A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Eric Muscosky
Workers at the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team spend their days helping people struggling on the streets. Now they want a fair workplace.
On August 20, workers at San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team (SFHOT) voted 38–6 to form a union with the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). Workers said that, in addition to improved benefits, they’re hoping for more power to shape decisions about the services they provide to San Francisco’s unhoused residents.
by Cathleen Williams
All of the material things that belong to Stephanie Arnold Williams fit on two small shelves in her dwelling place on the sidewalk of East Sixth Street in Los Angeles. She lives here under an airy, white tent; she is building a sleeping platform next door. Stephanie has set up this tiny oasis, clean and cool, outside the sturdy cement block building that houses LA Community Action Network (LA CAN) in the heart of Skid Row.
by Robyn Woof
The following article is part of INSP’s Changing the Narrative series. It has been written as the result of the new journalism training academy, established in 2025 by INSP to provide people with direct experience of homelessness and poverty the opportunity to learn about journalism and the media, and to enhance their storytelling and written abilities. The training academy has two ambitions: to challenge media and public misconceptions about homelessness;
On Friday, September 19, 2025, Mayor Daniel Lurie signed a settlement that requires the City to follow its bag-and-tag policy and establish strong accountability and oversight measures. This marks a significant hard fought victory for all unhoused people across San Francisco. The lawsuit was brought by the Coalition on Homelessness, its members, plaintiffs, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2022,
by Lupe Velez
The Trump Administration, during its short time in power, has waged strategic attacks on nearly every marginalized group in the country. It has slashed funds for health care, education, environmental protections and more. President Trump’s direct attack on the homeless population began in August of 2025, when he deployed the National Guard to clear homeless encampments in Washington, D.C. This followed his executive order on July 24, when he outlined his plan in a press conference to increase sweeps,
by the National Homelessness Law Center
Everybody needs a safe place to live. But instead of lowering rents and fixing our broken housing system, politicians are setting the stage for violence by cutting funding for vital programs, passing laws that make it a crime to sleep outside, and continually demonizing and vilifying homeless people. Their actions have devastating and fatal consequences.
Three separate incidents within the last week highlight this horrific trend.
by Jordan Wasilewski
On September 2, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) sent its report on evictions from Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), as required by City law. For background, the ordinance requiring annual reports was pushed by then-Supervisor Mark Farrell in 2015 with little stakeholder engagement.
The report indicates the number of written notices (notifications of a landlord’s intent to initiate eviction process),
Homeless Activist and Mother Fights for Housing as Disabled Daughter Leaves Hospital
by Lupe Velez
On Tuesday August 27, Faith in Action, in collaboration with United Educators of San Francisco and the Coalition on Homelessness, held a press conference, rally and march, starting at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the Mission District and continuing to Catholic Charities. The event was held in support of a houseless family, Maria Zavala and her daughter Samara,
by Cathleen Williams and Sandy Perry
Washington DC, August 12, 2025: “Yesterday, I walked from the White House through the National Mall… The streets are eerily empty for an August afternoon near the storied monuments. In some places, there are more ICE, DEA, ARNG, and FBI personnel than there are regular people. There are fire trucks blocking lanes of traffic for no reason. There are Humvees sitting outside of Union Station for no reason other than to terrorize people–to let *us know that we are being watched…” Facebook post,
by Apple Cronk
Last month, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14321—“Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” By criminalizing homelessness, addiction and mental health crises, the order strips federal support from lifesaving public health solutions like Housing First and harm reduction—the very policies that saved my life and my daughter’s, and made my nearly three years of recovery possible.
I spent over a decade unhoused in San Francisco.
