Homelessness

Doctors Could Prescribe Houses To Homeless Under Radical Hawaii Bill

March 9, 2017 Liz Barney, www.theguardian.com Create! Hawaii, Homelessness, Legislation

By Liz Barney for The Guardian - One day last month, Stephen Williams asked a passerby for help and then collapsed on the sidewalk. When the ambulance arrived in downtown Honolulu, his temperature was well over 104F. A life-threatening staph infection had entered his bloodstream. Williams, who lives on the dusty streets of Chinatown, spent seven days hooked to an IV, treatment that can cost $40,000, according to the hospital that admitted him. But Williams didn’t pay: the bill was covered by government dollars in the form of Medicaid. Over the past four years, he has been to the hospital for infections 21 times, he said, a consequence of psoriasis flare-ups in a humid climate and unsanitary conditions.

Medicine Hat Becomes First City In Canada To Eliminate Homelessness

March 6, 2017 Staff, www.cbc.ca Create! Canada, Homelessness

By Staff for CBC Radio - Medicine Hat, a city in southern Alberta, pledged in 2009 to put an end to homelessness. Now they say they've fulfilled their promise. No one in the city spends more than 10 days in an emergency shelter or on the streets. If you've got no place to go, they'll simply provide you with housing. "We're pretty much able to meet that standard today. Even quicker, actually, sometimes," Mayor Ted Clugston tells As It Happens host Carol Off. Housing is tight in Medicine Hat. Frequent flooding in the past few years didn't help matters. With money chipped in by the province, the city built many new homes.

In Tampa, Food Not Bombs Activists Arrested For Feeding Homeless—Again

January 10, 2017 Kate Bradshaw, www.cltampa.com Resist! Arrest, Florida, Food Not Bombs, Homelessness

By Kate Bradshaw for Creative Lofting Tampa Bay - Temperatures were dipping into unfriendly territory Saturday afternoon as sports fans flocked to the events at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. At nearby Lykes Gaslight Park, members of Tampa's homeless community were gathered for hot coffee and bagels, courtesy of the group Food Not Bombs. There were no altercations, no illicit substances, no bad behavior—unless you count that, according to the City of Tampa, that coffee and bagels were illegal. Why? Because you have to have a special permit in order to offer free food to the needy in city parks.

Unhappy Holidays: Houston Police Force Homeless People To Throw Away Food

December 27, 2016 Derrick Broze, www.theantimedia.org Resist! Homelessness, Houston

By Derrick Broze for The Anti-Media - On Thursday, the Houston Police Department targeted a group of homeless advocates who were attempting to hand out hot food and gifts to the homeless. Houston, TX – On Thursday, the Houston Police Department targeted a group of homeless advocates who were attempting to hand out hot food and gifts to the homeless. Local activists attempting to hand out food and gifts were shocked on Thursday afternoon when Houston police forced the homeless to throw away the donations. Around 1 pm on Thursday, several individuals met in downtown Houston to distribute plates of hot food, blankets, and other supplies to the city’s growing homeless population.

Will Detroit Use Funds To Restore Water or Tear Down Homes?

July 31, 2016 Sara Jerome, www.takepart.com Educate! Detroit, Gentrification, Homelessness, Water

By Sara Jerome for Takepart. Detroit, MI - Aurora Harris is familiar with the way people sound when they first lose water service. “I try not to let it affect me emotionally, but there are some days where it’s heartbreaking to listen to elderly people crying on the phone, begging for water,” said Harris, cofounder of the community group We the People of Detroit. In Detroit, water and sewer bills have doubled in the last decade for thousands of customers living in poverty, according to the advocacy coalition People’s Water Board. Rates continue to rise. In May, the city resumed its practice of shutting off the water of delinquent customers, and as of July 1, nearly 4,000 households were eligible for disconnection, according to Bryan Peckinpaugh, spokesman for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Colorado City To Pay People Jailed Because They Couldn’t Afford Fines

May 7, 2016 Staff, www.theguardian.com Create! ACLU, Colorado, Homelessness

By Staff of Associated Press - In a rare move, a Colorado city has agreed to pay dozens of people, most of them homeless, who were sent to jail because they could not afford to pay fines for minor offenses such as panhandling and jaywalking. The $103,000 deal requires Colorado Springs to pay up to 66 people $125 for each day they spent behind bars. The city said municipal courts stopped imposing “pay or serve” sentences by the end of 2015 and the ordinances that allowed the practice have been changed.

People’s Assembly A Call To End Homelessness

March 3, 2016 Genesee Martin, www.capitolhilltimes.com Organize! Homelessness

By Genesee Martin for Capital Hill Times - The first People’s Assembly drew several hundred attendees to City Hall on Saturday, many carrying signs and flyers with slogans concerning healthcare and housing. Dozens of organizations, advocates, activists and union workers participated, as well as councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Lisa Herbold and King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. Sawant organized the all-day event with the help of several different advocacy groups.

