A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
Four walls. A roof. Doors that can be locked with a key. These are things that provide you with security, safety and stability when you’re housed. It’s easy to take these feelings for granted. I sure did until I lost my housing, and I had to struggle to keep my security, safety and stability in my newly unhoused state.
Now, imagine if you’re trying to avoid some asshole who’s harassing or bullying you,
What does it mean for tenants?
Reprinted from CalMatters
When California legislators voted last June to again extend eviction protections, they promised the third time would be the charm.
But the state’s rent relief program, which has struggled to reach the neediest tenants and landlords from the start, continues to lag. As of last week, the state has paid $2.4 billion to about 214,000 households — fewer than half of all who have applied for aid.
When the first case of COVID-19 was reported, no one knew how far it would spread or how dramatically it would impact our lives. No one knew the damage it would do to our health, our finances, our mental wellbeing. As I write this the impact of this pandemic has been felt across borders, affecting everyone regardless of age, sex, religion or even social status. What we used to see as a normal routine became a luxury as our movement was restricted by lockdowns and self-isolations.
If “activists” want to help the homeless, they can start by questioning the role of property. Two hundred years ago, there wasn’t any “real” property. Workers belonged to ‘manors’ or other post-feudal systems, enjoying just enough agency to make homes for themselves, to shelter in place, and to learn a trade. Goods were shared between workers largely based on need and interpersonal social status. Fiat currency is an historically new method for maintaining class division,
If you are placed in supportive housing, it will likely be a single-room occupancy (SRO) unit, and you will also come into contact, in various contexts, with the SRO Collaboratives. They tend to get tenants plugged in by holding dinners, giving out free ice cream and getting them involved in neighborhood issues, and yes, an SRO Collaborative got me interested in these oft-ignored equity issues. However, if you dig deeper, you will find conflicts of interest,
The author originally told this story before an audience in San Francisco as part of an evening of performance and storytelling sponsored by Tipping Point Community on November 18, 2021 at Manny’s, 3092 16th St. San Francisco. This story has been adapted and edited for your reading pleasure, and hopefully, inspiration.
I think of the places I’ve slept in in my life – buses, trains,
Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wrong
This is the first installment of a multi-part online short fiction series; to read more, check out anthonycarrasco.com.
Hank works for the Department of Economic Replacement. The Federal Bureau tasked with recycling the surplus human capital of America’s booming metropolitan areas was founded in 2068 after the great crisis of Pelican Bay’s two hundred-twenty.
The homelessness on Pelican Bay,
Despite a pledge to redirect funds from the San Francisco Police Department and much rhetoric about police accountability and reform in the wake of the George Floyd protests, Mayor London Breed has been making a lot of statements recently about the need for increased policing. This was a key part of her “Tenderloin Plan”, which promised to address a range of street conditions including drug use, tents on the sidewalk, mental health needs, trash and drug dealing.
On Shelters and Working
How long have you been a Street Sheet vendor?
I couldn’t tell you exactly, but I just started around December. It’s been a bit hard because people weren’t quite as excited about poetry, it’s kinda tricky sometimes if you don’t find people who are artistic. Other than that it’s just hit or miss—the probability of people stopping—it’s just a lot of work.
What has your connection to homelessness in San Francisco been?
It was a Friday morning, January 2020, when I woke up with a bad stomach and couldn’t keep down food. I was driven by my wife to get OTC stomach drugs, but the dispensing pharmacist suggested we take a blood sugar test. We drove to the nearby clinic and, upon administering the test, the doctors panicked. My sugars were so high the machine literally just indicated “High” as they were off the scale. They got a drip running to rehydrate me,
