by Amanda WaldroupeStreet Roots, USA

P O RTLAND, OR: T h eOregon Law Center’s classaction lawsuit challenging theconstitutionality of Portland’scamping ordinance follows ina long line of similar lawsuitsfiled across the country to vin-dicate the Constitutionalrights of homeless individu-als.

And because of prior lawsuitsand the precedents theyestablished, the lawsuit,Anderson v. Portland, has astrong chance of being suc-cessful. That would addPortland to a small list ofcities whose camping ordi-nances have been declaredunconstitutional.

“There is a solid basis for this

lawsuit,” says Adam Arms,the civil rights lawyer whosuccessfully challenged anunconstitutional version ofthe city’s sidewalk obstruc-tions ordinance in 2004.

Tulin Ozdeger, the NationalLaw Center on Homeless andPoverty’s civil rights programdirector agrees. “As shown byother successful casesacross the country - there area lot of Constitutional prob-lems with these kinds of mea-sures,” says Ozdeger.

Anderson v. Portland, filed infederal court on December12, 2008, argues that thecamping ordinance is uncon-stitutional in two respects.

First, the illegalization ofoutdoor sleeping when thereare not enough shelter beds

for homeless individualscruelly and unusually pun-ishes homeless people, vio-lating the 8th Amendment ofthe Constitution.

“The Defendants’ [the City ofPortland and the PoliceBureau] pattern of citing andthreatening to arrest involun-tarily homeless individualssuch as Plaintiffs for illegalcamping and other offenseswhen they are sleeping out-doors - based on their statusas homeless persons - iscruel and unusual punish-ment in violation of the EighthAmendment to the UnitedStates Constitution,” thelawsuit reads.

A 2006 case, Jones vs. LosAngeles, challenged LosAngeles’ camping ordinance,which made it illegal to camp

in public spaces at any timeof the day.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals ruled that the city ofLos Angeles could not legallypunish homeless individualsfor sleeping outside when notenough shelter beds exist toprovide night shelter to all thecity’s homeless.

“It was a huge victory,” saysBecky Dennison, co-directorof the Los A n g e l e sCommunity Action Network,which pursues communityorganizing efforts in SkidRow.

The precedent set by thatcase recognized that peoplehave a right to sleep andperform other activities nec-

HVolume 3, No. 2

OMEWA RDMember NAS N A

No rth Ame ri can Street Ne w s pap e r Assoc ia t i o n March / April, 2009

Page 2

Zimbabwe Inflation

Dreams Deffered

Page 3

Class Actioncontinued

Page 4

Mixed IncomeHousing

News About News

Page 5

Max’s View

Letter to Steinberg

Page 6

Boom Town Temp

Bob & Spencer

Page 7

PoetryObituary

A Final Thought

Page 8

HomelessResources

Info

No n -Pr o fi t Or g .U . S. Po stag e

P A I DP er mi t No .1774

Sac rame nto , CA

Street Jou r n a l

A VOICE FORTHE SACRAMENTO AREAHOMELESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1997

see Cass Action page 3

Sacramento CountySupervisors cut $6million from the county’shealth and human ser-vices budget at theirFebruary 11th meeting.$360,000 of those cutsinclude closing theCapitol Health Centeron C Street and theNorth East HealthCenter on Auburn Blvd.These clinics servemore than 10,000 resi-dents each year, manyof those patients home-less and with chronic ill-nesses.

After the clinic closures,patients will have to goto the Primary CareCenter at 4600B r o a d w a y, the SouthCity Health Center orthe Del Paso HealthCenter. These remain-ing clinics are alreadyoverburdened. T h ePrimary Care Centeroften has to turn awaywalk-in patients that aretold to return the nextday. The dental clinicand TB testing servicelocated in the CapitolHealth Center isexpected to be provided

a new location beforethey are evicted fromthe Center. The specialSaturday clinic may beallowed to stay longerthan the weekdaymedical clinic closure.

Supervisors also voted(not unanimously) to cutillegal immigrants fromthe county’s medicallyindigent program.There were concernsexpressed that with thisdrastic cut, many illegalimmigrants’ health willdeteriorate, communi-cable diseases may

flourish, and there willbe a huge burden tohospital emergencyrooms.

