In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cashless

by Contributing Author

by Justice

Cashless society can be harmful to low-income and homeless people. It makes basic needs more inaccessible, increases surveillance and gives government and private companies more control over people. As society moves in an increasingly technologically dependent direction, people are relying on cashless payments for convenience and ease. But this current wave of invisible currency, which stands in the shadow as the pandemic’s primary use, becomes a gaping hole when it comes to homeless and low-income people of the city.

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Homeless-related Arrests, Citations Soared in These California Cities After Supreme Court Case

by Contributing Author

by Marisa Kendall/ CalMatters

In major cities and more rural areas, arrests and citations rose in the months following last summer’s Supreme Court decision. In some places, officials insist the events are unrelated.

Homeless residents of some of California’s biggest cities increasingly are facing criminal penalties for the actions they take to survive on the street, according to a first-of-its-kind CalMatters analysis of data throughout the state.

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Coalition on Homelessness v. San Francisco

by Contributing Author

UPDATE: On July 23, both sides agreed to settle the lawsuit out of court, pending approval by the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor’s office.

What’s at Stake: Coalition on Homelessness is a challenge to the City and County of San Francisco’s efforts to criminalize homelessness through an array of unconstitutional practices, including confiscating and destroying the personal property of unhoused people without adequate notice or due process,

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For Disabled People, Things Will Get Ugly Under “Big, Beautiful” Act 

by Contributing Author

by Jack Bragen

Donald Trump just signed his big bill. It isn’t a “beautiful bill.” It is a crime against the American middle class and poor. And we are in a war of misinformation—but that’s beside the point. This will impact me as a disabled writer, and it won’t be “beautiful” at all.

I am at the bottom, and I can attest from that perspective to all of the power-hungry politicians who want in on the political and monetary pie.

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D5 Supervisor Wants a Shelter in Each District, But Where’s the Housing?

by Contributing Author

by Jordan Wasilewski

I am no fan of my new supervisor, Bilal Mahmood, whom I think cares more for his wealthier constituents in his district than Tenderloin residents. He just proposed legislation that affirms my viewpoint.  

In May, he introduced an ordinance that would require the City to approve new health and homeless facilities in each supervisorial district by June 30, 2026. Those facilities would include new homeless shelters,

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Freedom Costs

by Contributing Author

by Kenyota

Content warning: This piece contains a reference to suicide.

I was homeless on the streets of San Francisco, and in several cities throughout the Bay Area, for over a decade. During those years I experienced what it felt like to be a non-person. I received the harsh stares, societal shunning and feelings of inadequacy that are common among those considered lost in the world of the unhoused.

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Final Budget Does Irreversible Harm to SF Residents, City Policy Priorities

by Contributing Author

Despite important wins, People’s Budget Coalition stands in strong opposition to finalized budget that sacrifices key services and values in order to criminalize poverty

Early on Thursday, June 26, at 2 a.m., the Board of Supervisors Budget and Appropriation committee voted to approve a budget that balances an $800 million deficit on the backs of San Francisco’s poorest and most vulnerable residents while expanding funding for jail expansion, high-end police equipment purchases and Mayor’s Office staffing. 

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MTA Passes Permit Program, Step One of Lurie’s RV Ban

by Contributing Author

by Charlie Fisch and Azucena Hernandez

On Tuesday, June 17, the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Board of Directors met to approve on a 6–1 vote a refuge permit program that would exempt oversize vehicles from a proposed two-hour parking limit for up to 12 months. Approval of the program is only the first step in Mayor Daniel Lurie’s two-phased RV ban. Members of the End Poverty Tows Coalition and their allies told the panel that this plan will lead to displacement and increased street homelessness while residents struggle to find shelter. 

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“Hundreds Will Lose Their Homes!”: Testimonies Against the Mayor’s “Poverty Tows”

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Sarah Menefee

Below are some quotes from testimony given by families who live in their vehicles, and by their advocates, before the SFMTA [San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority], at a hearing on Mayor Lurie’s proposal to institute a 2-hour parking limit on oversized vehicles in San Francisco. Ninety percent of the homeless families in the city live in vehicles such as RVs, and would be in grave danger of having them ticketed and towed,

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The Beat Goes On: The Struggle of LA’s Vehicular Residents and the Venice Justice Committee

by Contributing Author

by Cathleen Williams with Peggy Kennedy

Venice, Los Angeles: A neighborhood for poor people, for renters who used to thrive in cheap apartments on the rundown back streets, a neighborhood famous for its countercultural vibe and freedom, where the wide beach and boardwalk teemed with performers, drag queens, artists, and outcasts. In the 1950s, Venice was a center of the Beat Generation in southern California—a local counterpart to San Francisco’s North Beach.

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