A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
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.
chair frames and baby toys,
jackets, toothbrushes coffee cans and pillows
wrapped up in paper bags made of memories
nylon homes buried under lives made of storms… Povertyskola
Sunday, February 12, 4PM @the Lab, 2948 16th Street in San Francisco
Sunday, February 26, 4PM @PianoFight, 1540 Broadway in Oakland
Six houseless residents of San Francisco, LA and Oakland live outside in tents,
Less than two weeks before the planned closure of a shelter for unhoused families, housing and homelessness advocates converged on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to protest the Oasis Inn’s December 15 closing date. The demonstrators—many of whom live at the Oasis and are facing imminent displacement—demanded that the City move to buy the building in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood, while also calling on the Oasis’s owners to sell the property to the City or a prospective nonprofit contractor at the December 6 action.
By YHW
My name is Yaas. I, and my 9 year old sister, are residents at the Oasis Hotel, which is now a family shelter. It isn’t a matter of if this property should be permanently purchased, but when. For families like mine, it is the last option and for many, a safe haven making the name “Oasis” very fitting.
My sister and I are former foster youth—members of an oppressed class that makes up the majority of both homeless and imprisoned populations.
By Quiver Watts and Alastair Boone and TJ Johnston
On Tuesday, December 6, community members from around the Bay Area converged on the California Department of Transportation’s (CalTrans) District 4 office in Oakland, chanting “CalTrans: stop sweeping us up!” The action, led by POOR Magazine, was convened in order to deliver a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to District Director Tony Tavares, demanding all the internal communications and budget items relating to encampment sweeps in Oakland,
by Ian James
The Tenderloin Center was shut down by city officials on December 4. The center was a low barrier service hub serving over 400 people per day on average. They were provided with meals and connections to services including harm reduction, substance use and housing. The center also served as a safe place for people to use drugs in a supervised environment.
Originally dubbed “The Tenderloin Linkage Center,” the location was created as part of Mayor London Breed’s Tenderloin “State of Emergency” declaration.
