A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
What is the true meaning of justice? Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity. It is also the act of being just and/or fair. This is a concept that is currently not being observed in regards to gender, age, and sexuality—especially toward members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community worldwide. At some point we have all seen, heard, or read stories about mistreatment,
Perhaps many people dream of being born in California, but for me, it wasn’t such a stroke of luck. Born first in a family of five, I had to take up responsibilities pretty early. My parents did not have the best jobs, and we lived a hand-to-mouth life. As if that was not enough bad luck, we lost our dad when I was 19 years old. This was the lowest point of our lives, and my mum was devastated.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman has been trying hard to get houseless people off the streets. But judging by his new bill, his definition of getting people off the streets does not mean getting them into housing.
For the second time in two years he is proposing legislation to the Board of Supervisors, where it will be heard first at the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on May 12. If it passes, it would put people into temporary shelter: a tent in a sanctioned camp,
Rental assistance for 2,000 households, seven street crisis response teams and over 1,400 units of permanent supportive housing for adults, families and youth are some of the highlights from draft recommendations for the city’s Our City, Our Home (OCOH) fund, presented on April 21 and 22 by the OCOH Oversight Committee.
The OCOH fund, required under Proposition C, was created by San Francisco voters in 2018 to fund permanent solutions to homelessness. The fund raises over $300 million per year through a tax on gross corporate revenue.
In the 2021 San Francisco budget process, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously supported the implementation of the Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART), but Mayor London Breed refused to execute this ordinance, which would activate the peer-led CART teams, because she launched her own version of street outreach called Street Wellness Teams. Yet, $3 million in funding was secured to begin the implementation of CART, which currently sits untouched in unallocated reserve for a year.
In late 2021, the #30RightNow campaign concluded when all the permanent supportive housing tenants in buildings under the Department of Public Health were transitioned to a 30% rent standard. At the same time on the other side of the country, another campaign led by and for supportive housing tenants was wrapping up a legislative push. In December 2021, the New York City Council passed the Supportive Housing Tenants Bill of Rights, which would later be signed by the mayor.
Name: Kurt Shuptrine, 55
Date: 23 March 2022
Place: Rankin Street and Islais Creek
Homeless: About 11 years
What does Home mean to you?
Texas, that’s where I’m from. I miss Texas big time.
Why are you at Rankin and Islais Creek?
It’s by the water. Something about the water reminds me of home.
The manner in which the hours of freedom..
are spent determines, no less than labor or war, the moral worth of a nation.”
— Maurice Maeterlinck
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Smoking a bowl in the dark
Along came a ranger,
Took her weed and detained her
On April 7, members of the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee considered whether to codify the Shelter Grievance Policy—a critical protection for homeless San Franciscans—in the City’s Administrative Code. Dozens of advocates turned out to make their voices heard in favor of the proposal, and the committee voted to send the proposal to the Board of Supervisors for a full vote. Given that six supervisors have joined Shamann Walton in sponsoring the legislation,
Every 10 years, the U.S. Constitution requires all residents to be counted through the Census. The Census occurs every decade, and once it concludes, the redistricting process begins. Redistricting is the redrawing of boundaries to ensure that U.S. citizens in a given state or city have a relatively proportionate number of constituents to serve in legislative offices. The redrawing of district lines is done at every level of legislative government: city, county, state and federal.
