40 years of homelessness—a look back through history
By The Western Regional Advocacy Project on Overthrow of neoliberal governance – freaking soon.
WRAP
The historical criminalization fact sheet
By The Western Regional Advocacy Project on How America has used the law to target marginalized populations over history.
House keys not sweeps: A campaign for dignity and respect
By The Western Regional Advocacy Project on “Sweep” is a euphemism for “kicking someone’s ass.” To those who are fortunate enough to be unfamiliar with sweeps, the word may sound gentle, but it’s eradication, displacement, and eviction through physical force.
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
“What an honor it was to accompany J. Fernandez to the United Nations and listen to him read his poem on a really big screen, and to see in front of the General Assembly the pictures of St. Mary’s Center and all of you. It was really inspiring and tear-provoking,” Carol Johnson said.
Federal Government Is Responsible for 25 Years of Failed Programs and Rising Homelessness
The U.S. government’s McKinney-Vento Act was enacted 25 years ago to address the emergency needs of homeless people. Yet homelessness has escalated to historic levels because federal officials have defunded, dismantled, and sold off hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, thus ensuring that more and more people become homeless.
Federal Government Shreds Housing for the Poor
For hundreds of thousands of U.S. households, public housing, Section 8, and other HUD rental assistance programs are lifelines. These programs make the difference between having a home and being homeless. And yet, both Congress and the White House are now proposing significantly rent increases in these programs.
WRAP Occupies Abandoned Building in San Francisco
Housing activists entered the vacant, two-story building owned by the San Francisco Archdiocese. They planned to occupy it so it could serve as housing for homeless people. Occupy SF member Emma Gerould said, “There is no reason why any building should be vacant when people have no housing.”
National Day of Action for the Right to Exist
Join the struggle on our day of action to uphold the human rights of homeless people on April 1, 2012. Tens of thousands of people are being persecuted simply for being poor and destitute. Cities all across the United States and Canada are trampling on the rights of the poorest citizens.
National Day of Action for the Right to Exist
The sit/lie law that Seattle passed in 1993 is nearly verbatim the same sit/lie law that San Francisco passed in 2010. The sit/lie law that San Francisco passed to use against homeless people is the same law that San Francisco police now use to harass Occupy protesters.
Political Art Keeps the Flame of Justice Burning
From the Great Depression to the present day, many artists have expressed solidarity with the 99% against the monopolized wealth of the ruling elites. Art has been a powerful catalyst for building solidarity with workers and poor people because the artists saw themselves as workers and poor people.
National Scandal of Using Jails as Psychiatric Wards
The cruelty and medical neglect suffered by poor and homeless people who are incarcerated for being mentally ill is a national disgrace. It is unacceptable that the prison system has displaced the mental health system as the main institution for dealing with poor people with psychiatric disabilities.
High-Spirited Flashmob Invades S.F. Financial District, Shuts Down Bank
West Coast social justice groups protested Big Finance’s theft of billions of tax dollars, home foreclosures, attacks on unions, and record rates of criminalization of poor and homeless people. After marching on the union-busting Hyatt Hotel and corporate financier Charles Schwab, masses of protesters successfully shut down Wells Fargo bank.