Have you ever wondered why you keep hearing about new homeless programs, plans and Mayors’ outreach efforts yet homelessness remains such an entrenched part of our society?

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Every year for the last few years, it has been the same story. The governor (whether Democrat or Republican) proposes his budget in January, depending heavily on cuts to education, welfare, healthcare and childcare, while refusing to consider tax increases on the wealthy or corporations.

This year is no different. Governor Schwarzenegger claims that he hates his own budget, but that he had to make “hard choices.” However, those choices did not include the consideration of any solution except cutting more deeply into more programs that hurt more people. This year, he has especially targeted families on CalWORKS, including punishing parents who work by cutting their checks.

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Ideas cannot digest reality

Jean Paul Sartre

On March 21, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its annual Notification of Funding Available (NOFA), a set of rules, regulations, and application procedures governing the annual homeless assistance grants competition. Historically, in applying for funds, communities are asked to rank local needs and prioritize the gaps in resources available to meet those needs through a local planning process known as the Continuum of Care. (more…)

In May 2004 homeless people scored a victory by convincing the city’s Board of Supervisors to set aside 15 city-owned surplus properties for development into homes for people with extremely low income.

The victory was the result of a coalition effort that united homeless, Faith, Labor and community groups.

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You’ve probably heard something about the recent census taken of the City’s homeless population. In fact, there’s been a lot of hard news lately on the homelessness front-a spate of “one-year-later” follow-ups to Newsom’s assumption of the mayoral duties and the actual implementation of his long-in-the-works Care Not Cash policy. These news stories profess to eschew subjectivity and bias in favor of quantifiable facts as represented by statistics such as those produced by the census and those compiled by various City services, chief among them being that primary player in the Care Not Cash game: General Assistance (GA).

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En Mayo del 2004 la gente sin vivienda se anoto una victoria cuando la Mesa de Supervisores de la ciudad dispuso 15 propiedades para desarollar vivienda para personas con sueldos extremadamente bajos. Esta victoria fue el resultado de un esfuerzo de diferentes organizaciones que unidos a la comunidad desamparada crearon una coalicion de grupos religiosos, uniones, y organizaciones comunitarias. (more…)

En los ultimos meses se ha notado el incre mento de la violencia en el barrio de la Mission. Este aumento en el numero de casos esta en forma directa relacionado con los cortes del presupuesto en los servicios que la ciudad ofrece a los jovenes, dejando muy pocas alternativas a los adolecentes que viven en los vecindarios pobres del area de la Mission.

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Talk to anyone who works or has stayed in homeless shelters here in the city and they will describe situations and experiences that are cause for concern. The quality of services provided varies widely from shelter to shelter. There is huge inconsistency in the way shelter residents and staff are treated. Front line staff routinely report difficulties with management and management tends to have a dysthymic relationship with city departments, such as the Department of Human Services which is responsible for the shelters and resource centers. Despite being a common sense, practical way of providing accurate, unbiased information about what is really going on behind closed shelter doors, the Shelter Monitoring Committee (SMC) legislation has been a long time in coming.

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I am member of the Shelter Monitoring Committee who works with the Coalition on Homelessness as an organizer for the CHEER (Community, Health, Equity and Economic Rights) workgroup. I was appointed to the SMC by the Local Homeless Coordinating Board.

On February 17, 2005 I was volunteering with the San Francisco Department of Human Services to help collect data for their customer satisfaction survey at Next Door shelter when I noticed a sign posted for upcoming Town Meetings to be held there at the shelter. The shelters regularly hold meetings where residents can voice their concerns. The supervisor on duty that day told me these meetings were open to the public.

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I’ve been out of town, and oh, what I missed! A stellar same-sex court ruling, for starters, and a good old-fashioned anti-war demonstration. I’m still catching up.

But travel is always educational. A few days ago, when I was staying near the Grand Canyon, the Arizona Republic newspaper reminded readers that tourism was down. The Copper State has been losing out to Nevada in its efforts to market the canyon.

The solution: a theme park. (more…)