A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
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,
Jay* entered a room he described as “dull, with fluorescent flickering lights” that continued to aggravate him, part of the reason why he was 5150’d in the first place. Persons who are deemed a danger to themselves (by the way of intense self-harm or suicidal ideation), a danger to others, and/or are gravely disabled may be involuntarily confined to psychiatric emergency services for up to 72 hours for stabilization. Police officers,
Since 2015, homelessness in San Francisco has decreased one percent. According to San Francisco’s just-released 2017 Point in Time Count, there are 7,499 homeless San Franciscans—down just 40 people since the previous 2015 count.
More than half of this homeless population is unsheltered. San Francisco’s adult shelter wait list has consistently been over 1,000 people since last year, leaving people to sleep in their cars, streets, parks, and abandoned buildings.
Marginalized communities were disproportionately represented in the homeless population.
For many of us already engaged in the fight for justice, safety and equity for TLGB people, this past November’s election signaled a major setback in our work. Throughout the Obama administration, we saw the ways that the work we have done in our communities truly could impact the federal government’s policies. Over the past several months, TLGB people’s fear has grown as Trump’s platform of homophobic and transphobic policy, increased incarceration, increased military spending,