The supervisors cut atotal of $2.4 million tothe Department ofHealth Serves and $3.8million from the MentalHealth Division. With atotal shortfall of $55million, the Board ofSupervisors will discussmany more cuts to, orpossible borrowing for,other departments onMarch 3, 2009.

Budget Cuts Will Close ‘C’ Street Clinic

Oregon Law Center Files Class Action Against Anti-camping OrdinanceStreet News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

Dollarisation of economy in Zimbabwe

Dreams Deferred

page 2 Homeward 3.2

by Tonderai KwidiniInter Press Service

HARARE, Jan 24 (IPS) - The collapse ofthe Zimbabwean economy has led to the“dollarisation” of the economy - and evento what some, who have still maintainedsome sense of tragicomedy, call the“petrolisation” of the economy because ofthe re-emergence of barter trade.

Lynette Sarimana works for an accountsfirm in the capital Harare where she isbeing paid with fuel coupons. “For us itis the ‘petrolisation’ of the economybecause we are paid with fuel couponswhich we exchange for groceries,” washer sardonic comment on the situation.

Zimbabwe is suffering world record infla-tion, which has made it even harder formany businesses to budget or plan ahead.The Central Statistical Office put the infla-tion figure at 231 million percent when itwas last calculated in July 2008.

According to a recent report by the inter-national civil society organisation Civicus,“most re tai lers are not acceptingZimbabwean currency. Goods are beingsold mainly in US dollars and SouthAfrican rand, which has pushed up theprices of basic food items, water, fuel andmedicines, putting them out of reach forordinary people.”

Harare-based economist MartinTarusenga told IPS that, “the economy ofZimbabwe has collapsed. Hyperinflationhas led in part to the unofficial dollarisa-tion of the Zimbabwean economy, forcing

many people to resort to the use of foreigncurrency. The US dollar has become thede facto currency, along with the SouthAfrican rand, and most goods are onlyavailable in foreign currency stores.”

It has been illegal to buy or sell goods orservices in any currency other than theZimbabwean dollar. However, the gov-ernment gradually loosened these restric-tions and in November 2008, dollarisationbecame legal when the Reserve Bank ofZimbabwe licensed selected businessesto sell goods in foreign currency.

Showing that he too has lost confidencein the Zimbabwean dollar, reserve bankgovernor Gideon Gono established gov-ernment-sanctioned fore ign currencyshops and businesses in September 2008as a means of capturing some of theforeign currency circulating in the country.

The creation of the “foreign exchangelicensed warehouses and retail shops” -Foliwars for short, are seen by some ana-lysts as negatively impacting not only onZimbabwe’s economy, but also on therural poor and vulnerable populations whohave no access to foreign currency.

Those without relatives abroad struggle.The Global Poverty Research Group(GPRG) estimates that in 2006, 50 percentof all households surveyed inZimbabwean cities and towns wereregular recipients of money, food, andother goods from relatives who areabroad. GPRG is attached to the univer-sities of Oxford and Manchester in theUK.

“The dollarisation essentially means thatall employers, including government, haveto meet their salary requirements in forex(foreign exchange) as the Zimdollarcannot buy sufficient forex for theirrequirements. The January salary for ateacher is 23 trillion Zimbabwean dollars(46 dollars),” Harare-based economiccommentator Hopewel l Gumbo, whoworks for the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debtand Development (ZIMCODD), told IPS.ZIMCODD is a nongovernmental organi-sation working towards social justiceregarding issues of debt and trade.

The money is only enough to buy a fewbags of mealie-meal.

Today nearly every business accepts, ifnot prefers, foreign currency for payment,whether licensed or not. Even the mostessential everyday basics, such as trans-port fares, hospital fees, bread, milk,water, cellphone cards and medicine arenow being traded in foreign currency.

But 90 percent of Zimbabwean workersare still paid in Zimbabwean dollars,according to the Zimbabwe Congress ofTrade Union (ZCTU).

It is advocating for the payment of salariesin dollars. â≠˜â≠˜The ZCTU notes that theZimbabwean market has been dollarisedand most social services such as educa-tion, health, rental and transport, amongother th ings, have beendollarised,â≠™â≠™ Lovemore Matombo,ZCTU president, told IPS at the end of arecent meeting to discuss the dollarisa-tion of the economy in Harare.

