Proposition N, “Care Not Cash,” passed by voters in November 2002, was implemented this past spring. San Franciscans thought they were voting for an initiative that took money from individuals’ welfare checks to purchase services such as housing and treatment for “bulk” prices. Contrary to local media coverage that has been promoting the glories of this legislation, though, it has not played out that way. Instead, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is simply placing the bulk of welfare recipients in existing shelters and using the money taken from their checks to pay for the lucky few who are offered actual housing. (More specifically, as of this September, only 277 homeless clients had been housed—a far cry from the 2,900 who were homeless and receiving aid when Prop N passed.)

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Last February, and then again in April, Street Sheet reported about the City’s developing pattern of eliminating services for mentally ill people and diverting the funding for those much-needed services to Care Not Cash.

This is no “policy wonk” dispute: We’re talking life and death here.

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October 7th marks the 15th anniversary of the Housing Now march on Washington DC. That day an estimated 250,000 people converged on the Capitol Mall to call for an end to homelessness and to secure the right to housing for all. Arriving by foot, bus, and plane, anti-poverty fighters, housing activists, labor unionists, members of faith-based organizations, students, and no shortage of celebrities gathered together to challenge one of the most obvious and glaring examples of the failure of the American economic system-the country’s inability to adequately house its own citizens.

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On Tuesday, September 21, 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom, a united Board of Supervisors, and a broad citywide coalition gathered on City Hall’s steps to launch the campaign for Proposition A, the $200 million housing and homeless bond on the November ballot.

If approved by two-thirds of the voters, Prop A will renew San Francisco’s commitment to affordable and supportive housing, and take the next big step to reduce homelessness in San Francisco.

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La familia Marota es residente de un hotel residencial SRO y ellos han probado que a pesar de todas las dificultades que viven día tras día, se mantienen unidos y luchando por un futuro mejor.

Todos los intergrantes en edad escolar de esta familia asisten a clases en forma regular y estan preparándose para salir adelante, además de colaborar como voluntarios de Hogares Sin Barreras y participan de forma continua en el trabajo de esta organización. Su participación fue de gran ayuda en dos eventos recientes de la Coalición de Desamparados.

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