Locked Out: Supportive Housing Denies Tenants Access to Community Areas

by Contributing Author

In 2008, the Salvation Army opened a community center at 242 Turk St. in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. It’s a Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center, whose stated mission is to provide supportive health services and housing for formerly homeless adults, foster youth and veterans living with behavioral health conditions, and nurture a safe space for the community’s youth. Next to the center is Railton Place, an apartment complex owned by the Salvation Army and managed by the John Stewart Company,

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Camp Resolution Wins Lawsuit Against Sac City 

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Isidore Mika Székely Manes-Dragan

Camp Resolution, the self-governing encampment for unhoused Sacramento residents, received a notice on March 28 for its nearly one hundred members to vacate by May 16, preceding the camp’s clearance on June 1.

On May 15, the residents and their allies organized and marched to City Hall, saying “no.” The city first extended the timeline for removal to May 31. Then the city called off the eviction on June 9.

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Building the Revolutionary Housing Movement Through Mutual Aid  

by Contributing Author

Interview with General Dogon of the LA Community Action Network

by Cathleen Williams, Homeward Street Journal

General Dogon is an organizer at the Los Angeles Community Action Network, or LA CAN. This interview took place on April 13, 2024, at the headquarters of the organization, where visitors  are greeted by a sunny reception area with comfortable chairs. 

LA CAN’s sturdy cement block building is set back from East Sixth Street in the heart of Skid Row,

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Sweeping Decision

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Jeremiah Hayden, Street Roots

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers Grants Pass v. Johnson, there’s work to do to address homelessness, regardless of outcome

Cassy Leach woke up early on April 22, the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson across the country in Washington, D.C. 

That morning, Leach, Mobile Integrative Navigation Team, or MINT,

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Will the U.S. Supreme Court Make it Easier for Cities to Banish Us?  Maybe, But We Will Not Disappear! 

by Contributing Author

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,

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Mend Housing First, Don’t End It

by Contributing Author

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,

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How to Help 12,000 Low-Income Residents in Sacramento

by Contributing Author

by Isidore Mika Székely Manes-Dragan

The Community Summit on Homelessness, held in September 2023, provided many ways to elevate the voices of the homeless community. The event was coordinated by the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) and its many supporters and allies. Representatives from the Sacramento and Oakland homeless communities came together to attend. One of the functions of the event was listening booths,

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As California Evictions Boom, Whether Tenants Get Lawyers Depends on Where They Live

by Contributing Author
Black woman in African headwrap against a red, gold and green background

by Felicia Mello, CalMatters

San Francisco provides all tenants facing eviction access to an attorney. Across the Bay, in Contra Costa County, it’s a different story. Two tenants’ stories show the difference a lawyer can make.

After years of living on the streets and in single-room-occupancy hotels, the cozy studio apartment in San Francisco’s Japantown felt like a sanctuary to Corey Lafayette. He’d moved with no furniture,

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Coalition on Homelessness et al vs. San Francisco: Lawyers Make the Case for Stopping Sweeps

by TJ Johnston

San Francisco’s response to unsheltered homelessness has long been on the radar of local and national media, and it’s pinging more frequently, partly because of a lawsuit that the Coalition on Homelessness has filed against the City.

Last year, a federal judge ruled that the City can not arrest or issue citations to people in homeless encampments without a real and specific offer of shelter while the case is in litigation.

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Op-ed: Supportive Housing Should Have Its Own Board

by Contributing Author

by Jordan Davis

As many of our readers know, this year, the Homelessness Oversight Commission (HOC) was launched last spring to oversee the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH).Three advisory committees— the Local Homeless Coordinating Board, the Shelter Monitoring Committee, and the Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee—were placed under the commission that would appoint members who would report directly to the commission rather than the mayor or board of supervisors. 

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