news

yeah but think of the valuable parking they're taking up!

The housing for the homeless in SF is a disgrace considering how wealthy that area is. From the Bluesky thread a post described the following article as...

Gee idk is the no food, the no cooking, no personal freedom, or the r*pes that might make people feel safer in their vehicles or on the street?

I only scanned this article - I'm sure there's (much) more that I didn't see.

Why do some SF homeless people choose the street over a bed?

Some complained of the shelters’ unsanitary conditions and dearth of food; residents are served two meals a day, the sites’ employees said. Others, particularly women concerned about sexual assault and harassment, have long complained about security and the lack of freedom to walk in and out of the shelters at will.

Rules that govern all city shelters forbid, among other “disruptive” behaviors, drug use, destruction of property, and the possession of unchecked weapons. Still, those affected by the sweeps described high rates of theft, crowded and chaotic living quarters, and unsympathetic staff. They criticized the congregate shelters’ lack of privacy, saying they would rather sleep in their own tent than in a room with dozens of strangers.

[...]

Across the city’s shelters, residents are required to sign in and out; it’s a simple way to keep track of peoples’ whereabouts while maintaining a low barrier for entry, staff said. Staff can’t force guests to stay or return. But this system, coupled with periodic wellness checks, allows them to monitor how often the shelters’ resources are being used. If someone is gone for more than 48 hours, they forfeit their bed.

[...]

The city tries to make the most of the space it has, Cohen said. That means that some buildings, like Next Door, a former car dealership, have their eccentricities. “This reminds me of a prison setup,” said Marshall, the shelter’s housing director, pointing to a small room enclosed by glass at the center of the women’s floor that is used as a common area. “COs would be right here,” Marshall noted, using the acronym for “corrections officers.”

This is a new term for me... I've been one of tens of thousands of the "motorhomeless" (living out of vehicles) 3 times in the last 4 years. I managed to keep my wfh/remote job through it all. In two of the three displacements I was "landlords use"d out of my housing and couldn't find anything in my price range (even while I make good money) because I have dogs, and refuse to pay 60% or more of my income to keep a roof over my head.

I'm coming from an early adulthood of being an actual street addict and NFA wanderer. The atmosphere out there over the past decade is extremely different than it was 20+ years ago.

I feel like more people should read The Grapes of Wrath because that's kinda what's coming if things don't let up. The class war is palpable and sometime soon those going without may actually outnumber the haves and all these landlord capitalist class assholes are gonna feign surprise that their starving workers aren't more grateful for the leftovers they're thrown over the fence while the pinkertons burn down their shacks and then jail (and kill) them for "vagrancy" (those laws are still on the books btw).

Good times.

Issue is where you park it, if you don't have permission to park it where it is that's trespassing.

It's their own private domicile and they will not be harassed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J821EI5jxfI

"Nobody wants to work anymore!"

It's the whole West Coast. BC Canada is about to elect conservatives who are going to push through mandatory or "involuntary" treatment for addicts and people with "mental health issues" and by that they mean poor people who are visibly struggling to find housing to be weird and do drugs in. They're not going to send their alcoholic and neurodiverdent friends and family to jail as long as they don't suffer publicly. It's only for the homeless and the working poor living out of vans and motorhomes and tents because they've been priced out of the fucking rental market by short-term rentals and tourists and small boom economies of scale.

Who knew that making basic human needs into luxury items would displace huge swaths of society. Idk... I learned about shelter being one of the basics in grade school... But obviously it's not profitable to make sure everyone has their needs met.

I think it's surreal how the GOP turned the words "San Francisco" into a thought terminating cliché for republicans to pretend democrats are communists or socialists trying to create the communist state of California. They might say "Nancy Pelosi San Francisco democrat" as though Pelosi herself was evicting billionaires from their homes for land reform. Meanwhile some GOP mayors across the US need to at least appear not to be a ghoul about the homeless to get democratic votes but Breed can be gleeful and open in her hatred of the homeless. It helps keep her in power.