If you are from San Francisco, you may have noticed Street Sheet vendors. For two dollars they will give you a copy of the latest edition of our city's amazing newspaper dedicated to ending homelessness.
The November 3, 2022 edition covered the details behind the September 27, 2022 suit by the ACLU against the City of San Francisco for its horrifying policy of street sweeps. And here is a link to one of the articles where an Ex-DPW Worker Dishes the Dirt on the Sweeps.
I was astonished at what goes on. The Department of Public Works leaders in charge of the sweeps believe they are at war with the homeless. A DWP worker steals and/or trashes homeless belongings? Well the homeless are trash and they deserve it, even if it is their phone and medications that are taken. Oh, when items are taken they are bagged and held for pickup and the regulation says the homeless person they were taken from gets a sheet of instructions how to reclaim their belongings, except they don't get those instructions. Sometimes the DWP arrives at 4 am and dumps the homeless out of their sleeping bags into the cold dark morning air. If the victims try to hold onto their medications, the police are brought in and jail is threatened.
It is a stupid policy with no good results. The homeless just move to a new spot. There is not nearly enough housing for them, so what else are they going to do? Then another sweep moves them again and again. Yet it costs the city to do this. Why not spend the money on helping the homeless?
What can we do? For sure, read the street sheet! That's easy. Or like the Street Sheet on facebook. If you really want to help or donate, here's the page.
Great quote from an article in the San Francisco Examiner:
" Mayor London Breed and The City of San Francisco must honor their verbal commitment to reducing state violence against Black and unhoused communities. This will not happen unless we permanently end street sweeps of all forms. The funds wasted by The City on street sweeps through SFPD and the DPW should be diverted towards sustainable social services and permanent supportive housing — and in the absence of permanent supportive housing, people must be allowed to remain stable on the streets or in sanctioned and serviced encampments, free of police and state harassment. In addition, The City should invest in non-police mental health crisis response programs such as Eugene’s Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets or Sacramento’s Mental Health First."
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