As most STREET SHEET readers already know, Proposition N was thrown out in Superior Court on May 8th, 2003. The ruling stated that only the Board of Supervisors has the discretion to determine levels of public assistance, as outlined in the state Welfare and Institutions code. The state specifically put this in the law, as determining the economic rights of a discriminated minority by popular vote is often dangerous. State law ensures that complex issues relating to public assistance are decided by elected officials, who have access to comprehensive information — not just expensive commercials.

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Anybody want to guess what the number one issue in the coming mayor’s race will be?

Just think of the mayoral election four years ago… and four years before that… and four years before that…

We’re willing to bet it will once again be homelessness.

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In the United States, 3.5 million people — almost 40% of them children — experience homelessness each year. Many of these individuals work, but due to high rents, tight rental markets, and low paying jobs, they have found themselves living on the streets, in cars, in shelters, in abandoned buildings, in motels, or in overcrowded, temporary accommodations.

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Two years ago COH’s Family Rights and Dignity Project (FRD) started seeing large numbers of low-income and homeless families migrating out of the city. We also saw more and more families having trouble exiting the shelter system into permanent housing. FRD wanted to get to the bottom of this problem and find a workable solution. Through extensive outreach and by working with families on a one-on-one basis we discovered that many were leaving due to a negative past history with the Housing Authority, and that many more were being mistreated and misinformed about what services they were entitled to. In response to this the Eye on Housing Workgroup was formed to stop poor families from being pushed out of the city.

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Y’all got me all messed up,” said a woman experiencing information overload.

She and eight other homelessness service providers sat at computer terminals mounted with gray, spherical cameras a little smaller than a baseball. Next to the computer monitors sat single-eyed finger-imaging devices small enough to be held in one’s hand.

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Quién entre los que vinimos a este país sin un visado o permiso de trabajo no ha pensado nunca que todo mejoraría si apenas uno tuviera papeles?

Recuerdo una antigua maldición que consiste en decirle a la persona a la que se quiere castigar: “ que tus deseos se cumplan”.

Parece que los gobernantes de turno, tanto de ámbito local como estatal y federal han empezado a escuchar los ruegos de algunos inmigrantes y empiezan concedernos papeles.

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St. Anthony Foundation’s founder, Franciscan Father Alfred Boeddeker, had a vision of ending world hunger by the year 2000. So when we served our 30 millionth meal in St. Anthony Dining Room on April 30, it was a bittersweet milestone: sweet because of the 52 years of community generosity that has made it possible to feed those who are hungry, but also bitter because so many of our sisters and brothers experience hunger despite living in the richest country in the world. (more…)

You can tear a building down,

SALVATION ARMY UPDATE

As reported last issue, the tenant of 242 Turk Street are continuing to organize for a “Just Relocation” from their soon-to-be-demolished Tenderloin dwellings. (more…)

There are those who say that if anyone can escape the clutches of homelessness in San Francisco, it’s an amiable 30-year-old African-American man temporarily confined to a hand-me-down wheelchair, a necessity after hyper-extending both knees while working as a mover in January.

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The last time I saw my parents I was 17 and married. I have a daughter from that marriage. Her name is Amanda. She lost her life when she was eight years old. Drunk driver.

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