Imagine that a new recreational drug emerged on the national scene in 1999, and say it was responsible for 123 senseless and preventable deaths to date. Television newscasts and newspapers would be screaming about such a story. U.S. Representatives and Senators would bluster and blather about it for hours in special hearings (at taxpayer’s expense), and the DEA would be tapping telephones, monitoring emails, and kicking in citizen’s doors from coast to coast to rescue us from this menace (at taxpayer’s expense).

In the four years from 1999 to 2003, two hundred and twelve separate instances of hate crimes committed against homeless people have been documented by the National Coalition for the Homeless’ (NCH) Civil Rights Work Group — a nationwide network of civil rights and homeless advocates. The reports, as well as NCH’s findings and recommendations, were recently compiled in a four year study released on April 10th, 2003: Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness in 2002.

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San Francisco’s budget crisis seems to be getting worse every day. In an almost predictable fashion, poor and homeless people including families are being expected to pay for it. Homeless drop-in centers for adults and families are slated for closure. Over 500 people will lose their mental health treatment, and over 3,500 people would lose their substance abuse treatment.

While the health department is expecting a devastating round of cuts, other city departments such as SFPD and SFFD come out unscathed. There are no plans to cut any of the Mayor’s office, even the expensive public relations expenditures such as the Mayor’s Press Office. Non-profits are being slashed while civil service managers would go on earning. In fact, if the manager’s salaries within the city were capped at $90,000 a year, including overtime and bonuses, the city could save over $131,000,000.

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Last November, San Franciscans sent a clear message about one of the most serious public health issues affecting our city: homelessness. Despite this public outcry for increased services, San Francisco is on the verge of eliminating an historic community resource that homeless and poor people depend on for survival.

Up to 15,000 homeless people live on the City’s streets due to insufficient housing and services supporting permanent exits from homelessness. Unfortunately, next year’s city budget threatens to decimate the limited resources homeless people do have.

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The “39” on a burgundy awning along Fell Street is the most visible marking identifying a city-funded drop-in center that is gearing up to expand its services in anticipation of greater numbers of homeless clients walking through its doors.

Often referred to as “39 Fell” by those in the know, the McMillan Drop-In Center is broadening its sobering services, adding full-time nurses and experimenting with a computerized shelter placement system that may grow to include photographic and fingerprinting capabilities. In addition, McMillan peer counselors, many of whom are former homeless, have been warned to meet professional standards or face disciplinary action. The expansion of McMillan’s stabilization or sobering area to include additional medical services appears to be a priority. Normally the facility has 28 beds set aside for public inebriates brought in by the police and Mobile Assistance Patrol. Like McMillan, MAP is under the aegis of Community Awareness and Treatment Services, Inc., a nonprofit organization that contracts with and receives funding from the city.

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Church, States of Displacement, and Real Estate: 242 Turk Street Tenants Stand Up For Their Rights “I am in a bit of a quandary about my relocation. I have been there for ten years, I feel like I’m being ripped out against my will. I would rather not move.” stated Vincent Vassalo, summing up much of the anxiety shared by his fellow tenants of 242 Turk Street when they received notice that they would have to leave their homes by this summer.

The venerable residential hotel is set to be demolished and reconstructed as Transitional Housing for aged-out foster care youth and adults in recovery. The building once housed nearly 100 people on a permanent basis. Only 39 tenants remain now since the Salvation Army has not filled vacancies in two years.

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Some people say they don’t understand why there are people out on the streets, selling drugs or panhandling.

They don’t understand why these people don’t just get a job and fix their lives and be like everyone else. Well, let me tell you why I’m there.

I sold drugs to keep a roof over my head. I chose to sell drugs because at the time, I was on the verge of being evicted. I ended up getting caught, and got evicted anyway, so that didn’t work out so well.

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El mes de mayo se abre con el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores. En la ciudad de San Francisco, una doble amenaza se cierne sobre los trabajadores sin papeles. Como si no fuera suficiente la dura situación económica actual, , los trabajadores vemos como se recortan todavía más los pocos recursos disponibles para los inmigrantes en esta ciudad.

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Después de soportar inclemencias económicas en nuestros países de origen, cansados de tanta precariedad, sin una esperanza en el futuro, con una carga de impuestos insoportable, con un sentido de responsabilidad atormentado por no poder cumplir con nuestros deberes familiares plenamente, deseosos pero imposibilitados de dar una buena educación a nuestros hijos, que tienen todo el derecho como todo el mundo a tenerla; con esa desesperación que se siente al sentirse imposibilitado de dar lo que no se tiene, con el corazón partido de ver tanta pobreza, con esa inseguridad que se vive en medio de la violencia, con el alma destrozada por dejar a nuestros seres queridos, con los bolsillos vacíos por pagarnos un viaje tan temerario, con la esperanza de darles un mejor futuro a nuestra familia. Un DIA cansados de la misma rutina, con lagrimas en los ojos nos aventuramos y fuimos al encuentro del afamado sueno americano.

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Paula Lomazzi is editor of HOMEWARD, Sacramento, California’s local street newspaper, and works with the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC), a CHCROP reporting agency. She reports that two homeless campers have been found murdered along the Sacramento River’s banks already this year.

Sacramento currently has only 350 shelter beds for men and 153 beds for women, families and youth year-round, adding an additional 228 “overflow” beds during the winter months. The estimated “official” homeless population for the state capitol totals about 1600, but Lomazzi dismisses this as a “low-ball” figure.

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Fact: From 1990 to 2000, the sale of antidepressant drugs increased 800 percent.

Fact: Children from the ages of two to four are now given psychiatric drugs only approved by the FDA for ages six and up.

Fact: In the state of California a person may now be court ordered to take psychiatric drugs against their will in their own home.

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