A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Lukas Illa
With the room packed and members of the public spilling out to the hallway, the California Senate Committee on Public Safety rejected Senate Bill 1011, a bill that sought to criminalize homeless encampments within 500 feet of a public or private K-12 school, major transit stops and “open spaces.”
The committee voted 3-1 against SB 1011, with another one abstaining. The vote prevented the bill from moving to the full Senate.
story and photos by Jeremiah Hayden, Street Roots
Homeless residents in Grants Pass shelter in tents in parks, including Morrison Park, despite the threat of civil and criminal penalties.
Laura Gutowski resides just down the street from the Grants Pass home that she lived in for 25 years. Her son used to play baseball in Morrison Centennial Park, where she now lives in a tent not far from the diamond.
by the Western Regional Advocacy Project
On April 22, 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson. The case determines if the U.S. Constitution allows for local governments to fine, arrest, and jail people for living outside, when they have nowhere else to go. Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) members are planning a day of action on April 22, 2024 to speak out for the rights of unhoused people to exist,
by Cathleen Williams, Sacramento Homeward Street Journal
“My hometown is located on a flat coastal plain once covered in brush, and intersected by rivers and creeks where pure water has bubbled up from creeks since the dawn of the Pleistocene. As a settled, human place, it has belonged to the Tongva and to three different empires. Once it was a rural outpost of the Spanish crown, and then a Mexican pueblo before it was taken by the United States and became what it is today: the newest and last megalopolis built in the western march of Western civilization across the Western Hemisphere.” –
by Jack Bragen
Most people in the U.S. in their 20s don’t need to think about the harsh realities of life. Their parents are probably still living, and from what I’ve seen, most, are willing to support them as they make their way through the last transitional stage into adulthood. Most people in their twenties expect good health and have their needs met—and this means that usually, desires and dreams are in the driver’s seat.
by Jordan Davis
My name is Jordan. I have purple hair, a nose piercing, I sometimes curse off the Board of Supervisors, and I’ve flirted with cocaine use (though I never purchased it, never used it in my unit, and don’t do it anymore). I am also a Housing First success story, and it saved my life.
What is Housing First? It’s the idea that homeless people can best recover if they are rehoused with wraparound supportive services,
by Jack Bragen
There are many reasons people lose their housing. Much of the time it is not caused by anything the tenant is doing wrong. The landlord may believe they can get more rent money from someone else. They may want to sell their property or refurbish the building. They may have a personal dislike for the tenant not based on anything the tenant does wrong: People can be fickle.
by Andy Pope
When I was homeless, I would wake up on a couple pieces of cardboard, sometimes set over dirt. Sometimes I slept on a ramp on the side of a Catholic church. I would wake when the sky was getting light, then wander into a nearby AA fellowship. There I would hit the bathroom for a quick clean-up before grabbing a cup of coffee.
Make that three cups.
by Marisa Kendall/ CalMatters
When Sacramento changed its plan to demolish a homeless encampment on a vacant lot on Colfax Street, instead offering the homeless occupants a lease, activists and camp residents celebrated it as a win.
The first-of-its-kind deal, which allows the camp to remain in place and govern itself without city interference, was held up as a model Sacramento could replicate at future sites. Other cities, including San Jose,
by Madeleine Matz
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) recently began enforcing a ban on overnight parking on Bernal Heights Boulevard, endangering the homes of RV dwellers who have parked there for years. Now, the RV residents are protesting their impending eviction.
Two neighborhood residents—Armando Martinez, who lives in an RV on Bernal Heights Boulevard, and Flo Kelly, a traditionally housed neighbor—gathered vehicularly housed residents to give public comment at the March 5 SFMTA board meeting.
