Please join us to commemorate homeless people—our friends, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, and even some who none of us got the opportunity to know—this Thursday, December 20, at 5:30 p.m. at Civic Center Plaza. Bring a candle, if you can. If you know of any one who has passed away, please make sure that their name is included in the service by contacting San Francisco Network Ministries at 415.928.6209.
The City offers one drop-in service to make up for the housing the economy can’t provide and the beds the shelter system won’t make available: Buster’s Place.
Though Buster’s Place is not a shelter, every night over a hundred people rest under the center’s roof. Many of these people are among the most vulnerable in San Francisco. Without Buster’s Place, the city’s streets could be horrifically damaging.
Unfortunately, a Buster’s-Place-less San Francisco has become a very real prospect. In his 2007-2008 fiscal year budget, the Mayor eradicated funding for Buster’s Place. The Board of Supervisors’ Finance Committee failed to re-include the center in the add-back process.
But there’s still a chance to save Buster’s Place for the 300 homeless people who pass through its doors every day, and the 100 who stay there every night: The budget is not a done deal until passed by the Board next week. The possibility of reintroducing funding for Buster’s Place will be presented before the full Board. With enough popular support, it just might pass. Please contact your supervisor today. (Don’t know your district? Check this map.) It may sound hyperbolic, but you really may be saving lives.
Come testify before the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee regarding the closure of Buster’s place.
Thursday June 21st
4:00 Steps of City Hall
Rally along with other poor people’s organizations for a fair budget for all poor communities (People’s Budget)
5:00 Come testify at hearing, Room 250 inside City Hall
Buster’s Place is closing its doors on June 30. The Mayor did not include funding in his budget for this program next year. Homeless people must have a safe place to go that is open 24 hours for non-medical emergencies, basic necessities such as showers and bathrooms, and to connect with housing and homeless services.
This month’s issue of the Street Sheet focused on recent research undertaken by the Coalition on Homelessness’ Right to a Roof workgroup concerning human rights abuses in shelters. Today, at noon, the report Shelter Shock: Abuse, Cruelty, and Neglect in San Francisco’s Shelter System (1.3 MB PDF) will be released at a 12:00 noon press conference in front of City Hall.
WHEN: Tuesday, April 24, 12.00 p.m.
WHERE: 800 Mission Street, in front of Metreon
WHAT: A walk and rally to stand against a proposed poverty court that will waste funds that could be spent on ending homelessness while criminalizing people for being poor.
Erroneously calling them, “community courts,” Mayor Newsom has proposed new poverty courts that would further criminalize poor and homeless Central City residents for activities such as sleeping in public. This new proposed court system would inappropriately route public funds to divert police officers from responding to real crimes in order to act as untrained triage workers for unfunded social services. The walk will start at the Metreon (12:00 p.m.), go up Mission to 7th Street, stop at the Federal Building (12:35), walk through United Nations Plaza to City Hall (12:50), and continue to the Tenderloin Police Station (1:00), and end in a rally at Boedekker Park (1:15). Recent San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman and Supervisor Chris Daly will both be featured speakers at the event.
Please join us for a big action on Friday, March 30, at 11:00 a.m. on the front steps of City Hall.
We are seeking an operating subsidy so that extremely low income families can move into new housing units being built with City and redevelopment funds.
Over 500 units are going in over the next 18 months, but very few are going to homeless families.
Please come join us and support this work. The rally promises fun for the whole family: Food, easter egg hunt, dynamic speakers and more!
Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse: After last year’s $600,000 million cuts to the Public Housing budget, Congress is slashing again: this time by 24%! Philadelphia has laid off 350 Housing Authority workers. San Diego plans to sell all of its public housing units. San Francisco has already lost its security services at senior/disabled buildings due to last year’s cuts… We can expect disastrous consequences unless Congress takes a stand.
A spending bill is expected to be passed by February 5, and we need our representatives to ensure that funding levels are increased in that “joint funding resolution.” Send a letter today at http://www.local-impact.org or learn more at http://www.hrcsf.org.
Last spring, the mainstream news about San Francisco’s admittedly severe and shameful homelessness problem was decidedly upbeat. The focus was on the City’s newly adopted “Housing First” approach, with its emphasis on immediate housing for the most visible, “chronically homeless” people. The Mayor seemed both concerned and effective. The City had a task force, keys to hotel rooms were distributed to much fanfare, and Project Homeless Connect was rallying increasing corporate and individual support for the cause amid a flurry of media acclaim.
Common Ground Collective has called a National Caravan to arrive in New Orleans on November 20th and work over the week of Thanksgiving until November 27th.
What: Common Ground wants 300 volunteers from all around the country to converge in New Orleans with donated funds and building & cleaning supplies. Volunteers will work on a particular section of the 9th Ward picking up yard debris, cleaning the streets, tarping rooftops, etc.
Why: The poor neighborhoods of the city don’t have electricity and are not being cleaned up or repaired, while the French Quarter and other predominantly white areas are relatively clean and quite functional.
Who: We need volunteers with specific skills: electricians, mechanics, plumbers, mold abaters, roofers, construction workers, carpenters, tree workers, lawyers, cooks -and people who can train other volunteers and residents in these skills.
How you can help: Go to New Orleans and work. Donate $$$$. Donate supplies. Help spread the word.
To get plugged-in: Please email sfcaravan@mutualaid.org or call (707) 644-6575
On Tuesday March 8th, for the 6th Global Women’s Strike, in San Francisco, we are protesting the criminalization of survival. With welfare cuts and increasingly repressive laws, more and more people are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law, just for trying to make ends meet. Most women in prison are there for non-violent offences and crimes of poverty. 85% of women prisoners are mothers, most lose custody of their children so, imprisoning women destroys families.
