At 4:00 a.m., the silent street waits. A row of swathed bodies slumbers along the Tenderloin Health Center wall at Leavenworth and Golden Gate. Brilliant lights stab the darkness. A siren screams. A police car hurtles just ahead of a Department of Public Works “flusher truck.” Seconds later, orange-vested men approach, shouting groggy sleepers off the street. People scatter, gathering belongings. A huge white vehicle roars past jetting a powerful water arc over struggling people. A phosphorescent halo spray glows eerily around carts, heads, and bodies.

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San Francisco’s Department of Human Services has a brochure explaining (or applauding) the CHANGES system, a brochure whose cover reads: How to Get Shelter in San Francisco for single adults—it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

This could hardly be farther from the truth. There is a serious crisis within the shelter system. Outside of 150 Otis, men sit all night, curled into tiny brick crevices, hoping that maybe, at some point, they will be able to at least sleep in a chair inside. Countless others around the city are unable to access shelters either. However, every night, there are numerous shelter beds that remain empty.

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Mr. Jackson, a homeless Viet Nam War veteran, suffers from a severe physical disability that he procured during the war. His two legs are paralyzed, leaving him to get around in a wheelchair, wheeling his way from shelter to shelter, where he is occasionally fortunate enough to find a bed. Tragically, because Mr. Jackson is disabled and receives Veterans Benefits, he is excluded from receiving any benefits from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s pet project, Care Not Cash, and is left to fend for himself in San Francisco’s increasingly bureaucratic shelter system. Fortunately for veterans like Jackson, some folks are taking action to remedy and combat their predicament.

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After five months of biweekly meetings, the Streets and Neighborhoods workgroup will submit its proposal for making downtown safer for San Francisco residents—and, thanks to revised language, some concerns of the city’s homeless residents will also be considered.

“I’m shocked, simply shocked, that a body comprised 89 percent of downtown business representatives, and political appointees beholden to downtown business interests, could come to an agreement about policies concerning the rights of poor people,” said Street Sheet editor Bob Offer-Westort, who attended the October 22 meeting at UC Hastings College of the Law.

Coalition on Homelessness Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach ironed out details with the task force to prevent further criminalization of homeless people. She collaborated with a group organized by Mayor Gavin Newsom, and which included Convention and Visitor Bureau CEO Joe D’Alessandro and Human Services Agency Director Trent Rhorer.

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Dear Supervisors:

I am writing to urge you to amend the rental subsidy program. All of us, SRO families, are very happy to have the rental subsidy program that would lessen our burden on our rent and let us have decent housing. However, the subsidy is only for two years. After two years, would we afford the rent on our own? That is a big concern for me and many of our families. Because of that, we had not applied to the program. For some families that have applied and got accepted into the program, because of the rising cost of living and employment problems, they could not afford to move out of SRO even with the subsidy. Some families got rejected because their income is too low.

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Dear Supervisors:

My name is Kenya Valdez. I am an active member of the Coalition on Homelessness. I applied for the subsidy and they haven’t given it to me. I feel bad because I have problems in the house where I am staying temporarily and at times I have stayed in the street with my children.

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Dear Supervisors:

Hello, good afternoon. My name is Lidia.

I am in a very difficult situation for my husband and me. My social worker told us that they are going to extend our subsidy for three months and after that they might take it away or they might extend it for another three months but it’s not certain. That’s why we’re worried, because my husband is now earning less money than he was making when we first got the subsidy.

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Dear Supervisors:

My name is Rosa Angelica. I am an active member of the Coalition on Homelessness.

I don’t want the rental subsidy to be taken away because I would not want to see my family suffer. And I don’t want to see other homeless families suffer because children should not be living on the street hungry, cold, and being humiliated by other people.

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Dear Supervisors:

When my family and I heard about the rental subsidy program, we were very happy and applied for the program immediately. However, now that I have lost my job, my husband is the only wage earner making $1,600 monthly. That is about $1,300 after tax. The going rate for a San Francisco one bedroom unit is around $1,000. How would we be able to afford the rent?

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Dear Supervisors:

I am a mother of two daughters, five and three years old. We used to live in a studio, where my husband plus the three of us lived together. We didn’t have enough space and we were always on top of each other. My children didn’t have any space to play.

I found out about the rental subsidy program, I applied, and I was accepted. Now I live in a bigger apartment and my children’s lives have changed noticeably. They are a lot happier and my older daughter tells me that she likes her new home. I’m very happy and so is my husband. (more…)