A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same”)
” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
The usual deluge of the election season, the series of slick, glossy election pamphlets and mailers, became an avalanche this year shoveled in by a ghoulish group of corporate executives, real estate developers and other moneyed interests pinned their hopes on the power of print.
Since it was implemented in 1992, San Francisco’s Shelter Grievance Policy has protected shelter residents from unjust eviction by utilizing a clear notification process, requiring administrative hearings with neutral arbitrators, and extending to all residents the right to representation by a Shelter Client Advocate. Almost 30 years later however, the Shelter Grievance Policy is under assault by city administrators. In these unprecedented times it is crucially important that the homeless community, shelter providers and tenant organizers demand that the City keep in place the established Shelter Grievance Policy and expand its protections from unjust evictions to ALL temporary shelters in San Francisco.
On October 20, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed the Encampment Management Policy (EMP), despite hundreds of public comments decrying the policy and public demonstrations organized by a coalition of homeless advocacy organizations. The policy threatens to force unhoused people out of the encampments they have created to survive in 98% of Oakland.
The EMP sounds innocuous enough, especially how the councilmembers frame this policy they claim will help unhoused communities. Even Mayor Libby Schaaf encouraged housed people to support the EMP,
NO NEW SF JAIL COALITION & THE CLOSURE OF COUNTY JAIL 4 IN 850 BRYANT ST
In late September 2020, after years of work and support heightened over the past several months via No New SF Jail Coalition, San Francisco is no longer imprisoning individuals in County Jail 4, 850 Bryant Street.
No New SF Jail Coalition, founded in 2013, is an abolitionist coalition based in community accountability and transformative justice practices.
Despite the city’s provision of approximately 200 safe campsites and its plan to reopen 1,000 shelter beds, thousands of unhoused San Franciscans are still without any form of shelter while San Francisco shelters in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this ongoing shortage of resources and safe shelter options for unhoused San Franciscans, the Coalition on Homelessness launches a campaign on How to be a Housed Ally to People Experiencing Homelessness.
On Tuesday, October 20, Supervisor Matt Haney introduced legislation stating that all permanent supportive housing, where the vast majority of people exit homelessness, should have rents no more than 30% of income. This was lead by the #30RightNow Coalition, led by many of the affected tenants, plus organizations such as the Supportive Housing Providers Network, Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association (HESPA), Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing (DISH), Episcopal Community Services,
Meanwhile, advocates advise San Francisco on homelessness funding
“The Court of Appeal Decision stands. Proposition C is valid.
WE WONNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!”
That was the announcement I received via Facebook Messenger on Wednesday, September 8 about Prop. C taking effect.
After almost two years, the measure known as “Our City, Our Home” can now live up to the promise of its name, affirming that I’m part of a city committed to housing homeless people and keeping them housed.
Over the past 10 years, San Francisco has gone through a thorough change of scenery, from artist weirdo hub to an odd suburbia parallel timeline. The kind of people that inhabit the city change the landscape and the city seeks to appease these people while maintaining its glory. Where you are on the tier systems of the city will shape how you view what’s working and what’s not. Here’s one person’s living example of moving through the system created to house or hurt San Francisco’s houseless populace.
As I write this, it is Labor Day, and I am struggling to get through this overly hot weekend, especially as a tenant in a 100+ year old building master-leased for formerly homeless folks. Furthermore, as the COVID-19 crisis continues, we are urged to stay at home, but what happens if home is too hot for us?
And speaking of COVID-19, as an activist, I must advocate for supportive housing rights remotely, but this often is complicated by the fact that Zoom meetings being data-intensive,
I scan the City’s COVID-19 Alternative Housing dashboard this morning as I have most mornings since April. “Total Current in SIP Hotels: 2,340” and “Total Current in SIP Congregate: 485” read a few of the metrics, typical of the acronym-filled jargon that fills most City reports. (Translation: “SIP” stands for “shelter in place” and “congregate” is a group setting like a shelter.) My fellow Hotels Not Hospitals organizers and I have struggled to find out what’s really going on in the hotels,
