In response to an increase in tent encampments in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, city officials will target 13 blocks with outreach, services, cleaning and enforcement. People living in some encampments will be asked to relocate to permitted sites, and the city will open one such site with 50 spaces on Fulton Street between Larkin and Hyde streets.
Tag: coronavirus
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Homelessness, Housing
Homeless Activists Occupied S.F. Home to Protest Real Estate Speculation
The same day tenant advocates in San Francisco organized a car caravan demonstration calling for the cancellation of rent, two homeless women, Couper Orona and Jess Gonzalez, briefly occupied a long-vacant home in the Castro before police removed them.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Coronavirus, Health
Testing Expanded for Essential S.F. Workers
As part of an effort to expand testing to all San Franciscans the city is offering free coronavirus testing to all essential workers, even those without symptoms.
Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Public Health Department, said Monday that testing is now available to all public and private workers deemed essential, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Posted inEconomy & Business, Housing, Labor
Rental Relief Programs See Requests Surge From Newly Jobless
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Nonprofits that serve people who need emergency help with their rent are seeing requests surge from a new class of clients — those who were previously financially secure but have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. But red tape is complicating their efforts to help the newly jobless, the groups say.
Posted inHomelessness, Housing
Two Squatters Occupy Vacant S.F. Home to Protest Housing Policies for Homeless
Two homeless women staged an occupation of a vacant single-family home Friday in the Castro in a move aimed at drawing more attention to their demand that the city move more quickly to shelter homeless people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They hung banners outside with messages such as “End homelessness, reclaim San Francisco” and “Housing is a human right” and attracted protesters and neighbors supporting the action before leaving several hours later after negotiations with police.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, News
Sustaining Local Media During the Public Health Crisis
Even as more people than ever are turning to local media for reliable information during the COVID-19 crisis, many local outlets are actually laying off staff because of a collapse in the advertising market.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Homelessness
Service Provider: Homeless Are Always ‘Last in Line’ for Help
Among the most exposed and often vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic are people who don’t have a place of shelter. Joe Wilson, executive director of Hospitality House, a nonprofit that offers a variety of services from employment guidance to emergency shelter, said the city seems to be waiting for people to get sick before intervening.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Social Justice
Activists Warn Anti-Asian Racism Likely to Worsen After Lockdown Lifts
A national tool created in March to track incidents of anti-Asian discrimination, harassment and violence received almost 1,500 reports within a month. Activists expect incidents of discrimination and even life-threatening violence to escalate after shelter-in-place orders are lifted, and they’re already organizing against that possibility.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Economy & Business, Health, Homelessness
S.F. Offers Hotel Rooms for Local Homeless, Not Newcomers, Breed Says
As San Francisco officials worked to expand housing options for the homeless, city leaders warned that anyone from outside San Francisco seeking a hotel room or other shelter would be turned away to preserve resources for those who were homeless within city limits before the pandemic hit.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Economy & Business
Excluded From Federal Relief, Sex Workers Strategize for Survival
Many sex workers are barred from accessing protections and resources meant to help workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic — federal small business loans, for example, specifically excludes those whose work is “of a prurient sexual nature” from eligibility.