“The ZCTU general council has thereforeresolved that, starting from January 1, allZCTU affiliates and the general workforceshould negotiate wages in terms of theUnited States dollar, failure of which thesector will withdraw its labour.” The ZCTUis the largest representative labour bodyin Zimbabwe.

Gumbo said failure to pay workers inforeign currency will force them to findother ways to survive, such as migratingto neighbouring countries or engaging inthe many informal dealings that now char-acterise the Zimbabwean economy. Manycivil servants have taken to corruption asa means of survival.

“Service delivery by government will col-lapse further than what we are seeing atthe moment. The civil service is in a tightcorner. The next fiscal year’s budget isgoing to be a nightmare but for now wecontinue to wait for the formation of a newgovernment,” argued Gumbo.

The Zimbabwe National Chamber ofCommerce (ZNCC) wants the total dol-larisation of the economy. ZNCC presi-dent Obert Sibanda told IPS that dollari-sation will help rescusitate the economy.

“We have to accept that the economy hasbeen dollarised and that all companiesshould be registered to trade in hard cur-rency to boost production,” Sibandademanded.

Courtesy of Inter Press ServiceStreet News Service:www.street-papers.org

by Mitchell TerpstraThe Jeepney, Philippines

At a free dinner in Cubao, put on bymembers of the Reformed Baptist Church,over rice and steaming bowls of beef,green bean, and pechay soup, we discussdreams.

Sociable five-year-old Michael simplywishes to study, while his slightly oldercomrade is adamant against schooling; hejust wants to workâ -oh, and no wife forhim, he adds. Some other small, spuri-ous boy dances up, must be about two,with matching blue shirt and shorts, dark,ruffled hair, and a dirt-smudged face. Hehas his fists raised, ready to spar. And ashe jabs my kneecap, I take it he dreamsof being a boxer - or believes he alreadyis. Meanwhile, Teresa and Joseph, bothJeepney Magazine street vendors, arebeaming as they show off their first child,one-year-old Jaurez. And what do theydream for him? “To finish high school andbe a pastor of a church like this one.”

Again and again, the pattern continues.The dreams of these street people are

simple, modest, respectable. No highfa-lutin desires to be the world’s first astro-naut to step on some previouslyunreached planet or to be a ridiculouslyhigh-paid rock star or athlete. None of thatfar-fetched pretentiousness or groundlessromanticism that comes with believing theworld is your oyster. Just down-to-earthrealism that clearly focuses on the nextsteps to a better, more fulfilling life. In fact,the most commonly held dreams amongthe underprivileged of Quezon City wereto attend school all the way through highschool, and if possible through college oruniversity, and to attain a good job. Similardreams are held by children outside thecity. As University of the Philippines grad-uate student Sara Ma discovered whilelearning Tagalog by practicing with high-school students of the province ofBatangas, south of Manila, the mostpopular response to her question “what isyour dream?” (Ano ang iyong pangarap?)was to be a sari-sari (convenience store)owner.

And why not? Dreams are not an exclu-sive commodity of the affluent. Dreams intheir mental format are impossible to hold

back. It is the progression from potentialto actual that is so stinking tough.

One dreamer who’s done so is ManuelManarang. Manuel remembers having toskip school sometimes, even up to theage of 12, in order to scavenge to helphis family who lived in the SmokeyMountain Village area. Today, instead ofpicking up recyclables for cash from themountainous trash heap, he’s helping theyoung ch ildren of Smokey MountainVillage pick up pencils and paper and text-books for learning. As the manager of theYoung Focus Student Center in Tondo, anafter-school hangout that provides alibrary, homework areas, a computer lab,supplementary school lessons, and artand school supplies as well as a safeplace for kids kindergarten to college-ageto socialize and enjoy some recreation,Manuel is helping kids breakdown the bar-riers that stand between them and theirdreams - especially some of those moreinconspicuous barriers. “Poverty is amindset - a mindset that says ‘no’,’”informs Manuel. Most people think ofpoverty strictly in terms of material desti-tution; mental destitution, however, is the

easily overlooked twin devil born ofpoverty. A person who’s lived his or herentire life lacking material necessities alsooften lacks mental necessities such asconfidence, self-respect, and a certainamount of peacefulness as opposed tonever-ending fear and worry, the latter twowhich make Manuel also say, “Poverty isa blindfold”â - a blindfold that blacks outthe avenues to achieved dreams.

