The route to the Snakepit homeless encampment is as circuitous as the name suggests. Taking Muni in any direction involves a stop requiring a 10-minute walk to Seventh and King streets in what’s now called the Mission Bay neighborhood. That trip concludes with a dead end that’s fenced off by the Caltrain line and shadowed by the Interstate 280 overpass.

This is — or was — the terrain that made the Snakepit one of the longest surviving camps while the City disbanded several other encampments throughout San Francisco.

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As San Francisco considers arming its police force with Tasers for the fifth time, we explore the history of the electronic control weapon and how it’s worked out for other cities.

On September 28, a person in Oakland was shocked with a Taser after allegedly trying to flee a car crash scene, but died in police custody after the weapon was used and then taken to the hospital. There are a lot of questions surrounding the incident,

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Hurricanes Irma and Harvey delivered a devastating one-two punch to Texas and Florida, forcing millions to evacuate and leaving thousands displaced. Now, as emergency responders try to help hurricane victims cope with the aftermath of the storm, previously homeless residents are taking a particularly hard hit.

In Florida, as officials rushed to open emergency shelters for those forced from their homes by Irma, some residents who had been homeless before the hurricane were forced to wear bright yellow bracelets to mark their status.

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The City continues to expand parking restrictions that have a detrimental impact on people who reside in their vehicles.

On Tuesday September 19, 2017 the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors and Parking Authority Commission’s had yet another parking restriction on the agenda that would displace more people who live in their vehicles.  The board told MTA representatives that they are no longer willing to take requests for more “Oversize Vehicle” restrictions until the City develops alternatives,

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Mikey: The point of this mini-comic is to spread awareness about Harm Reduction, to explain what it is, and to tell people about some of the kinds of programs related to it that are(or could be)in S.F.  Things have regressed in the U.S. in terms of drug policy and attitudes(back to the dark ages) since Trump has become president.  In this mini-comic, we compare and contrast harm reduction to the war on drugs. 

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On April 20, 2017, the City of San Francisco was awarded a $5.9 million, 26-month grant from the state Board of State and Community Corrections. This grant will support the implementation of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD SF) program. Based on a model developed in Seattle, LEAD SF is an innovative pre-booking diversion program that will refer repeat, low-level drug offenders, at their earliest contact with law enforcement, to community-based health and social services as an alternative to jail and prosecution.

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Ishmael Pearson is a 33 year old San Francisco native and a vendor for the Street Sheet. He currently lives in section 8 housing in the Tenderloin, not far from our office. He’s lived there for about five years. Before finding a home in the Tenderloin however, he was homeless. Suffering from schizophrenia for many years, Ishmael found it difficult to sustain permanent housing. At this point, his two main sources of income are his SSI disability and the money he makes selling the Street Sheet.

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According to a recent Yale University study of worldwide homelessness, the “continuation of homelessness, especially among the wealthy countries, reflects denial and the lack of political will to address poverty and many other issues.” This is especially true for the United States, where the problem of homelessness is surrounded by social myths and stigma. Common sense dictates that without a clear understanding of the problem, it is impossible to find a way to resolving it.

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