International issue
By Alastair Boone on I never thought my work with Street Spirit would bring me to Hannover, Germany. But this summer, it did.
Opinion
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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
Gentrification abroad: The destruction of a Roma village
By Sylvia Sawislak on As I walk through a Roma village in Istanbul, I see pink and yellow painted houses that are rusting, with open windows that have clothes hanging down the sides. There is trash everywhere I step. Ahead of me in the distance, I see tall buildings that are multicolored and modern. These are the apartment buildings that are replacing the Roma village. As Roma activist Sadi Cati shows me around, the Roma people living in the little houses look very unhappy while staring at me.
Berkeley homeless services imperiled
By Susan Black on At the Berkeley city council meet- ing on May 21, Berkeley’s City Manager unveiled her budget proposal for the next four years. This proposed budget would eliminate $223,356 from Dorothy Day House’s proposed funding. This amounts to a 20 percent cut in the money we will receive from the city.
Decades old documents should protect People’s Park
By Carol Denney on On May 8th, 1978, Associate Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Ted Chenoweth signed a “Letter of Agreement” assuring People’s Park’s
39 years of Food Not Bombs
By Keith McHenry on Food Not Bombs has been serving meals at People’s Park five days a week since 1991. And as the Park commemorates its 50th anniversary, Food Not Bombs is celebrating 39 years serving meals to the hungry. In honor of this shared anniversary, Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry shares his project’s origin story.
Unity grows in East Bay activism
By Dayton Andrews on I have seen something quite remarkable start to develop over the last few months. In the face of increased pressure on working people to find decent housing, some of the most hard-pressed people in the Bay Area have not only been standing their ground against threats of eviction—they are also traveling across neighborhoods to support comrades in other struggles doing the same.
Which comes first: homelessness or drug use?
By Andy Pope on “Does the crackhead become homeless, or does the homeless person become a crackhead?” This question was posed on the website
The economy of prison and homelessness
By Kevin D. Sawyer on The United States misappropriates resources (including the human ones) in a business-as-usual profit over people custom. For decades, the U.S. prison industrial complex has embraced tough-on-crime legislation to branch its growth through the incarceration of its citizens. One of the many downsides of this policy is the increase in people living in squalor while others are “sheltered” in the name of public safety.
From prison to the street
By Boston Woodard on On November 5, 2018, I was released from prison after serving 38 continuous years behind bars. Upon my return to freedom, a parole agent drove me to an area of San Jose that was dotted with cheap hotels. He dropped me off on The Alameda, a boulevard in San Jose, with everything I owned stuffed in a backpack and a small duffle bag.
The downside of success
By Timothy Busby on People measure success in many different ways. For some people it’s marriage and children. For others it is making money. For many it’s just paying the bills due each month. And then you have people, such as myself, who believe that success is in the friendships you make, and in fulfilling the basic necessities needed in order to survive.
Homeless veterans deserve respect
By Timothy Busby on Homeless veterans make up a large percenage of the homeless population in the United States. According to a 2018 report