Street Spirit

The Shape-Shifter and the Psychiatrist

Fiction
Dr. Baker asked, “Where did you learn this ability?” “There is a training complex on Mars,” I replied. The nurse and the psych tech chortled involuntarily. Dr. Baker glared and said, “Maybe a jolt of electroconvulsive would zap some of that smart-ass out of you.”

Cities that Criminalize the Poor Risk Losing HUD Funding

Opinion
It’s one thing to show the fallacy of giving tickets to people with no money, and wasting police resources on issues which would disappear if everybody had somewhere to live. But HUD is offering to share two billion dollars in federal funding with cities —if they stop criminalizing the poor.

More Anti-Homeless Laws on the Way on November 17

Features   Uncategorized
Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the City of Berkeley is turning its back on the Department of Justice and HUD guidelines and embracing more anti-homeless laws. This new slate of anti-homeless laws will be considered at the City Council meeting on the evening of Tuesday, November 17.

Broken Windows Transcript

Opinion
Join Ibrahim Mubarak, Right 2 Survive; Benjamin Donlon, Denver Homeless Out Loud; JoJo Smith, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Shayla Myers, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles; Liz Brown, San Francisco State University; and Sulaiman Hyatt, BlackLivesMatter Bay Area chapter at a panel discussion organized by the Western Regional Advocacy Project. Speakers address the links business improvements districts increasing power in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and other cities to how policing is connected to racial and economic segregation, gentrification and mass incarceration.

Broken Windows Policing Breaks Lives Apart

Opinion
We will continue our organizing efforts against the Business Improvement Districts and anyone who encourages police harassment and incarceration of poor and homeless people. We are not broken windows and we will continue to fight this violent system trying to break us until we are all free.

Two Federal Agencies Weigh in Against Criminalizing Homelessness

Features   Uncategorized
On August 6th, 2015 the DOJ released a statement of interest expressing opposition to the criminalization of homelessness in a Boise, ID anti-camping case. More recently, HUD released its guidelines for “Continuum of Care” consortiums vying for a share of the $1.9 billion in homelessness assistance funding. They will now require applicants explain how their communities are combatting the criminalization of homelessness and giving preference to applicants who provide evidence of their policies. The actions of these two federal agencies are especially welcome at a time when more and more laws criminalizing homeless people’s right to exist in public spaces are being passed every day throughout the country.

Film Premiere of “Dogtown Redemption” in Oakland

Arts and Culture
“Dogtown Redemption,” a new documentary film, humanizes and celebrates those who live in the America that many of us do not see. The film is not only the intimate story of recyclers in West Oakland, but a journey through a landscape of love and loss, devotion and addiction, prejudice and poverty.

Gray Panthers Discuss Crucial Housing Issues in Berkeley

Features   Uncategorized
Berkeley needs truly affordable housing, City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said. It is a strong indictment by Worthington directed at members of the Berkeley City Council who act in the interests of developers and wealthy landlords against the needs of people with low or modest incomes.

How Homelessness Is Distorted in the Media

Opinion
Many viewers of the morning news don’t think twice when they hear about the thousands without homes because these individuals are no longer portrayed as people with feelings and ideas. Instead, they are numbers. We see people turned into statistics because they are easier to compute that way.

The Cost of Anti-Homeless Laws Just Went Up by $1.9 Billion

Features   Uncategorized
HUD just added a high cost to the growing federal pressures against cities that criminalize homelessness. Cities that enforce anti-homeless laws risk losing $1.9 billion nationwide from federal homelessness funding. For the first time HUD is asking applicants to “describe how they are reducing criminalization of homelessness.”