To ‘Protect and Serve’ Whom? Violence by Police Continues

In the United States, we know that law enforcement agencies that were put in place to “protect and serve” have done nothing of the sort. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, community activists, organizers and allies came together across the country to protest and to hold law enforcement agencies accountable to the violence that they cause marginalized communites. Two years after one of the biggest movements began to halt police violence, few true solutions,

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The Pain of Immigration and Homelessness in San Francisco

The thought of it all was so amazing that it sent chills down my spine. America: land of plenty, a second chance, heaven on Earth. A place only seen on TV. Just the thought of visiting makes one do the unbelievable just to get there. Some use marvelous pictures of America as screensavers on their phones, and laptops, and as wallpaper and art  to decorate their homes. This makes most want to live in a fast-lane-life and fantasy world and try to do anything to get to America.

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Got an Eviction Notice? This California Website Will Help You File a Response.

In April, Juan Carlos Cruz Mora received an eviction notice from his landlord that alleged he caused property damage and dirty, unsafe living conditions in the Sacramento suburb duplex he had called home for the last 10 years. He had only five days to file a response in court.

Mora, who blamed his landlord for those issues, tried to file an answer with the court himself but feared a mistake could land him,

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Homeless Due to COVID

Homelessness, as the federal government defines it, is a situation in which an individual or family lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. It describes those living in cars, emergency shelters, transitional housing, or places not meant for habitation. There is no single cause of homelessness. Many people become homeless after losing a job or income, or because of increased expenses, divorce, mental health crises, domestic violence, eviction, or addiction. It is estimated that in 2021,

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City Continues to Close Shelter-in-Place Hotels

A ‘Return to Normal’ in Abnormal Times

Wastewater testing is showing that San Francisco is currently experiencing perhaps the biggest COVID-19 surge yet, at the same time as the monkeypox virus is sweeping the country. With mask mandates gone and eviction protections being rolled back, the City seems set on a return to normal in the most abnormal of times. 

Against this backdrop, the City is shutting down shelter-in-place (SIP) hotels,

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Locked Out at Golden Gate: San Francisco Empties Another Encampment

About as quickly as it sprouted, a homeless encampment on Golden Gate Avenue dispersed last month. The San Francisco Police Department and multiple City agencies also tasked with moving unhoused people off outdoor areas were on hand.

For a few weeks, about 15 people had a place to lay their heads. They had slept on a vacant parcel that’s approximately 17,000 square feet—slightly larger than an NHL hockey rink—in San Francisco’s Cathedral Hill neighborhood.

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Evictions in Permanent Supportive Housing

In the fall of 2020, as the #30RightNow coalition was preparing legislation to cap rents at 30% of income for permanent supportive housing (PSH) tenants, I made a request to see the annual eviction report required of housing providers receiving funds from the city. I wanted to see if there was a positive correlation between buildings where tenants are rent burdened and the number of notices of eviction for non-payment. By cross checking that against a list provided to Supervisor Matt Haney’s office of buildings in which tenants were paying more than 30% of their income in rent,

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Shower Funding Uncertain After Budget Cuts

Funding for public showers across San Francisco was combined with funding for bathrooms in this fiscal year’s budget, leaving advocates and service providers doubtful that the showers will actually be implemented. 

The Coalition on Homelessness’s original budget request called for $1,070,636 as a stand-alone program through fiscal years 2022 and 2023. These funds would have been sufficient to provide 112,000 showers free of charge in locations in the Mission, Bayview and Haight. 

However,

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The Power of San Francisco’s Stories and Storytellers: the Olive Hackett-Shaughnessy Saga

San Francisco is a city of storytellers. It has been for a long time and it still is today. Storytelling keeps the city alive and helps to save it from its narcissistic self, and from the tears in the social fabric that officials—from Mayor London Breed to the new district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, successor to Chesa Boudin—promise to fix but have not yet done. Author Peter Walker and others insist that cycling can save the world.

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In April

Sunlight through a cloud 

Bleaches the bones of  

Something small,  

And long forgotten. 

Reflecting on a  

Silver strand in 

My dark hair,  

While a cruel wind  

Masks as warmth. 

So many lives 

I have lived,  

So much happiness 

I have feigned 

In the month  

Of dust and lies. 

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