A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
The night I found myself sleeping in the rain outside of a Subway sandwich shop in San Francisco any pretense I’d built my life on up until that point instantly vanished.
Outside of Subway that night I asked myself how I had gotten to that point. I asked myself was there any hope or was where I lay the next phase of my life, again to occupy such a lowly state? The question itself so overwhelmed me I could find no satisfying answer.
San Francisco Food not Bombs
Food not Bombs is an international network that uses otherwise wasted food to cook and publically serve food, to whoever is hungry. The group considers its work to be a form of protest against the military-industrial complex and in support of universal access to food, regardless of ability to pay.
In August of 1988, San Francisco Police arrested 9 Food not Bombs activists for serving food without a permit at the Stanyan Street entrance of Golden Gate Park.
Mother Mary Ann Wright
Saint of the Poor
slept sitting up all night
so she could feel
the suffering
of the homeless
all over earth’s shores
Hearing God’s call
to take blankets
food and clothes
to the homeless
on the streets
in the darkest nights
Mary Ann Wright did go
How many souls
she fed and clothed
the world will never know
but her love for the poor
lives on through eternity
and her saint’s halo
forever glows
Mother Mary Ann Wright
Saint of the Poor
sheltering the homeless
in her loving arms
she was the mother
they had never known
sent by God alone
Mark Farrell’s abbreviated term as mayor will apparently be defined by one thing — the removal of tent dwellings from homeless San Franciscans. If so, that definitive moment came April 25, when otherwise unhoused people who have erected tents and other improvised shelters were swept out of an area under the U.S. Highway 101 overpass in the latest of street evictions.
Under orders from Farrell, police and public works crews appeared in full force and began breaking down an encampment on Division Street around 6 a.m.
San Francisco, CA — On Tuesday, April 3rd, community groups from around San Francisco hosted a rally against SB 827 outside City Hall, with dozens of people of color sharing stories of their own housing struggles in the city as well as their fears at the gentrifying impact the pro-development measure would have on their neighborhoods. But their voices were repeatedly drowned out by chants from a young, largely white group of YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) affiliates,
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This June, San Franciscans will have an opportunity to vote on a ballot measure – Proposition F – which, if passed, would guarantee free legal counsel to any tenant served an eviction notice. This program, which would be the first of its kind in California, would represent a commitment to confronting the city’s housing crunch in a real and immediate way.
In the past few years, we have seen displacement in San Francisco continue to accelerate.
San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is known both locally, and nationally for killing unarmed people of color. Discourse about arming SFPD with tasers has been filled with persistent battles between affected communities and SFPD for the past 13 years. Despite decades of protests, the San Francisco police association has written an initiative to arm San Francisco police with tasers. This initiative is Proposition H, which will be put on the ballot in the June election.
Why the US keep failing homelessness and what is so special about Finland?
Odd Request.
I was sitting by the famous fountain on the UN plaza enjoying a warm day of the San Franciscan spring and great Internet reception when a person whom I would call Mark approached me with a very unusual request. Shaven, clean and stylishly dressed gentleman in his 40’s Mark looked anything but homeless, but many years of experience with street personalities taught me that they are no less diverse than a society which created them and can be dressed in any way or style.
Last Saturday, over 150 members of different campaigns, projects, and coalitions fighting against the violence of policing and imprisonment attended a half day summit at City College of SF Mission Campus titled Joining Forces Against Policing and Jails in San Francisco. The powerful gathering was organized by the No New SF Jail Coalition, and sought to strengthen connections between organizations to better address the interlocking impacts of imprisonment, policing, surveillance, courts, and prosecution in San Francisco.
My leg has been giving me problems my whole life. It is my right leg. If you were facing me, it would be the left one you see, if we were facing each other. I have had stitches, and I have had a 3rd degree burn, (proudly not going to the doctors, healing it with homemade concoctions) and I have severely stabbed myself. All superficial. The ankle break. That’s one of the reasons why I can’t walk now.
