A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
Billy Davis has deep roots in San Francisco and the Bay Area. His family lived in the Bayview district on Third Street where his mother’s father was a shipyard worker until they moved over to Palo Alto in 1956, which is where Billy would grow up. Billy has fond memories of Potrero Hill, where he and his family would often spend weekends. He describes San Francisco as a kind of home base and decided to move here permanently from Palo Alto as an adult.
In 1995, a monthly newspaper, Street Spirit, was launched in Oakland to serve the needs of homeless people in the East Bay. Sold on the street by homeless vendors who were allowed to keep all money earned, the paper was funded by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which paid for office space, printing costs, and the salaries of an editor and vendor coordinator.
The newspaper received strong public support and widespread media praise for its hard‑hitting articles and professional design.
In the pouring rain, City officials started clearing a homeless encampment at 7am on January 10. Named Box City for its wooden boxes that sheltered a community made up of 30 to 40 homeless people, including a tight-knit group of Tagalog speaking Filipinos, the encampment had been around since September of last year and was located along the freeway on 7th street and Irwin.
Some boxes that were cleared by the Department of Public Works had been identified as abandoned by the residents of the encampment;
