A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Colleen McCarthy
Berryessa safe RV parking site. Photo by Flo Kelly
The first Safe Parking Program in the United States was pioneered in Santa Barbara in 2004 by a group of activists and is now run by New Beginnings (Lewis et al., 2024; Ray Ivey & Gilleland, 2018). Safe parking is usually designed to offer a transitional space for car and RV residents to park at night (and sometimes 24/7) to avoid parking regulations and offer a safe location with access to basic services like water,
No human should have to live on the streets. Yet, as low income households in the United States face growing disparity between income and rents, so does homelessness. High rents are the single determinator of homeless rates. The antidote is not that complicated—invest in housing that is affordable to the bottom third of the income ladder. Instead, the last half century trend has been for our leaders to vacillate between immoral inaction and blaming poor people for their poverty.
by Cathleen Williams
On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, a cold and wintry dusk closed over Sacramento, California. This was the day that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) killed Renee Nicole Good in cold blood, in her car as she pulled away from the site of an ICE raid in Minneapolis. There were stuffed animals spilling out of the glovebox and a friendly dog in the back seat. Renee’s killing ignited protests across the country.
by Jordan Wasilewski
On Saturday, December 20, as I was preparing to go to punk and black metal shows in the East Bay, my power went out, along with about 130,000 of my fellow San Franciscans’. PG&E’s substation at Eighth and Mission streets had a huge fire thanks to the utility company’s deferred maintenance. While we technically have public power, PG&E still owns the infrastructure, and public power advocates have long demanded that the City take it over.
by Christin Evans
As tenant activists decry development plan, one supe looks to drafting ballot measure as an alternative
In a heated session of the Board of Supervisors’ December 2 meeting, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s controversial “family zoning plan” to upzone the western and northern sides of San Francisco passed on a 7–4 vote. The board’s more left-leaning supervisors—Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Shamann Walton and Jackie Fielder—voted to oppose the plan.
