A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
At Wood Street, a Bond No Bulldozer Can Destroy
Freeway
The sun was high, beating down mercilessly on the volunteers and advocates, as if to say, “I’m on their side, and we don’t want you here.” They, in this case, were the entire Oakland Police (OPD) force, and an endless parade of Department of Public Works (DPW) workers under the command of Oakland city administrators Harold Duffy and LaTonda Simmons.
by TJ Johnston
For years, the mantra for advocates of unhoused people has been “sweeps kill.” Now, their tagline has science and hard numbers to back it up.
In a study focused on 23 U.S. cities including San Francisco, researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and several other academic institutions determined that unsheltered people who inject drugs and who are repeatedly forced out of street encampments are likely to suffer higher illness and death rates than their peers who stay put.
by Kenyota
Homelessness is an ever-present and ever-growing problem which seems to confound policymakers around our nation. Many believe that the current crisis facing America is one which can be easily solved through some magical stroke of a lawmaker’s pen or an elected official’s savvy decision making. However, it appears the more attention politicians have given to this issue, the greater the misunderstanding and social stigma. The best “solutions” only seem to exacerbate an already unpopular social crisis and increase a gulf of misunderstanding between those who have and those who have not.
By Jordan Davis
In March, I was in a Rules Committee meeting watching and commenting on appointments from both the mayor and Board of Supervisors to the new Homelessness Oversight Commission (HOC), a body that is purported to provide meaningful direction and oversight to the troubled Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH). I voted “no” on the charter amendment last year that created the HOC, because—unlike the recently established Sheriff’s Oversight Body,
Here’s How to File an Administrative Claim Form
By Anthony R. Carrasco
The San Francisco Symphony devoted its first two evenings of February programming to a breakup soundtrack with an immoral economy. The month of romantic gestures began with the haunting power of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F; a prelude to the inquisitive song cycle of Gabriel Kahane, creative chair of the Oregon Symphony. The San Francisco premiere of emergency shelter intake form yields an important reflection.
by Leslie Dreyer
The Stolen Belonging project, in collaboration with the Coalition on Homelessness, interviewed unhoused residents across the City to document the theft, abuse and trauma City workers inflict on unhoused people during encampment sweeps, how unhoused San Franciscans think they should be compensated, and how they imagine we should collectively hold the City accountable for these inhumane acts. In Street Sheet’s third installment of the Stolen Belonging project, we’re focusing on the latter question.
by the Stolen Belonging Team
My name is Guy Jeffries. I’ve lived in San Francisco for 15 years. About a month ago I had DPW [the Public Works department] stop by and give me a warning to pack up and leave. They said I had a whole day to do this, so I went to the store to retrieve the trash bags I needed to pack up my things. I came back.
by the Stolen Belonging Team
Paul Boden: I’m currently with the Western Regional Advocacy Project. Before that, I came up off the streets through Hospitality House, where a bunch of us together created what is the Coalition on Homelessness, in the mid-eighties.
I was homeless for six years, as a kid, from the time I was 16 till 23, when I hooked up with Hospitality House and have been engaged in fighting against homelessness and helping out my brothers and sisters that happened to be homeless since I was 23 years old,
by the Stolen Belonging Team
My name is Veronica Ocampo. I’ve been here for over 15 years. The other night I had gotten into it with this guy and he came back to my tent later that night when I was by myself, and he was trying to start problems. I was a little shaken up so I left. When I came back the police and DPW [the Public Works department] had taken everything.
