellaRoze Nelson

San Francisco is OUR home. No matter where we came from or how we ended up here, we are here. We are human, we too reminisce about the good old days, and wonder when the line between right and wrong got so hazy. The streets of San Francisco tell a brutal story of wealth, poverty and the pursuit of profit over the housing needs of human beings.

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Understanding the “A Place For All” Hearing

by Contributing Author

By: Carlos Wadkins

On Tuesday, March 21 San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors convened a special hearing for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to present its “A Place For All” report. The department released this report last December as required by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s legislation of the same name. Since then Mandelman has been a vocal critic of the report, claiming on Twitter that it “is not a serious or feasible effort to end unsheltered homelessness” because of the high price tag attached and HSH’s insistence on an investment package which includes shelter,

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No Oasis for Homeless Families

by Contributing Author

by Ian James, Yessica Hernandez and Migeul Carrera

The Oasis Inn family shelter once again sits empty, after the building’s owners decided to allow its lease with the City of San Francisco to expire at the end of January. The Oasis Inn provided shelter to dozens of unhoused pregnant people and families, including families fleeing domestic violence. 

The City’s lease was originally scheduled to expire at the end of December.

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