A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
“Man sleeping on bench on Hayes St. near Gough. Can someone come asap, I am in the area having lunch,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed texted police Chief William Scott in August of 2019.
“Copy. We are sending a team,” he responded two minutes later.
Eight minutes after that, when the police had presumably not shown up to escort the homeless man away, Breed texted Chief Scott again.
On Friday afternoon several dozen people gathered outside the unassuming Palms Motel in Oakland, CA with signs reading “Housing is a Human Right” and “Hotels Not Graves.” Inside, Stefani Echeverría-Fenn, an adjunct classics lecturer who herself was formerly homeless and has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years, has chained herself in the bathroom of a small room. She has been demanding that the City of Oakland offer hotel rooms where she has helped set up for her unhoused neighbors at the intentional encampment at 37th Street and Martin Luther King,
San Francisco is a racist city. Black people in SF get evicted at higher rates, are subjected to environmental pollution at higher rates, get cancer at higher rates, get displaced at higher rates, get kicked out of school at higher rates, get bogus stopped by police at higher rates, get killed at higher rates, get jailed at higher rates.
Let’s talk about poverty – African Americans are much more likely to be poor in SF,
A response to Mayor’s Neglect of Homeless San Franciscans during Global Pandemic
“Housing is the cure!”
This mantra was shouted from the windows of over 50 vehicles rolled together in a caravan demanding hotel rooms and long term housing solutions for the 7,000 people currently fighting for survival on the streets of San Francisco.
The action marked the launch of “Housing is the Cure”, a campaign to demand immediate action to support all people experiencing homelessness in the city during the COVID19 pandemic.
Friday, May 8th
I went out to the encampment at what they call Fulton Mall today — the area on Fulton Street surrounded by the Asian Art Museum, the San Francisco Main Library and the Civic Center Plaza; As outreachers at the Coalition on Homelessness, we’ve been spending a lot of time there over the past week and a half. Today, things got lively! It has been extremely challenging getting straight answers, but I feel like we started getting some today.
A plea for survival during COVID-19
“Like anybody, I would like to have a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.”
-Martin Luther King Jr. on April 3, 1968, the evening before he was assassinated.
These final prophetic words of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Press release: SAN QUENTIN PRISON PROTEST West Gate, Saturday May 9 @ 11AM
A car caravan demonstration to demand protection from the deadly COVID-19 virus for prisoners is set for Saturday, May 9th. Cars will assemble at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal parking lot at 10AM. The caravan will begin at 11AM driving up Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to the West Gate of San Quentin State Prison. They will be protesting prison authorities who are leaving the most vulnerable people—prison inmates in overcrowded conditions—in danger without basic protections and unable to enact physical distancing.
I am Anakh Sul Rama. I am formerly homeless and I live with and community-organize with formerly homeless people in single resident occupancy hotels, or SROs.
I don’t think that people know what they are saying when they say that “We are ALL in this together.” We are not all in this together. Similar to how the phrase “ALL lives matter” whitewashes the implications of police violence on black people, “we are all in this together” minimizes the incredible struggle disparity that exists in our day-to-day from a race and class context.
San Francisco is being held as an exemplar in its approach to “flattening the curve” during the COVID—19 pandemic. But unhoused people and their advocates are saying the City is actually behind the curve when it comes to halting the spread among the homeless population.
As of April 24, the SF Department of Public Health has reported 134 positive cases among people with no fixed residence, which comprises exactly 10% of 1,340 cases citywide.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic due to COVID—19, the viral disease that is affecting many countries throughout the world. As a result, LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning) communities all over the United States are facing challenges, especially those who are homeless. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation published a research brief recently that indicates that 17% of LGBTQ people lack health coverage, 1 in 5 LGBTQ people live in poverty,
