In a previous issue, we mentioned while meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom on June 27, 2005, we suggested a separate meeting with himself, Coalition staff, and 10 homeless families, allowing us to present the recommendations from our housing first campaign personally.

Families were eager to find that we indeed were meeting with the mayor to let our voices be heard. While awaiting this meeting we diligently worked on our action plan for this part of the campaign. We compiled a fact sheet to show the importance of our needs being met. Outreach to the shelters and SROs was made to inform the families of what was going on and the need of their support. From these outreaches, and the family members’ participation, we secure dthe base of our campaign and struggle.

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Sixty-one million dollars in food stamps could feed a lot of hungry people in San Francisco. The San Francisco Food Bank has estimated that last year alone, 61 million dollars worth of food stamps that could have been distributed to eligible San Francisco residents went undistributed.

The obvious question: With so many hungry people in San Francisco, why are 61 million dollars worth of food stamps not being distributed?

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What you try to hide ain’t top secret

Steel Pulse, 1978

In the August issue of STREET SHEET, we briefly made reference to some of the more peculiar funding requests of U.S. Senate appropriators. More details are emerging. As mentioned, buried in the corners of the fiscal year 2006 Senate transportation and housing spending bill is a $50 million dollar item to create an ‘Affordable Housing Technical Assistance Board’. This group would be composed of “respected national non-profits” who would help local communities deal with the “overly complex” nature of HUD programs.

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El Comité de Inspección de los Refugios (SMC son sus siglas en inglés) de San Francisco ya está funcionando, pese a algunas dificultades, como la falta de personal, la ausencia continua de dos miembros y la falta de información de contacto o una página web. Los miembros del comité han estado realizando visitas no anunciadas a los refugios y centros de recursos (MSC -Sur, Santuario, Next Door, McMillan Resource Center, Hamilton House Family Shelter y Bayview Hunters Point Resource Center) y han identificado varios problemas que requieren atención. Muchos de esos problemas están siendo resueltos. Las visitas por sorpresa a los refugios continuarán ocurreindo y pueden llevarse a cabo en cualquier momento. El personal de los refugios está obligado a permitir la entrada sin restricciones de los miembros del comité y deben permitirles hablar en privado con los residentes. El SMC puede obtener información sobre los entrenamientos del personal de los refugios, cópias de las reclamaciones de los residents y documentos sobre la aprobación o rechazo de acomodaciones especiales para los casos de personas discapacitadas. El comité también tendrá acceso a los archivos de los clientes.

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Una Campaña de la Coalición de Desamparados

La coalición de desamparados en San Francisco, por los últimos 18 años ha estado hablando de la necesidad de crear vivienda para los desamparados en San Francisco, y en especial para las familias con niños.

En marzo del 2005, es cuando hacemos una consolidación de los proyectos y damos el inicio a una nueva era de trabajo, donde FRD (Family Rights and Dignity) y HSB (Hogares Sin Barreras) se consolidan en un solo proyecto y partir de allí uno de nuestros principales objetivos es empezar el desarrollo de la creación de la campaña para ayudar a obtener vivienda para las familias desamparadas. El grupo de trabajo Familias & Inmigrantes (FAIM) cuanta con una membrecía de 25 a 30 participantes de familias desamparadass. Este grupo es el que toma el liderazgo de desarrollo de la Campaña de Vivienda Primero para Familias Desamparadas.

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Father Louie, could you tell us a little about your background, like where you were born and grew up… a little bit about your family?

I was born in San Gabriel, California in the Los Angeles area in 1932 (chuckles)… a long time ago. My dad was originally born here in North Beach. My dad grew up here and then went into business in Los Angeles, so they moved down there and I was born in Southern California.

I went to college at Loyola University and ended up in ROTC. With ROTC I went in the Air Force for three years and was what they called an Intercept Officer… I flew back seat for jet interceptors. Air Defense… you know, shooting down bombers that were coming to get us.

They sent us up to shoot down a Russian bomber one time. And we fortunately decided to look before we shot and found out that it was an airliner. So, anyway I became disillusioned around that time (laughter). At least, looking back on it, I did.

What years were you in the military?

Oh, that was Korean War—toward the end of the Korean War—around the early to mid-1950s. But during my final years in college I kind of got this buzz on about I should maybe become a priest… or a Franciscan, something like that.

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Where can you find a stilt walker, “street” clowns, jump rope contests, a group mandala project, tai chi and cooking demonstrations all in the same place? These are some of the activities planned for the 10th annual Tenderloin Community Health and Safety Fair on October 1st from 11 am until 3 pm. The first 500 participants will also receive a healthy “bag lunch” and everyone is eligible to enter the raffle drawing simply by visiting with eight service providers who are present at the Tenderloin Children’s Playground (570 Ellis Street, between Hyde and Leavenworth) for this festive day of events and services.

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The San Francisco Shelter Monitoring Committee is up and running. Despite a few difficulties, such as no staff person, the absence of a couple of committee members and lack of contact information or a web site, committee members have been performing unannounced, surprise inspections at several shelters and resource centers (MSC-South, Sanctuary, Next Door, McMillan Resource Center, Hamilton House Family Shelter and Bayview Hunters Point Resource Center) and have identified several issues that require attention. Many of these issues are being addressed and some of these problems have been rectified. The surprise visits will continue to occur at undisclosed shelters and may happen at any time. Shelter staff is required to allow committee members full access to the facility and permit them to speak privately with clients. The SMC can and will request information from shelters such as verification of staff training, copies of complaint forms clients have turned in to the shelter staff, and documentation of approval or denial for requests of special accommodation due to disability. The committee can request access to client charts and records and will likewise do this as well.

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