A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
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,
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
by Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
California’s main source of homelessness funding would drop from $1 billion last year to $0 this year in the proposed state budget.
State leaders have been talking a lot lately about cleaning up California’s homeless encampments and moving people indoors. But the tentative budget they’ve drawn up for the upcoming year has many asking: With what money?
Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have proposed gutting the state’s main source of homelessness funding in the 2025-26 budget,
by Jack Bragen
Recently, I went to see a doctor in my new neighborhood, one where most of the population is high-income. When I got to the waiting room, I happened to spot a couple of people who are likely on Medicare as I am. It was comforting to realize that I would not stand out as the only economic misfit.
Everyone seems to be ahead of me in life and can handle a faster pace than I can.
