The Coalition on Homelessness 3rd Annual Karaoke Party and Contest is postponed until further notice.

After confirmed reservations with the Mint Karaoke Lounge at 1942 Market Street, announcements made and raffle tickets printed and distributed, the owner of the club called the Coalition today and abruptly cancelled our reservation stating that the presence of our group last year left a lingering odor in his establishment.

As this is both untrue and ridiculous, it’s simply another example, like the blaring of chain saw noise outside Bill Graham Auditorium to drive away those with nowhere else to go, of the hateful treatment of homeless people by some members of the San Francisco entertainment industry.

As soon as we have secured a new venue for the event we will post the location, date and time.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the Coalition on Homelessness.

PS: Boycott the haters at THE MINT KARAOKE LOUNGE

Congratulations to Jennifer Friedenbach for being selected as the recipient of the Democratic Women’s Forum “Eleanor Roosevelt Woman of the Year.”

The award will be presented to Jennifer at a luncheon at the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel on Saturday, June 8.

Read Jennifer’s profile here: 

“Jennifer Friedenbach, S.F. Homeless Champion”

On Friday evening, San Francisco police officers arrested a Coalition on Homelessness staffperson, and cited him with violation of a California state lodging prohibition for camping in Jane Warner Plaza in the Castro, settling a dispute over the duplicativity of new anti-homeless legislation.

In recent weeks, there has been significant debate in City Hall over newly proposed regulations for Harvey Milk and Jane Warner Plazas. Community activists, including many independent Castro residents, Queers for Economic Equality Now (QUEEN), and the Coalition on Homelessness, have argued that these proposed regulations are wrong-headed, primarily anti-homeless, and duplicate existing laws, including section 647(e) of the California Penal Code, which prohibits lodging in public places without permission. “Relegislation of the same things that aren’t working now keeps us in a vicious cycle of punishing homeless people over and over again for their poverty, but fails to solve any problems whatsoever. If it’s not working now, why do it again?” said Tommi Avicolli-Mecca of QUEEN.

In a hearing of the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Economic Development Committee this past Monday, Supervisor Scott Wiener, who introduced the legislation, described a document by the Coalition on Homelessness which says that the regulations duplicate PC 647(e) as “misinformation.”

On Friday night, Bob Offer-Westort, Human Rights Organizer at the Coalition on Homelessness, set up camp in Jane Warner Plaza and let the San Francisco Police Department settle the dispute. “I really had one of the nicest evenings of my time in San Francisco. I had expected to be harassed a little, but in fact, the neighborhood was very welcoming, and a few different housed residents who were strangers to me came down to my tent to hang out for a while. It’s nice to be reminded how friendly and welcoming people in this city are,” said Offer-Westort. However, after half an hour, Offer-Westort was arrested, hand-cuffed at Mission Station for approximately two hours, and released with a citation for violation of PC 647(e), a misdemeanor which carries a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, or both. “This proves that camping is already illegal in the plazas,” said Offer-Westort.

Offer-Westort requested legal representation from Supervisor Wiener on Sunday, but does not expect a response until Supervisor Wiener’s office opens Monday morning.

The Board will vote on Supervisor Wiener’s proposed legislation this coming Tuesday.

We have been working hard, moving fast and winning victories.

In 2011 we…

Led a powerful campaign that resulted in the city matching $1.5 million from a private donor to house homeless families, and got the SFHA to expedite moving families into empty units. Families are getting housing as we speak!

After several shooting by police of people in psychiatric crisis, we passed legislation at the Police Commission that establishes a Crisis Intervention Team. A pool of officers will recieve advanced training, change dispatch protocol and hopefully end the use of increased force during a psychiatric health crisis.

Halted the use of tasers by SFPD which are know to increase fatalities and injuries.

Staved off major budget cuts to health and human services, including stopping the closure of shelters and emergency resource centers for homeless people

Built a cadre of fierce, well-informed champions of housing justice and human rights activist, who themselves are or have been negatively impacted by economic disparities, racism, affordable housing shortages and poverty.

Sound good?

Give what you can – your donation goes a long long long way here. We put your money to work – working for social and economic justice!

Oh – and give this month and you can deduct it on your taxes!

Oh Oh- and no money to give? Give your old stuff to Community Thrift in our names or hold your own garage sale.

Big Thanks To All The Donors Who Have Made All This Possible.

Looking forward to 2012 being even better!

On two different occasions, the Mayor’s homeless Czar Dariush Kayhan doesn’t bother to show up for meeting with homeless families. He then decides he will not meet with them at all. His reason for forcing families to come from all over the city on foot pushing strollers filled with crying sleep deprived homeless children? He does not have the answers to our questions – he needs lower paid city employees to answer them. Really.

The picture below is of the group that gathered the second time.

I guess poor people of color don’t matter enough for him to get the answers.

Maybe we should have pretended we were the Chamber of Commerce.

As a result of our powerful homeless family led campaign, the city finally responded to the housing crisis poor families in SF are facing. This progress report was sent from the city today. Not included in this report, is the private funding from Marc and Lynne Benioff of $1.3 million which will go partly to Hamilton Family Center for housing subsidies for families. They have already started enrolling families and the first family will move in on January 21st.

As requested here’s an update from the Homeless Assistance Fund. We have
currently committed to $483K to Hamilton for subsidies and $136K to Compass
Connecting Point for two housing specialists to work with families on the
CCP wait list for shelter diversion.

The funding from the Salesforce went directly to the providers and I do
not have a break down on how the funds were allocated.

SFHA
31 families attended group intakes with SFHA on 12/13 and 12/16
6 families from the Group 3 shelter list were already in process
1 family was offered a unit on 12/12 and is move in yesterday
1 family is being offered a unit today and may move in on Friday
5 families will receive unit offers by the end of this week, and may begin
moving in as early as next week

Hamilton First Avenues
28 families have been enrolled in the Hamilton subsidy program
3 have received move-in offers; one moves in this week, the other 2 have
leases that begin 1/1/12

Treasure Island
5 families have been identified for TI – they will have a group orientation
with John Stewart tomorrow at 11am after which they will received their
keys. IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED, Hamilton anticipates they will all want to
move in ASAP – but we may not want to say definitively it will be by
Christmas although it looks pretty good now. Hamilton will work to
facilitate this process and try to ensure families have at least a minimum
amount of furniture at time of move in, and work with them to get more next
week.

courtesy of
Joyce Crum
Program Director, Housing and Homeless Division
Human Services Agency