As the dinnertime discussion aboutdreams gives way to the actual eating ofd i n n e r, I can’ t help thinking aboutLangston Hughes’ famous poem, “ADream Deferred,” and which course ofaction these street people’s dreams inwaiting will take. I don’t think their dreamsare drying up, or festering, or rotting, orcrusting over, or even getting fat andsagging from lack of use. I think Hughes’last question was prophetic in a way otherthan Hughes himself understood: I thinkthese people’s defer red dreams wil lexplode - into something brilliant, if onlygiven the smallest spark of a chance.

Reprinted from The JeepneyStreet News Service:www.street-papers.org

Street News Servicewww.streetnewsservice.org

Street News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

essary to survive and live.

“There’s no right more fun-damental than the right tosurvive, the right to performlife sustaining activ ities,”Arms says.“It doesn’t make a lot of senseto make it illegal to sleepoutside at night particularlywhen people don’t have aplace to go,” Ozdeger says.

A n d e r s o n v. Portland alsoclaims that the camping ordi-nance violates homeless indi-v i d u a l s ’ 14th A m e n d m e n trights to travel and havefreedom of movement.

Rather than allowing home-less individuals to move andtravel about freely, homelessindividuals are in constant vio-lation of the camping ordi-nance while living in Portland.

In August 2008, a federaljudge in Fresno, Californiaruled against the city in thecase Kincaid vs. Fresno forissuing citations to homelessindividuals for camping.

The court ordered an injunc-tion prohibiting the city fromissuing citations and fromseizing personal possessionsfound at camps without priornotice. The court also ruledthat the city pay $1.4 millionto compensate homeless indi-viduals for lost and destroyedpersonal possessions.

Anderson vs. Portland asksthat the court find the campingordinance unconstitutionaland that enforcement be sus-pended. It also asks thatdamages be awarded for lossof personal property.

The prior successes of theL.A. and Fresno cases,sources say, only increase thechances of Anderson v.Portland being successful forhomeless individuals consti-tuting the plaintiffs of thecase.

“These are similar factual sit-uations which would lead tosome similar legal claims,”Ozdeger says.

“There’s strong merit to the8th Amendment argument,”

Arms says. “There’s morethan one very strong legalargument in this case. I thinkthe law supports the lawsuit.”

One of the many things atstake with the lawsuit iswhether laws such asPortland’s camping ordinancecriminalize homeless individ-uals and the status of beinghomeless.

“When cities make it illegal todo things a homeless personmust do to survive becausethey’re homeless, it essen-tially criminalizes the status ofbeing homeless,” Ozdegersays.

What the success of the casehinges on, Arms and othercivil rights attorneys say, arethe facts.

The plaintiffs of the case areall involuntarily homeless,unable to find shelter oraffordable housing, and havebeen given citations for vio-lating the camping ordinance.

In the instances of plaintiffsMary Chase and MatthewBailey, a couple, their pos-sessions were taken by thepolice and largely destroyed,including the ashes of Ms.Bailey’s father.

The lawsuit also says“Portland has far more home-less people than availablehousing or shelter space forthem.”

That fact will prove important.Being able to prove that thecamping ordinance criminal-izes homelessness will alsobe crucial.

“If you truly understand thestate of homelessness, andthe state of the criminaliza-tion of homelessness, youwould understand the lawsuit,and see why it should win,”says Arms.

H o w e v e r, Anderson v.Portland is not expected byGoracke to get to court foranother year.A lot can changein that time period.

L a t e l y, there has been amovement, chiefly spear-

headed by CityCommissioner RandyLeonard and the police, toincrease the number ofshelter beds in Portland.

If that trend continues intonext year, it could affect thel a w s u i t ’s 8th A m e n d m e n targument.

