In celebration of May Day, housing activists in Oakland staged a demonstration of the power of communities to house each other. A march wound through the streets of West Oakland and ended at a formerly vacant property that had been transformed into a home. Organizers said they hope to inspire community members to take action and open up vacant properties, while also highlighting the failure of politicians and corporations to address the housing crisis.

Outside the house was a U-Haul set up like the inside of a living room,

… READ MORE

In previous issues of Street Sheet, I have written extensively about the fact that some of our lowest income tenants in supportive housing are paying much more than 30% of their income toward rent — a problem that we are closer to fixing than before — as well as about the lack of WiFi and cooling systems, and infantilizing policies such as not allowing people to pay their rent by check.

But then I came to realize a certain irony in our homelessness response system.

… READ MORE

What has changed for unhoused San Franciscans in the last year, and what hasn’t

This last year of the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard. There has been a lot to adjust to, because there are not very many positive resources in San Francisco due to our City leaders and how our mayor is running things. 

One thing that has changed in a negative way is that the City has been very hands-off when it comes to addressing homelessness.

… READ MORE

           How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected sex workers? I know this question is not on the minds of most people here in San Francisco, or anywhere else. We should all already know this, as well as in understanding the pandemic’s the effects on communities of elders, migrants, folks who are disabled, Black, Asian, trans, poor, living and working on the streets, and anyone marginalized and disadvantaged by the cis-hetero-patriarchal-capitalist system. That is to say, we need to be seeing each other and supporting each other,

… READ MORE

We cannot conflate police and incarceration with justice or public safety

Read more on twitter @samklew

Every day, I see the small bouquets of flowers in front of the apartment. Daisies, pink roses, sunflowers wrapped in beautiful blue fabric. Still there, a week and a half after Vicha Ratanapakdee passed away.

During an early morning stroll in a quiet neighborhood in San Francisco, the 84-year-old grandfather from Thailand was violently pushed to the ground.

… READ MORE

After months of moratorium on poverty tows, San Francisco may soon fall back on the inequitable practice. 

As the map pictured here makes brutally clear, the towing practices of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) are highly inequitable and disproportionately target San Francisco’s low-income communities of color living in the Bayview and Tenderloin. Welcome to the reality of poverty tows! 

There are three types of poverty tows: tows for five or more unpaid parking tickets,

… READ MORE

Where homeless people fit in the Golden State’s plans to vaccinate residents against COVID-19 has been in flux for the past month. San Francisco officials — as well as houseless San Franciscans — might have to wait longer than expected for things to fall into place.

Last month, the state reorganized the phases of its prioritization plan to immunize Californians. Health care workers — the highest prioritized group in the plan — had already started receiving vaccinations.

… READ MORE

(Scroll down for English translation)

Mi nombre es M. O., inmigrante de Guatemala y llegue a los Estados Unidos en 1988.

Salí de mi país que se guatela por la situación económica, lo cual sobrevive día con día, los trabajos son escasos y pagan muy poco. Como sabemos que los EEUU ha quitado muchas riquezas de nuestro País. Como también sabemos que nuestros presidentes de nuestro país que ellos se enriquecen robando al pueblo y ellos haciendo más ricos y el pueblo se vuelve más pobre.

… READ MORE