Jail is Not a Cure! Housing and Real Justice Is

Latest

Unhoused people living in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco face sweeps and arrests for living on the streets. Photo/
TAYFUN COSKUN

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — On June 8, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office held a press conference announcing they will send 130 deputies to arrest people who “use drugs in public.” They plan to concentrate these arrests where lots of people live on the streets. Corporate media parrots the narrative that houseless people are “criminals” and addicts, and the way to deal with the growing crisis of homelessness and despair is jail. Experts on addiction agree that this approach will be ineffective in getting people into treatment and recovery.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced last year that the Tenderloin – near downtown where SRO (single room occupancy) hotels are concentrated – would be swept of tents on its sidewalks. The rents even in these fleabag rooms have gone up so much that people on disability or Social Security, and even many workers, can no longer afford them. This only compounds the misery, as people sleep (and die) on the bare pavement below glittering glass condo towers, and in doorways of the many closed-down store-fronts and businesses.

Politicians and media try to convince us that the unhoused, the worst victims of the ongoing economic crisis, are the cause of the decimation of the businesses that now stand empty and the exit of corporations such as Twitter and Salesforce from the city, as they lay off tens of thousands of workers due to the economy, automation, and AI.

In the largest survey of homeless Californians in decades, done by the University of California at San Francisco, the leading cause of homelessness was overwhelmingly found to be the crushingly high rents and unaffordable housing, and lack of meaningful help getting rehoused once housing is lost, despite millions of dollars spent on “homeless services” (mainly shelters and policing). Ninety percent of these homeless are from California, and a majority cited loss or reduction of income for their loss of housing. A majority said a mere $300 a month would help get them off the street. More than half are 50 years old and above, with Black and Native American populations overrepresented.

Instead of housing people, or using tax revenues to build housing affordable for low-or no-income people, a few crowded and un-safe shelters are maintained, at great cost to taxpayers. Despite an injunction by a federal judge that forbade the city from enforcing laws that would “prohibit homeless individuals from sitting, lying, or sleeping on public property” unless there is adequate shelter available, the city continues deadly raids on individuals and encampments, blaming the homeless for San Francisco’s decline. This – instead of guaranteeing housing for all as a human right – scapegoats and blames those who suffer most from the ills the economy creates. Housing, support, real solutions, and real justice, not jail, for all people now!

+ Articles by this author

San Francisco poet Sarah Menefee is a long-time homeless rights activist. She is the Homeless Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board. She is a founding member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and 'First they came for the homeless'. Her latest collections of poetry are Human Star and CEMENT.

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Chicagoans Vow to Fight Trump’s Attack on Immigrant Workers

Chicagoans are showing that they plan to resist President Trump’s plans to mount attacks on immigrants.

A Mass Movement Will Rise to Defend Immigrants, Says Activist

Right now there is no coordinated national mass movement to defend immigrants, but there will be, says human rights activist Camilo Pérez-Bustillo in this interview with the People's Tribune.

L.A. Fires: Climate Campaigners Say ‘Big Oil Did This’

Climate campaigners said blame for the catastrophe in L.A. ultimately lies with the mega-profitable oil and gas giants that have spent decades  knowingly fueling the crisis.

Collective Defense of Immigrant Rights is Key, Says Advocate

In this interview with the People's Tribune, Pedro Rios, director of the AFSC's US/Mexico Border Program, describes the likely shape of Trump's planned immigration crackdown, and how people are organizing to resist it.

US Workers Won Key Victories in 2024, But Hard Fight Lies Ahead

With strikes and the threat of strikes, workers did more than forestall concessions: They gained ground. With Trump, expect attacks on unions, safety regulations, and the very idea of labor law..

More from the People's Tribune