The fil ing of Anderson v.Portland comes on the heelsof a number of dramaticevents surrounding the exis-tence of homeless camps.

“It wasn’t one thing that wasa tipping point,” says MonicaGoracke, an Oregon LawCenter lawyer, when askedwhat led to her decision to fileAnderson v. Portland.

In April and May of this year,over 100 homeless individu-als and advocates protestedin front of City Hall, calling forthe repeal of the sit-lie andcamping ordinances.

In October of this year, thePolice Bureau announcednew Standard OperatingProcedures (SOP), or guide-lines, for how the policeconduct sweeps of homelesscamps.

As reported by Street Rootsin its November 28 issue, thenew SOP includes enoughexceptions to the 24 hours’posting requirement beforecamp sweeps to make givingthat notice effectively unnec-essary in any circumstance.

“The new SOP, in my view,seemed to allow more dis-cretion to police and be thecatalyst for more enforce-ment,” Goracke says.Finally, negotiations betweenGoracke and the City to reacha settlement regarding thecamping ordinance provedi n e ffective. Those negotia-tions began as a result of aNovember 2007 letter byGoracke stating concernsabout the constitutionality ofthe camping ordinance, andsought an out-of-court settle-ment.

“All of those things togethermade me feel like I couldn’tstall or wait any longer, ”

Goracke says.

If Anderson v. Portland is suc-cessful and the camping ordi-nance is overturned, home-less individuals who cannotget inside at night would havethe legal right to sleep inpublic spaces. The campsthey set up could not be sweptby the police, and their pos-sessions could not be confis-cated.

“If they win, there’s a bigupside,” says Paul Boden,executive director of theWestern Regional AdvocacyProject (WRAP), a consor-tium of West Coast advocacyorganizations (includingStreet Roots).

A victory for homeless indi-viduals would present a chal-lenge to the police and cityon a policy level, forcing thecity to come up with an alter-native to the ordinance, andpossibly craft policies creat-ing camps that can safelyexist in public places.

The police, who consistentlymake it clear that they do notwant to be involved with socialservice issues, view thecamping ordinance as a toolnecessary for public safety.

Seeing the ordinance as atool for public safety is alsothe main impetus for the CityCouncil’s support for the ordi-nance. And the businesscommunity supports the ordi-nance for the sake of keepingthe downtown business coreamenable to its customers.

Sergeant Brian Schmautz,public information officer forthe police, did not return aphone call seeking comment.The City Attorney has a policyof not commenting on

pending litigation.

“I am disappointed in the filingof this complaint, and hadhoped that all parties wouldreach a resolution to thism a t t e r,” said CityCommissioner Nick Fish in aDecember 11 press release.Fish oversees the city’shousing and homeless effortsand will also become com-missioner of the Parks Bureauin January.

In Portland, interest in creat-ing a “green zone” forcampers has been bandiedabout earlier this year (see“Making a Pitch for Tents,”Street Roots, June 27, 2008.)

According to Dennison, afterthe camping ordinance wasoverturned in L.A., homelessindividuals have been allowedto camp at night in publicspaces throughout the city.However, she says, policeaggression has ratcheted upduring day-time hours.

“If it’s a maximum enforce-ment day, they’ll be going byand shaking folks tents andenforcing that 6AM thing tothe letter of the law, ”Dennison says.

“The key to all of these effortsis that we get to a place tostop how government dis-criminates and activelypursues policies to removepeople,” Boden says. Or we’llsee lawsuit after lawsuit afterlawsuit.”

“I am hopeful that [Andersonv. Portland] will be success-ful,” Arms says. “A success-ful lawsuit is not the end. It’sa shield to protect homelesspeople’s rights. [But] it doesn’tend homelessness inPortland.”

Reprinted from Street RootsStreet News Service:www.street-papers.org

Homeward 3.2 page 3

Class Action continued from page 1

Oprah Wi n f r e y ’s film crewhas been filming inSacramento recently. T h e yare doing a show thatfocuses on home foreclo-sures and the results for fam-ilies and homelessness.They did quite a bit of filmingout at the “Wasteland” (anarea where many homelesspeople live in tents south ofthe American River). T h eshow should air within thefirst couple weeks of March.

