A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Malik Washington
How San Francisco reduced visible homelessness while more people are driven into a jail system in crisis
San Francisco wants credit for reducing visible homelessness.
Its own records suggest the city may also need blame for helping fill a jail system now described by a Civil Grand Jury as overcrowded, understaffed, deteriorating, and near a “breaking point.” That is the contradiction at the heart of the city’s current public-safety narrative.
Some 250 people gathered inside North Light Court at San Francisco City Hall on May 12 to deliver about 1,500 postcards to Mayor Daniel Lurie, urging him to restore $100 million in proposed cuts to the upcoming City budget, including LGBTQ+, HIV and homeless services, among others.
The cards were strung together and held by members of the People’s Budget Coalition, who chanted and marched in procession up the stairs to the doors of Lurie’s office,
by Jordan Wasilewski
A long time ago, when I was on the SRO Task Force, one older commissioner told me after a meeting one day “please don’t push your own agenda.”
The only agenda I ever pushed was the tenant agenda. However, “pushing one’s own agenda” seems to be common in City Hall. One example of this is District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who is pushing legislation to end all funding for new site-based permanent supportive housing unless it is drug-free.
By Kristen Hwang/CalMatters
A majority of California’s roughly 180,000 people experiencing homelessness have health insurance through Medi-Cal. Providers predict that many will lose insurance under President Donald Trump’s upcoming work mandates even if they qualify for exemptions.
On a brisk January morning, physician assistant Brett Feldman searched the streets of Los Angeles for patients, knocking on car windows and peering into tents. It was the day after a winter storm had doused the city,
By Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
A California company is using AI to help diagnose homeless Californians. The technology promises better access to health care, but it also raises questions.
As AI expands into every facet of society, a California company is testing whether the technology can help improve the health of people living on the streets.
Akido Labs, a Los Angeles-based health care technology company that runs clinics and street medicine teams in California,
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 Jason Albertson
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jason Albertson, a clinical social worker and long-time homeless advocate, died on October 25, 2025. Jason was well known to go to bat for unhoused people, stand up to injustice and engage in nonjudgmental care. His work led countless humans off the streets to have an opportunity to recover and thrive. He was so important to San Francisco and will be dearly missed. Below is a story of Jason’s that Street Sheet originally published in the April 1997 edition.
by David Pentland
The following article is part of INSP’s Changing the Narrative series. It has been written as the result of the new journalism training academy, established in 2025 by INSP to provide people with direct experience of homelessness and poverty the opportunity to learn about journalism and the media, and to enhance their storytelling and written abilities. The training academy has two ambitions: to challenge media and public misconceptions about homelessness;
by Jordan Wasilewski
I am a millenial, and one of the defining moments of my generation was 9/11. There are many takes on this issue, but one thing I gleaned from the aftermath is that, despite the supposed “unity” that crises bring, there are people out there who will weaponize collective pain to push policies that are wrongheaded and cruel. I find the same holds true for San Francisco’s overdose crisis.
by Lupe Velez
On Tuesday, September 30, the SF Public Press hosted a screening of the documentary “No Place To Grow Old,” directed by Davey Schaupp and funded by Humans for Housing at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District. The film explored the stories of three seniors who entered homelessness later in life, with several housing and policy experts examining the crisis leading to the surge in adults over 50 entering homelessness nationwide.
