Housing, Not Prison Camps!

Latest

Housing, Not Prison Camps!
A homeless senior hurries to move her bedding and possessions during a police sweep in a San Francisco alley. / Photo Sarah Menefee

As California Governor Gavin Newsom directs cities to attack and destroy homeless encampments, people are asking “Where do we go?”

People on the street know what this means: the confiscation and destruction of their tents and the loss of what little they own, including bedding, medicines, ID and precious memorabilia. Incarceration, isolation, exposure and death.

These sweeps, which have been systematically ramped up in the past few years, have done nothing but run people from alley to corner, broken up people’s attempts in these encampments to help each other and share, a more humane way of living from the ground up.

The corporate class in this country has had over forty years to solve the problem of unaffordable housing and an economics of inequality, but instead they beat up on the most vulnerable victims of their failure, while reaping immense profits buying up housing, charging exorbitant rents, and creating more homelessness .

But these victims – men, women, families , young and old – aren’t silent and passive. They are organizing to resist and demand real solutions, joined by people of good will, many of us a vulnerable paycheck away from being out there ourselves, especially now that what we depend on to keep us alive is under brutal attack.

The voices of those who are organizing and resisting are rising everywhere, talking not just about resisting these attacks, but about their experience building community from the bottom up, about mutual aid, sharing and hands-on cooperation – not just for survival but as a practical vision of how the bigger picture should look.

And it doesn’t look like a prison camp or an overcrowded ‘shelter’. It looks like a society built on mutual support, equality – and love.

The People’s Tribune continues to report from this necessary front of struggle and social transformation. Please send us your stories and photos, meditations, art and poems. The future is up to us!

PT Logo collage
PT Homeless Desk |  + 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. 'Her latest books of poetry are Holy Eel, There You Are and Winter Rose.

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

ICE Terror Campaign Threatens Us All

Several recent Facebook reels show how ICE is ramping up its campaign of terror against immigrants, citizens and protestors alike as the effort to create a police state continues and resistance grows. One creator speaks to the significance of Haitians now being targeted.

Medicaid Defenders in Wheelchairs Arrested Ahead of Senate Budget Vote

Over 60 people, including grandmas in wheelchairs, were arrested in the U.S. Senate Rotunda in a nonviolent protest against cuts like Medicaid and the SNAP food program in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill.”

Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to ‘Billionaire-Backed Status Quo’ in NYC

New York City proved that a movement powered by hope, courage, and working class people can beat the money of billionaires.

The American People Want Peace, Not War!

The US's immoral and illegal attack on Iran threatens the whole world with war. The American people have a special responsibility to come out into the streets and rein in the US government, which has become a rogue state.

Juneteenth 2025: ‘We Have to Win this Fight,’ Hannah-Jones Tells Black Graduates

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones addressed Black graduates at Harvard University, telling them that "we are about to see unleashed upon us an America that we have not had to live in. And we have to win this battle."

More from the People's Tribune