text and illustrations by Lukas Illa
The Total Bureaucracy of San Francisco’s RV and Large Vehicle Permitting Process
The Struggle on Skid Row: Stephanie’s Story
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.
Making a Living: The Pros and Cons of Work and Lived Experience
by Robyn Woof
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;
Activists Seek “Liberation” of Trans Resistance Site from Private Prison Contract
On a bright Sunday afternoon on May 18, a group of transgender activists gathered at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. The group, Compton’s x Coalition, invited local media, including Street Sheet, to the rally outside the 111 Taylor St. Apartments, which stands on the site of a historic riot over a half-century before.
The rally culminated in two members of a direct action group called Traction SF climbing a fire escape to the roof and dropping two vertical banners that displayed a single message: “Liberate Compton’s.”
The building at 111 Taylor St.
“I Could See Pieces of the Puzzle But Not the Big Picture”
By Adriane Dietrich
Lea’s transition began four years ago. After more than four decades, it had become clear to her what had been bubbling under the surface all that time. She offers insights into her own development and society’s responsibility towards members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Trott-war: I’m very excited to hear what you have to say. Before we get started, a simple but very important question: How are you?
Notes from a Texas Prison: Billy’s Story
by Billy Thomas
EDITOR’S NOTE: Street Sheet is reprinting this piece from the 2024 Pride issue. Billy Thomas, an inmate at the John Wynne Unit of Texas State Prison in Huntsville sent multiple letters to ABO Comix in Oakland, California throughout 2022 and 2023. Street Sheet adapted these letters into a single piece, editing for brevity and clarity.
I am a 51-year-old person, a two-spirited transgender. I am a survivor of mental and sexual abuse from my time in the care of Texas Child Protective Services,
WRAP Hits a Milestone: 20 Years of Unhoused People Fighting for Dignity and Respect
by the Western Regional Advocacy Project
When the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) says “we,” we literally mean every single group and person that built and sustained our community organization for the past 20 years!
In 2005, representatives from seven organizations along the West Coast began strategizing around how to address the root causes of homelessness, starting with the actual day-to-day realities people experience in the streets.
Dorsey’s “Recovery First” Policy Amended Significantly Thanks to Treatment on Demand Coalition’s Advocacy
by Lupe Velez
The Board of Supervisors Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee sent Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s proposed “Recovery First” ordinance to the full board at its April 24 meeting. But not before the measure went through redefining the term “recovery” from substance use disorder and dozens of members from the Treatment on Demand (TOD) coalition sounded off during public comment.
For several months, several public health organizations and advocacy groups comprising Treatment on Demand fought the policy over its definition of recovery—an abstinence-only model—and its potentially dangerous impacts on drug users.
A Win for Youth Housing at 1174 Folsom St.
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,
Staying Connected: Homelessness and the Digital Divide
story and photo by Hollie Garrett
I can remember the empty feeling of being disconnected from society while I was in prison. Every day it was a pressing issue to get on the pay phone. Not knowing if we would get out the cell, if there was going to be another lock down, if the phone line was going to be extra long, or if someone was even going to answer the call.