Homeless Forced Out Of Camp They Were Moved To Before Super Bowl

March 2, 2016 Julia Carrie Wong, www.theguardian.com Educate! Homelessness, Housing, San Francisco

By Julia Carrie Wong for The Guardian - Residents have been ordered to vacate the San Francisco homeless encampment under a highway overpass after police and public workers pressured the city’s homeless to relocate there from areas of the city slated for Super Bowl 50 festivities. The 21st-century Hooverville became a symbol of the city’s gaping inequality in the run-up to and throughout the week of star-studded Super Bowl festivities in February, rekindling long-running controversies over how the city should address the needs of its nearly 7,000 homeless residents.

Homeless Advocates Fight For The Right To Rest In Denver

February 25, 2016 Chris Steele, www.truth-out.org Resist! Denver, Homelessness

By Chris Steele for Truthout - Homelessness in Denver has grown 600 percent in the last 20 years, while the amount of emergency shelter beds has been stagnant. In October 2015, Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL) occupied space at Sustainability Park and, financed through online donations, began constructing tiny homes for those experiencing homelessness. The group named the site Resurrection Village, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign, which culminated in 1968 after King was assassinated.

Homeless Activists Feed Shelter With Rooftop Garden

January 6, 2016 Steven Maxwell, www.activistpost.com Create! Food and Agriculture, Homelessness, Poverty, Urban Agriculture

By Steven Maxwell for Activist Post - Every activist has read the increasing number of stories where homelessness is being criminalized, as if simply being homeless isn’t punishment enough. However, there is a rising tide among all walks of life that is beginning to view homelessness in a very different light. As a sinking economy and the criminal actions of the banking elite are leading many middle class, stable families into abject poverty, it is becoming much easier to identify with the less fortunate the closer their plight appears to be.

Buffalo Only Has 25 Chronic Homeless People Left To House

January 1, 2016 Eleanor Goldberg, www.huffingtonpost.com Create! Homelessness, New York (NY)

By Eleanor Goldberg for The Huffington Post - One of the poorest cities in the nation is on track to end chronic homelessness. It just needs a few landlords to step in to finish up the job. Four years ago, Buffalo, New York, had 400 homeless people living on the streets and streaming in and out of shelters. Today, it has knocked that figure down to 25 people, thanks to its collaborative housing efforts, the Homeless Alliance of Western New York said in a press release. The city’s success is due to its employment of the “housing first” strategy. The approach supports giving housing to people in need, and then dealing with their employment and health issues afterward.

Squatters Occupy Royal Mint Site To Protest Against Homelessness

December 31, 2015 Lexi Finnigan, www.telegraph.co.uk Resist! Homelessness, Housing, United Kingdom (UK)

By Lexi Finnigan for The Telegraph - A group of 20 anti-capitalist squatters have taken over the former Royal Mint Building in protest over Britain's homelessness problem. The squatters, wearing V for Vendetta masks and hanging out of windows, have set up camp in the grade II-listed Johnson Smirke building, in the City of London, and are refusing to leave. They claim they will only be removed when the owners of the building arrive with a High Court order. Some of the protesters have taken to the roof of the building while others have hung banners with messages such as ‘anticapitalista’, as well as adorning the walls with 'End World Debt' posters.

Fifteen Cities Are Destroying Homeless Camps Days Before Christmas

December 24, 2015 Tom Cahil, www.globalresearch.ca Educate! Homelessness, United States

By Tom Cahil for Global Research - Christmas is normally known as the time of year when Americans try to be a little more giving, more compassionate, and more altruistic than during the other 11 1/2 months of the year. But in cities across the US, many are simply fighting for the right to exist in hastily-constructed homeless camps. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that on any given night, there are over 578,000 Americans sleeping on the streets. At the same time, there are at least 10 million vacant homes across America that are lying empty. Here are 19 cities that are going above and beyond to push the most vulnerable Americans out of the public eye during the most compassionate time of the year.

Berkeley City Hall Occupation Update

November 22, 2015 Mike Zint, www.occupysf.net Resist! Affordable Housing, Homeless, Homelessness, Human Rights

By Mike Zint for Occupy SF. Berkeley, CA - November 20, Day 5: It has been a busy day. The occupation is growing. We have had a lot of food support. Tents are still needed. Blankets are still needed. We have had channel 2, channel 7, the Dailycal, and KGO come by. We thank them for paying attention. And finally, many old friends are showing up. People I have not seen protesting for awhile. My hope is on 12/1, all our old Occupy friends reunite here to hang out, and stand in solidarity with the occupiers. 1 day, 1 Bay Area convergence here at city hall. Spread the word on our “peasant uprising.”

Homeless Camp In DC Cleared Out

November 22, 2015 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Homelessness, Housing, Human Rights, Washington DC

By Anne Meador of DC Media Group. Washington, DC - Just as a cold front blew into town, a tent encampment was razed on Friday in a multi-agency effort to clear out the homeless from many areas around the District. Many people without other shelter have long occupied the space among the chaotic roadways and overpasses between Rock Creek Parkway, the Whitehurst Freeway, and K Street. A few days ago, the occupants were given notice to vacate the area, but few have anywhere to go. Many of the tents were disassembled without protest, while some camp residents vowed to defend their makeshift homes. A few advocates for the homeless arrived to witness the camp’s destruction, but they did not interfere.

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