A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
Losing income is the No. 1 reason Californians end up homeless—and the vast majority of them say a subsidy of as little as $300 a month could have kept them off the streets.
That’s according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that provides the most comprehensive look yet at California’s homeless crisis.
In the six months prior to becoming homeless,
by Homefulness Resident/Formerly Homeless Poverty Scholar Israel Muñoz
learn more about Homefulness here: https://www.poormagazine.org/homefulness
(Espanol/Spanish)
Hoy, como todos, sigo con la lucha de cada día. Dejar el alcohol y con la ayuda de la gente que tuve la suerte de conocer a través de otra persona. Una persona con la que tuve el honor de compartir y aprender cosas que no se enseñan en la escuela,
by Amir, DeeColonize Academy
Learn more about homefulness here: https://www.poormagazine.org/homefulness
Homefulness is a community launched by Dee and Tiny Garcia. Homefulness is a safe place for people of color that could join us in the movement to free Mama Earth along with all of our Po Uncles, Aunties, Grandmas and Grandpas. I study at Deecolonize Academy – a school at Homefulness in East Oakland.
Homefulness is a place that helps our fellow houseless relatives on the streets.
by Terry Johnson
You are on Indigenous lands swimming in Indigenous waters looking up at Indigenous skies looking down at Indigenous water creatures There is no part of this place that was not is not cared for loved
Those who are not Indigenous to this land are Settlers
This does not mean being a part of peaceful settlement
It means being a part of settler-colonialism
where invaders came and never left
By Ava Cameron
Once upon a time, my Navajo people were a proud Indigenous community living on our ancestral lands, in present day Arizona and New Mexico. For years and generations, they had lived in harmony with the land, respecting and preserving its natural resources. However, as the world around them changed, the community found itself increasingly marginalized and pushed out of its traditional lands. With no power, political support or resources to fight back,
Research by TJ Johnston, Graphics by Gloria Fung
At Wood Street, a Bond No Bulldozer Can Destroy
Freeway
The sun was high, beating down mercilessly on the volunteers and advocates, as if to say, “I’m on their side, and we don’t want you here.” They, in this case, were the entire Oakland Police (OPD) force, and an endless parade of Department of Public Works (DPW) workers under the command of Oakland city administrators Harold Duffy and LaTonda Simmons.
by TJ Johnston
For years, the mantra for advocates of unhoused people has been “sweeps kill.” Now, their tagline has science and hard numbers to back it up.
In a study focused on 23 U.S. cities including San Francisco, researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and several other academic institutions determined that unsheltered people who inject drugs and who are repeatedly forced out of street encampments are likely to suffer higher illness and death rates than their peers who stay put.
by Kenyota
Homelessness is an ever-present and ever-growing problem which seems to confound policymakers around our nation. Many believe that the current crisis facing America is one which can be easily solved through some magical stroke of a lawmaker’s pen or an elected official’s savvy decision making. However, it appears the more attention politicians have given to this issue, the greater the misunderstanding and social stigma. The best “solutions” only seem to exacerbate an already unpopular social crisis and increase a gulf of misunderstanding between those who have and those who have not.
By Jordan Davis
In March, I was in a Rules Committee meeting watching and commenting on appointments from both the mayor and Board of Supervisors to the new Homelessness Oversight Commission (HOC), a body that is purported to provide meaningful direction and oversight to the troubled Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). I voted “no” on the charter amendment last year that created the HOC, because—unlike the recently established Sheriff’s Oversight Body,
