A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Q: What is the holding of the Ninth Circuit case Martin v. Boise?
A: In Martin v. Boise, the Ninth Circuit determined that the government cannot arrest poor people for sitting, lying, or sleeping in public when they have no real alternative. The decision does not cover individuals who do have access to appropriate shelter or housing.
Mayor London Breed announced that the City plans to resume enforcing laws governing homelessness in San Francisco in the latest development in a lawsuit against San Francisco for how it conducts operations on street homeless encampments,
In a Medium post on September 25, Mayor Breed said that a district court order from last December has prevented the City from enforcing several of its homelessness ordinances—while allowing street cleaning and clearing blocked sidewalks—but lawyers for the Coalition on Homelessness and seven unhoused plaintiffs dispute that assertion.
A lawsuit over San Francisco’s sweeps of homeless encampments continued as two separate hearings were held last week.
Those hearings may end up being a prelude to more action in court if the lawsuit comes to trial. Along with seven unhoused plaintiffs, the homeless advocacy organization Coalition on Homelessness—which also publishes Street Sheet—accused City workers of violating unhoused residents’ rights and destroying their property while clearing camps off the streets.
On August 23,
by Seth Katz
At the heart of San Francisco’s ongoing struggle with drug-related issues lies a promising yet elusive solution: the establishment of overdose prevention (ODP) centers. While public health experts and advocates champion these centers as vital tools for mitigating the harms of substance use, attempts at opening them have been marred by political backlash and indecision. The result is a troubling gap between ODPs’ potential benefits and the concrete actions taken to bring them to fruition.
The Coalition on Homelessness offered to settle its lawsuit against San Francisco for its illegal practices of sweeping unhoused people off sidewalks. The City rejected the offer.
In a Thursday letter to City Attorney David Chiu, Mayor London Breed and others, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and the American Civil Liberties Union Northern California said that both sides could work together toward a shared goal of tackling the dual problems of street homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.
by Jennifer Friedenbach
It was a record add-back year, even though there was a decrease in General Fund revenue and we had a Mayor’s proposed budget that cut many community programs including $60 million from housing for homeless youth and families and $30 million from child care in two voter initiatives (from 2018). In total the add-back pot for an overall $14.6 billion budget was $80 million over two years.
What We’re Looking For as Prop C Funds Roll Out
BellaRoze Nelson
San Francisco is OUR home. No matter where we came from or how we ended up here, we are here. We are human, we too reminisce about the good old days, and wonder when the line between right and wrong got so hazy. The streets of San Francisco tell a brutal story of wealth, poverty and the pursuit of profit over the housing needs of human beings.
The Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART) was envisioned by a broad coalition of homeless people, activists, service providers and community members as a safe and dignified way to respond to complaints from the public about street-based folks. The idea was to replace the current—often traumatic—police response with a compassionate response rooted in meeting the needs of those on the street.
After years of advocacy, CART was finally funded and set to be implemented,
by Javier Bremond
The Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco has documented numerous violations of the preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in their lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for violating the constitutional rights of unhoused San Franciscans.
In September 2022, the Coalition filed a lawsuit stating that the City has been unjustly sweeping homeless individuals by displacing them with no alternatives to adequate shelter,
by Areli Hernandez
Until recently more than 4,000 homeless people had been living at a large encampment on Wood Street in West Oakland. That number has been reduced to around 50 by repeated sweeps led by CalTrans, which have displaced many former community members. A neighborhood nonprofit called Essential Food and Medicine, or EFAM, helps encampment residents by distributing healthy foods and medicines. The group’s main aim is to reduce homelessness in the Bay Area.
