A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Sam Lew
On August 22, over 100 health care workers, community members, and public health advocates showed up to the Behavioral Health Center’s Adult Residential Facility (ARF) to protest the displacement of those who are mentally ill from the facility.
The ARF is a board and care facility that houses the City’s most vulnerable clients who have serious and persistent mental illnesses and cannot live independently. Residents of the ARF may be unable to prepare their own food,
by Jennifer Friedenbach
Handouts are nice
Organizing is nicer
Unity is preferred
Solidarity is required
I am nothing without us
No person can be excluded
God will not craft justice
It will take all of us fighting together
Social justice cannot wait
All of us are
Hurt when one of us are suffering
Unless we want blood on our hands
Many of us must take action
And do what is necessary
Nothing can stop us
Rising up
Instilling hope
Getting what is ours
Housing for all peoples
Treatment on demand
by AF
In the building I live in we have critters and roaches, and sometimes the bathrooms are kinda messed up with feces and cigarette butts, toilet paper all around and left on the floor. Usually the building is inspected once every year, but recently they’ve been doing it every month just to harass us. I want these conditions to improve because it is inhumane how people live with these conditions. We have pest control come but they just treat the rooms,
by Tee Hoatson
If you work in community with folks on the streets near downtown San Francisco, news of the August 7 mass arrest has reached you by now.
In one fell swoop, the San Francisco Police Department arrested 50 individuals allegedly selling meth, fentanyl, heroin and cocaine in a 50-block area, covering large portions of the Tenderloin and Civic Center, and Federal Agencies arrested 37 more. All of the individuals arrested by the feds were Central American immigrants.
Art Auction 2019
An Interview with Leslie Dreyer
by Johnna Gadomski and Ella-Rose Kessler
“All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. And the ones that try hard not to be political are political by saying, ‘We love the status quo,’” – Toni Morrison (1931-2019), Rest in Power.
The world of artistic activism embraces the political nature of art, leveraging art to inspire thoughtful conversations,
by Tracey Mixon
The San Francisco Chronicle recently published a list of Frequently Asked Questions about homeless families in San Francisco. This was the question. “How many families are homeless, and what’s being done to help them?”
The Chronicle’s reply? “The 2019 one-night homeless count found 201 families (612 people), a count similar to the 2017 one-night count of 190 families (601 persons). That means 8% of the total counted homeless population is made up of families.
by Darnell Boyd
Why are the police writing tickets and taking tents when there aren’t enough shelter beds and apartments to put people in? The tent takers are exposing the homeless folks to the elements. We all know what happens when unhoused people are exposed to cold air, cold rain, and a hot sun: they get sick and have to go to the emergency room. Those who are elderly will not survive that long out there,
By Lisa Aragon
Sometimes you don’t know what to do
If you look, there will be help, that is true
Things you need are long overdue
Life does not always give us the best view
Homelessness will never be new
People that get over it are very few
Everyone is locked in some kind of zoo
Whenever you pray,
by Jennifer Friedenbach
Look around
Open eyes look back
Back back back to slavery time
Black bodies bent
Stolen bodies working stolen land
Brown First Nation bodies strewn
Stolen lives losing Stolen futures
Look around
Open eyes look forward
Forward forward forward to Reagan Trump times
Black bodies lying askew
Stolen belongings sleeping without on stolen ground
Brown bodies kidnapped and detained
Stolen futures killing stolen dreams
Look around
Open eyes see resistance
Resist resist resist to a new time
Black bodies reclaim their homes
Brown bodies reclaim their dreams
Black and brown and white unite