Also, in the news has beensome great support from ourlocal mass print media fortent cities. The SacramentoBee printed a front pagearticle on Sunday, December10, 2008, called“Sacramento SeeksSolutions for its Wa n d e r i n gArmy of Homeless”, byCynthia Hubert. On theirwebsite page of that story,they had a link to a forumpage where they asked whatreaders thought about tentcities, and if the SacramentoBee should endorse theidea. Very soon afterwards(December 14), theSacramento Bee publishedan editorial by their editorialboard, titled “Give the home-less legal places to sleep”which endorsed legalcamping areas for homelesspeople. Then on December22 they printed an op-ed byMark Merin, attorney withthe homeless civil rightslawsuit, titled “Tent Citiescan offer answer to home-lessness”. Bee reporterCynthia Hubert wroteanother great article thatappeared in the BeeJanuary 23, titled“ H o m e l e s s / Tent communi-ties possible, Cycle ofFrustration Spurs a Planfor action, Locationsstudied for legal camp-sites”. Then yet another

endorsement by theSacramento Bee Editorial“Give tent city a try”appeared in the Bee onJanuary 25, 2009.

And not to be left out, ourmost popular weekly publi-cation Sacramento News &Review printed an endorse-ment for tent cities onFebruary 5, 2009, titled, “Alegal tent town”. This is nottoo late to be a tent city herobecause they had endorsedtent cities many years agowhen SHOC was organizingfor a tent city. “It takes ad i fferent village” was theirprevious editorial printed inthe Sacramento News &Review on January 16, 2008.

There has been a great dealof other news about home-lessness covered in the Beeand on local TV stations.Many missed covering thebig Safe Ground March andRally because the GrantHigh School CelebrationMarch and Rally was thesame day and almost thesame place (across thestreet from the Safe GroundRally). But Homeward StreetJournal, your local homelessnews source, was on thescene and did a great frontpage article about the event.

On Tuesday, February 10th, theSacramento City Council held aworkshop on the city’s MixedIncome Housing Ordinance.Many people spoke to supportan ordinance amendment thatwould be city-wide and includehomes for families making lessthan $22,000 a year. The sup-porters included Loaves & Fisheswho delivered print-outs of theover 500 people and organiza-tions that have signed on to theiropen letter. The League ofWomen Voters, residents fromQuinn Cottages, tenants ofRiverview Plaza and members ofSt. John’s Luther Church wereamong some of the others whoalso spoke in favor.

City Council was clearly movedby the testimony and showedsome support for amending theordinance. However, they con-tinue to waffle and provide weakadvice to staff. The Councilfinally decided to pass the issueto a stakeholder group puttogether by the Housing andRedevelopment Agency, who willreturn with a report for thecouncil.

A Mixed Income Housing ordi-nance requires that new housingdevelopments include a percent-age of homes that are affordableto lower income and workingfamilies. The programs differ inwho they serve, but in California,over 170 different jurisdictionshave these kinds of housing ordi-nances. Mixed income housingproduces more affordable homesand mixes in affordable housinginto different neighborhoods.

Currently the City ofS a c r a m e n t o ’s Mixed IncomeHousing ordinance only covers“new growth” areas. Also, it onlyrequires that new developmentsinclude 10% of the homes forthose with very low incomes and5% for low income. There is nohousing dedicated for those withextremely low incomes.Affordable homes are designedfor people making less than 80%

of the median income for a givenarea. In the Sacramento area,the median income for a familyof four is $71,000. The differentaffordability levels are defined asa percentage of this number:

•“Low Income” is 80% of themedian income, or $56,800 peryear:

•“Very Low Income” is 50% of themedian income, or $35,500 peryear:

•“Extremely Low Income” is 30%of the median income, or $21,300per year for a family of four.

For a one person household, anincome of $14,900 per y e a rwould be considered; which isstill more than some retireesliving on Social Security receive.

Market rate housing servespeople with median income. Theold rule-of-thumb is that peopleshould pay roughly 30% of theirincome to housing. But the waythe market has been the last fewyears, to get housing many fam-ilies and individuals have had topay a higher percentage thanthat.

