Advocates Call for End to War on Homeless People at San Francisco City Hall

photos by Zach Bollinger

On the same day that Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office announced “record-low number of tent encampments and large vehicles on San Francisco streets,” advocates for homeless people gathered on the steps of City Hall to demand more services and an end to criminalization.

Three organizations, including the Coalition on Homelessness (COH), which publishes Street Sheet, hosted the rally on June 9 to protest what they call a futile and cruel response to homelessness. 

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Like a Good Neighbor? City Asks Service Providers to Police Clients. 

by Lukas Illa

In May, the Mayor’s Office announced a new “Citywide Good Neighbor Policy” that aims to punish homeless and public health nonprofit providers for inadequately responding to neighborhood complaints about streets conditions around their sites.

This new policy applies to all “shelters, transitional housing programs, access points, drop-in centers, permanent supportive housing sites, and (Department of Public Health) client-serving programs.” For providers contracted to run these sites,

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Homelessness is Down in California and Across the Country, Says New Federal Report

by Marisa Kendall/ CalMatters

The Trump administration downplayed the decline in homelessness, contending far more people are on the streets today than a decade ago.

The number of people with nowhere to call home decreased both in California and nationwide last year, according to a long-awaited federal report.

The data, showing the first decrease in homelessness in years, provided fuel for activists challenging the Trump administration’s narrative that current homelessness policies are failing and need to be overhauled.

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America, the New Banana Republic

by Paul Boden/Western Regional Advocacy Project

Let’s be real about what’s happening. The U.S. Government is endeavoring to solidify its long time quest of a fascist dictatorship rule. It’s moving incredibly fast because the structures needed to pull this off have been getting implemented piecemeal and with purpose since the Reagan Revolution in 1980. So now they are ready to rock and roll.

Dictatorships always rely on a militarized police force to rain hell on a scapegoated minority that are “blamed” as the cause of whatever the authorities decide is going to put fear into their base and use that fear to stoke division and prejudice amongst people.

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From Town Halls to Postcards, Budget Advocacy Mobilizes LGBTQ+ Community

Some 250 people gathered inside North Light Court at San Francisco City Hall on May 12 to deliver about 1,500 postcards to Mayor Daniel Lurie, urging him to restore $100 million in proposed cuts to the upcoming City budget, including LGBTQ+, HIV and homeless services, among others.

The cards were strung together and held by members of the People’s Budget Coalition, who chanted and marched in procession up the stairs to the doors of Lurie’s office,

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