A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
We have seen what’s possible, and we can never go back to what was.
One could say that Proposition C – Our City, Our Home, began as a kind of quixotic imagining of possibilities, and, hopefully, if things worked out, much-needed increased funds for tackling the City’s homelessness crisis. A crucial ruling by the CA Supreme Court presented a window of opportunity that might not come again.
On a sunny winter day early in this century’s second decade, Jack Dawe locked his mountain bike outside a Financial District skyscraper and sauntered into the neo-Gothic building, so familiar to him from his messenger days.
He strolled through the lobby, nodded toward the security guard who acknowledged Dawe who then tapped the “Up” button next to one of fifteen elevators.
Soon Dawe was in the conference room of the City’s Chamber of Commerce,
Proposition 10 is the most important piece of renter legislation to hit ballots in decades. It is an indispensable step in relieving the affordability crisis which has fueled a statewide wave of no-fault evictions, displacement, and homelessness as prices have skyrocketed from speculative development. Prop 10 is the canary in the coal mine, signaling who is for a progressive agenda to create lasting housing security, and who is profiting from a broken system fueled by class-based exclusion and the commodification of housing.
On Monday, October 22, a crowd of a hundred or more advocates representing dozens of local community groups gathered at City Hall in San Francisco with a common (though singular) goal: to close the San Francisco Jail. Those same demonstrators were back again on Wednesday, October 24th to speak at a public hearing and make their case.
After a successful campaign to prevent a new jail from opening several years back, the No New SF Jail Coalition is advancing its plan to decarcerate the city and move away from policing and toward healing and community support.
My name is Tracey.
I am a peer organizer at the Coalition on Homelessness. And I am currently homeless.
I am a single parent of an 8 years old daughter.
My story is not unique. I was stably housed for several years but I was still considered homeless due to my not being on a lease.
When I lost my housing I was in an emergency shelter briefly,
TOP “NO ON C” CONTRIBUTORS
(as of Oct. 31, 2018, from SF Ethics Commission)
With 7500 people on the streets in San Francisco according to the 2017 San Francisco Point in Time Homeless Count, organizations are eager to create unique and innovative solutions to end the homelessness crisis in San Francisco. While some nonprofit organizations focus on advertising services available to homeless San Franciscans, ShelterTech believes in giving people access to technological tools which inform them of resources they can use to exit homelessness. ShelterTech is an all-volunteer organization founded in 2016 by Darcel Jackson,
San Joaquin Democratic Assemblymember Susan Eggman and Senator Scott Wiener, recently authored legislation championed emphatically by San Francisco mayor London Breed. Assembly Bill 186 was a bill that would have provided safe injection sites for the intravenous drug-using population of San Francisco. It began its uphill battle three years ago as a bill that would allow all 58 counties throughout California to independently run safe injection site programs, also referred to as safe consumption centers.
On October 19th, the United Nations Special Rapporteur to the Right to Adequate Housing, Lelani Farha, released her new report documenting the “global scandal” of homeless encampments. In January of 2017, Farha spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California to meet with unhoused residents and housed advocates and described the conditions as “cruel and inhumane”. The only U.S. cities explicitly called out for violations in the UN’s report on global homelessness are San Francisco and Oakland.
One common issue for urban households is lack of leisure space. Often, urban development emphasizes car traffic over pedestrian accessibility, Los Angeles is a case in point; it’s very difficult to move around the city without a car. For kids, this often means more time spent indoors than exercising and spending time with their friends outside. This issue is compounded with kids who live in more dangerous neighborhoods, where parents may not feel comfortable letting their kids play outside alone.
