Homeless People in San Francisco Can Phone in for Shelter Beds

Homeless people may use the 311 telephone system to reserve a bed for up to 90 days, using a unique identifying number to determine their spot on a waitlist. This method aims to move homeless people away from lining up at resource centers before they open, sometimes by sleeping outside overnight.

A Celebration of Hepatitis C Awareness Week in Oakland

Hepatitis C has been a “silent killer” for decades, affecting millions of people, including many unaware that they have this potentially life threatening disease. This year Hepatitis C Awareness Week is more important than ever, because there are new treatments that are saving lives. Hepatitis C is now curable.

Building a New Movement for Full Employment

If the federal government can figure out how to rescue Wall Street, it has a moral obligation to figure out how to rescue Main Street. Two-thirds of the American people believe the government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job.

When Hope Is Buried Deeply Under the Rubble

What if many people are buried deep under poverty? What if they cried but no one heard, and no one came to rescue them? Sometimes it feels like there is no way out, not enough money, not enough food, but plenty of despair, hurt, loneliness — and so little help.

Albany Officials Ignore the Needs of Disabled People at the Bulb

Albany opened its temporary homeless shelter supposedly for use by the population of primarily disabled homeless individuals whose camps it intends to demolish. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations to afford a handicapped person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

Albany’s Shelter Program Is a Dismal Failure

“They never delivered services in a way that’s actually designed to help people with disabilities. They’ve simply written off all those people who don’t have an income. They blame people out here for their failure to find housing for them. They’ve given all kinds of reasons why they failed .” — Osha Neumann

Lawmakers Bludgeon the Food Stamp Program

The Farm Bill includes massive cuts to the food stamp program that will affect about 47 million people living in poverty. Food stamp recipients will receive 90 dollars less per month when the cuts take effect, and in California alone, some 700,000 people in poverty will see their benefits shrink.

Renewing the Struggle for Civil Rights

The planet is speaking and too few are listening. The poor are weeping and too few are concerned. The despised and rejected of men are incarcerated and deported. The Guantanamo gulag still exists. Drone warfare continues unabated. The economic devastation caused by the uber-rich is paid for by the struggling poor.

The Street Spirit Interview with Peter Marin

This is what the government must do: Leave all the war stuff aside, leave the NSA stuff aside, and the billions spent on this by the government. The very first thing, beyond everything else, should be housing, damn it. It goes without question because it is so necessary for human survival.

Transfiguring Beauty: The Poetry of Peter Marin

Peter Marin’s poetry illuminates and transfigures, enabling us to see the sacred beauty of people living on the streets all around us. In a land where homeless people are shunned and persecuted, it is a revolutionary act when a poet finds beauty in their lives, and restores their stolen dignity.