First rain of the season
By Ace Backwords on The first real rain of the season was last night and I got totally soaked. My impression was that the rain wasn’t gonna start until later in the morning. My impression was wrong.
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We are the haunted, not the horrors
By Stefani Echeverría-Fenn on Science has now proven that trauma can be passed down intergenerationally; that rats whose mothers were exposed to stressors like water can epigenetically inherit a special fear of water. Before we had this science, nearly every culture on Earth had ghost stories.
Complaints against the homeless could backfire
By Kheven LaGrone on in April of 2018, the City of Oakland launched “OAK 311”—an app and web service that was built to make
The county wants to put me in jail so they don’t have to see me
By Markaya Spikes on I must start off by saying I laughed when I heard that Alameda County agreed to lease the City of Oakland use of the Old North County Jail for $1.00 a year. Would the officials who had this idea stay in North County? Exactly how it is that this is an option just because someone else feels like, “well it’s better than where you are now so this is what I have to offer you, take it or leave it”?
‘I have never called my cell a home’
By Juan Haines on All throughout my incarceration, I have never called my cell a home. Moreover, I consider the bars that cage me disrespectful, even to animals. So, I think Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf let down some very vulnerable people when she told the San Francisco Chronicle that a vacant jail is an “obvious” option for a homeless shelter.
A jail is not a home
By Kevin D. Sawyer on When the problem of homelessness was in its infancy and jails were expanding to greet new “clients” each day, the issue concerning the growing number of unsheltered people on the street was practically invisible. Years later, two wars overseas, and a financial meltdown created The Great Recession.
Introducing ‘Right to Exist Curbside Communities’
By Anita de Asis Miralle on Meet the group of informal settlements upgrading their encampments and suing the city of Oakland Right to Exist Curbside Communities
Disability insurance is a poverty trap August 2019
By Jack Bragen on If you are unable to work competitively due to a disability and you receive benefits because of this, it isn’t free money—it comes with certain costs. Disability benefits and SSI are set up to impose limitations in what you can and can’t do.
Why the ‘right to shelter’ is wrong
By Randy Shaw on In response to rising homelessness, key Califonia politicians are drawing the wrong conclusions about what needs to be done. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who heads Governor Newsom’s Commission on Homelessness, is leading this misguided effort.
Homeless in Trump’s America
By Peter Y. Sussman on A man who lives at taxpayer expense in luxurious public housing in Washington, D.C. has started a campaign against those who aren’t so lucky. There’s something that repels him about homeless people, and in two appearances in recent months, the president began to clarify what it is.
Where are Berkeley’s mobile showers?
By Timothy Busby on Summertime is here in sunny Northern California, but what does that mean for the homeless living on the streets? It’s not that hard to figure out, it means limited access to showers, sweating all day, wearing stinking clothes and a real need for access to the basic human necessities.
Correcting misconceptions about homelessness
By Timothy Busby on I have a group page where I post stories and also answer questions about homelessness. Recently, someone posted the following