FYI for San Francisco Shelters

Shelter Monitoring Committee – The committee tracks the conditions of City-funded shelters. Staff take and investigate complaints.

Drop-in times at 440 Turk St.: Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. 

Committee meetings typically take place on the third Wednesdays of each month at SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl., Room 408.

To report concerns about a shelter:

Phone: (628) 652-8080.

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Re: Community Concerns and Recommendations Regarding the Jessie Street Project

by Justice Dumlao

The following is a letter submitted by email to the San Francisco Police Commission.

Dear President Elias and Commission Members, 

On behalf of the Safer Inside and Treatment on Demand Coalitions — two coalitions dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents — we write to express serious concerns about the San Francisco Police Department’s (SFPD) project at the parking lot on Jessie Street.

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Grab Bars in SRO Showers: a Brief History

by Jordan Davis

Lately, a surprising subject has been coming up at tenant meetings of the Central City SRO Collaborative, one that’s near and dear to my heart: Grab bars in showers. 

A tenant organizer at the collaborative has been encouraging tenants to fill out forms requesting grab bars in their single-resident occupancy (SRO) hotels and persuade their doctors to write them a note requesting reasonable accommodation. 

It took a tremendous push over several years to reach this point.. 

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Families Demand Affordable Housing Solutions in Bold Protest Rally

by Yessica Hernandez

photos by Leon Kunstenaar

On February 11, homeless families and their allies rallied and marched to San Francisco City Hall, demanding more affordable housing and critical changes to the family shelter system. The rally, which started from Hamilton Family Shelter, called for immediate action to restore the waitlist for housing, ensuring that families living in hotels or doubled-up situations can access shelter and support.

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An Open Letter To Daniel Lurie On PSH, Corruption, the Drug Crisis, and Everything in Between

by Jordan Davis

Dear Mayor Lurie,

Congratulations on winning the mayor’s race. I certainly did not vote for you or anyone else for mayor, because I believe San Francisco’s strong mayor system needs to be scuttled. However, as you are now in office, there are some things you should know.

I know that you want to focus on shelters as a homelessness response.

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“La Muerte” in the Mission Rears Its Head Again at Planning

by Lukas Illa

In a deeply emotional and well attended hearing, the San Francisco Planning Commission began review of the newly proposed luxury housing complex at 2588 Mission St., on the corner of 22nd Street.

What is currently a grassy, empty lot was once the site of rent-controlled housing for over 60 people and 26 businesses, until a devastating fire in 2015 destroyed the property,

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We Must Organize Against Trump and His Billionaires. Poor and Unhoused Communities Are Under Attack!

by Cathleen Williams, Homeward Street Journal

Protests have ignited across the nation in the first weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, with protests against Trump’s deportation policies taking place in Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. In Los Angeles, protesters shut down U.S. Highway 101 on February 2 to bring awareness to the threats to migrant and immigrant populations.

Hundreds of Californians of diverse ages and ethnicities rallied at the state capitol in Sacramento on February 5 to bring attention to this and other developments.

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Imprisonment Includes Assault on the Soul

by Jack Bragen

The messages are hammered in when you’re incarcerated, and you’re expected to believe them. You are told you’re no good. You’re bad news. You don’t deserve anything. Not love, not comfort, not money, nothing. You are undeserving. You are a bad person, and you should be punished.

Other people believe this of you under these circumstances. Try as you might, you can’t control someone else’s beliefs. 

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Black History Month or Thanking The Slaves for Making America Great?

https://www.facebook.com/events/525025368378190/

By Bilal Mafundi Ali

For many people, especially Black people, the month of February signifies the annual celebration of Black History Month/African-American Heritage Month.  February is designated as a time to recognize African American achievements and contributions to America. One notable consequence is the hero worship of a handful of prominent figures.  What’s more, this celebration of Black achievement particularly tends to be sanitized, and this selective representation is often at the expense of erasing a rich legacy of individuals,

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