A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
story and photos by Shakema Straker
Pancakes in the Park in San Francisco celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since 2006, members of the unhoused community gather every week for brunch at Golden Gate Park.
The smell reaches you before anything else. Warm batter on a hot griddle, drifting through the eucalyptus and fog of Golden Gate Park on a Tuesday morning. On March 17, near the Children’s Playground,
Homelessness affects all of us, whether we have housing or not, but of course it hurts those living without homes worst of all. Having thousands of people without housing, without sanitation, without privacy, living outside and having thousands more in shelter in a small city like San Francisco is a humanitarian crisis. Unlike many crises, this one is a crisis that is man-made through poor policy decisions, and lack of corrective action. This crisis does have true solutions.
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.
This transcript of the Street Speak podcast was edited for brevity and clarity. Listen to this episode in its entirety at streetsheet.org/street-speak-podcast.
We welcome Apple Cronk along with her partner, Josh Donohoe, who are co-plaintiffs in the Coalition on Homelessness’s lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for their practices in encampment sweeps and the destruction of property belonging to unsheltered residents. That case was recently resolved and signed by Mayor Daniel Lurie on Friday,
Heather’s testimonial highlighted injustices and cruelty toward unhoused people
Heather Lee, an unsheltered woman who was interviewed by the Stolen Belonging project that documented San Francisco’s theft of unhoused and unsheltered people’s possessions, died on July 26 at Laguna Honda Hospital after a long illness, Street Sheet has learned.
“Heather’s presence was more than friendship—she rocked exceptional strength and dignity,
by Jordan Wasilewski
In 1956, then-Senator and future President John F. Kennedy released a book called “Profiles In Courage” about elected leaders who took on difficult decisions because they believed they were right, rather than popular.
Almost 70 years later, it still seems as if courage is too short in supply in all levels of government. But, during the July 29 Board of Supervisors meeting,
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 Jordan Davis
Dear Mayor Lurie,
Congratulations on winning the mayor’s race. I certainly did not vote for you or anyone else for mayor, because I believe San Francisco’s strong mayor system needs to be scuttled. However, as you are now in office, there are some things you should know.
I know that you want to focus on shelters as a homelessness response.
by River Beck
On December 4, a diverse coalition of housing advocates in San Francisco succeeded in toppling a series of obstacles facing a 42-unit housing project for transitional-age youth in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. The permanent supportive housing (PSH) project, which will support LGBTQ+ young adults, is a critical step towards solutions desperately needed to avoid chronic homelessness.
The intergenerational and multi-racial bloc of residents,
by Isidore Mika Székely Manes-Dragan
Image courtesy of Wood Street Commons via Instagram
For the third straight year, a group of former Wood Street encampment residents bicycled some 80 miles from Oakland to Sacramento in a show of solidarity with unhoused Californians.
In their annual caravan to the state capitol, the Wood Street Commons residents rode for three days in October to lobby their lawmakers.
