A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. The first part of my life was pretty violent. My dad was an alcoholic drug dealer and he was a very violent man, but the second part was pretty cool. Me and my stepdad spent a lot of time working on getting and feeling better, but I was already traumatized. My stepdad had a hard time with me, because I never told anyone about my trauma, and I had a lot of trauma in my early years of life.
Insufficient income taxes on the rich, cash-starved local governments, and opportunistic developers constitute the ingredients for a particularly bitter pill for low-income people: higher rents.
So says Peter Moskowitz, who has written a new book exploring gentrification and its impacts on American cities. But what particularly worries him is the fact that young white people moving to cities—those urbanites who contribute to gentrification while also suffering the effects of it—fail to recognize they can be part of a badly needed mainstream political movement for housing.
Grassroots movements of people organized under the banner of Black Lives Matter have put law enforcement under a whole new level of scrutiny. The public outcries and unrest of the communities of Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles have unleashed a new push toward a different kind of relationship between communities and law enforcement. One that employs new technologies and techniques. The United States Department of Justice has recommended that local law enforcement explore reducing the use of force,
Across the nation, homeless and housing advocates are fighting against the $6.8 billion Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. The Department is led by former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has said that compassion is means not providing “a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me” and that poverty is a “state of mind.”
Since the proposed cuts,
An ordinance prohibiting outdoor bicycle assembly is on track to pass at the Board of Supervisors, and it could lead to penalizing homeless people and seizure of their bicycles, according to homeless advocates.
The board’s Land Use and Transportation Committee sent it to the full board on July 10 on a 2–1 vote. If it passes there, the ordinance would outlaw open-air “chop shops” where bicycles are put together and sold.
What actually defines a lifetime of achievement? The work and the life of Jennifer Friedenbach exemplifies what it means to achieve a life of purpose, dedication, and creation of social good for others. It’s evident with her work at the Coalition on Homelessness for the past 23 years, which includes strides in substance abuse treatment and a legislative tenacity to assist the homeless population, solidifying Jennifer’s work as a pioneer in fighting injustices and poverty.
Hunger is a universal part of the human experience. That all-consuming rumble in the belly is a feeling familiar to all of us. To function at their best, our bodies need a proper balance of vitamins and minerals, as well as plenty of water. Proteins, fiber and oils are also necessary to sufficiently meet our nutritional needs. While just about anything edible can make the hunger vanish, there is a difference between filling your stomach and feeding your body.
Earlier this June, the Coalition on Homelessness was invited to the National Forum in the Human Right to Housing in Washington D.C. The Conference was facilitated by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. It was a gathering of frontline service providers, grassroots organizers, and legal advocates working on behalf of poor, unhoused communities across the United States. Over the course of the two-day conference, the attendees shared stories of their local campaigns as well as different strategies and lessons learned.
Laying in a hospital bed
An old friend talking shit
Saying it with dirty lips,
I wasn’t finished being lit..
The memory of thirty years
Past and pissed;
A doctor admitted (consoling)
He’d kissed his kids with sober lips—
I wish I’d listened to his tips.
He convinced me he’d REALLY been there
And now he lived without a care.
My name is Ebony Giddens Flournoy. My mom was an alcoholic and so my older brother and sister would take care of all us, because we were little, you know. One of my sisters died because she was taking pills and she passed away; my other two brothers are in prison. I was born in San Diego, CA. I used to do heroin and cocaine in San Diego and my mom got me off of that and got me on methadone,
