City Defunds Services and Pushes Criminalization in Shut-Down of Tenderloin Linkage Center

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.

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We Won Proposition C. Now What? 

by Jennifer Friedenbach

Lots of folks wonder what happened to Proposition C, the initiative entitled Our City Our Home,” that was authored by the Coalition on Homelessness in conjunction with many organizations and unhoused people. The short answer is: a lot.

The long answer is that in 2018 Prop. C, which taxes corporate income at about one-half percent starting from $50 million, was sued by corporations and held up in court until 2020 when the case was won in favor of San Francisco voters.

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Memorial for Scott Nelson

We are so heartbroken to share the news of another lost Coalition family member. Scott Nelson was the backbone of the Street Sheet vendor program for years, serving as the vendor coordinator on a volunteer basis, getting this paper into the hands of hundreds of vendors who make their living selling it. As a volunteer he also fought for recycling programs to remain in operation across the City, helped countless homeless people navigate the system to get their towed vehicles back and redistributed abandoned transportation devices to people who needed them.

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The Oasis is a Safe Haven for my Family

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.

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Oasis Inn’s Family Shelter to Close — Unless the City Steps In

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.  

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