The Sacramento HousingAlliance has been leading advo-cacy efforts towards changingthe current ordinance. SandraHamameh, Sacramento HousingAlliance Program Directorexplained, “We need people inthe City of Sacramento to con-tinue to urge the Mayor and CityCouncil to do the right thing: Toapply the ordinance city-wide andinclude housing for the poorestof the poor.”

The Sacramento HousingAlliance asks advocates and sup-porters to continue to sendletters, e-mails or make phonecalls to the Mayor and CityCouncil to urge them to adopt anordinance that applies to theentire city and includes housingfor families making less than$22,000 for a family of four.

page 4 Homeward 3.2

News about the Homeless NewsAdvocates Support A d m e n d i n gS a c r a m e n t o ’s

Mixed Income Housing

Homeward 3.2 p age 5

by Max Biddle

The new year brings a change inAmerica not seen since the greatdepression. In Washington ourleaders are faced with a set of dis-asters that their own failures havebrought about. The actions of Wa l lStreet financial institutions,banking, credit, and other financialentities, has been like a visit toAlice in Wonderland. We realizethat there was little coordination,intelligent planning or understand-ing of the economy as there wasat the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

If it weren’t so tragic, one couldcompare the beginning of theReagan years of uncontrolledspending, deregulation, greed, andbankrupting of the nation like fol-lowing the White Rabbit down thehole into chaos.

The economic system we in theU.S. have been trying to sell therest of the world over the past fewdecades has proven to be thehouse of cards ruled over by theQueen of Hearts in Wonderland. Iremember when President JimmyCarter warned us of our lack ofmoral compass, our dependenceon foreign oil, and the need toaddress our priorities with reason.His call to common sense wentu n h e e d e d .

We had to choose, in the 1980s,between responsible policies, or aphilosophy of you can have it all -and you don’t have to pay for it.In the 80’s we sank all our assetsinto the military industrial complex.We deregulated our economy,which led to the savings and loandebacle, then to Enron. Wall Streetbecame a massive Las Vegas onthe East Coast. Wall Street andCongress both stood by while con-artists, Ponzi schemers and manip-ulators became the policy makersof our economy.

With a new administration comingto power, will this new group havethe courage to stand up to thosewho committed these acts of badjudgment and acts of criminality?Will President Obama have the for-titude to stand up to the formerClinton advisors who were just asculpable? Already he hasappointed past Clinton advisorswho are part of the original prob-lems they helped promote. And willthe Republican Party, as it losesp o w e r, stop trying to destroy thecountry on its way out?

In California, Senator Pro Te m p o r eDarrell Steinberg outlined in hisinaugural address a program thato ffers real progress. But until thestate constitution changes it’srequired 2/3 vote to pass a budget,nothing will get done when ahandful of Legislatures can blockthe majority will.

Will Governor Schwarzeneggercontinue trying to solve our budgetproblems on the back of the poor?Or will he seek real reform andseek tax increases where possible?

We have seen the failure ofCommunism and Capitalism tosolve the world’s economic prob-lems over the last century. Bothsystems failed to solve poverty orprovide a distribution system thatreached the world’s populations.I t ’s time to take a fresh look at anew economic model. One that willprovide a solid safety-net and stillallow the innovation of individualinitiative that will keep alive agenuine competitive free marketsystem. We have seen the failureof state controlled economies andderegulated capitalism. It’s time forideologues to step aside and leteconomic pragmatism reign free.

An Open Letter t oS ena t o r S t e i n b erg

Senator Steinberg, please help homeless victimsof crime! Homeless people become crimevictims much more often than most people do.

Living and sleeping in the open and in sheltersleaves them vulnerable to thefts, sexual assaults,and crimes of all kinds. About half of homelesspeople have intellectual or physical disabilities thatmake them more vulnerable crime targets. T h e i rd i s a b i l i t i es sometimes also lead hate-filled peopleto commit violence against them.

Police often don’t take these crimes seriously.O fficers sometimes even confiscate h o m e l e s sp e o p l e ’s property and allow it to be thrown away.

Now there’s a bill in the Legislature that would help.It is Senate Bill 110, called the Crime Victims withDisabilities A c t .

Loaves & Fishes, the Sacramento Housing A l l i a n c e ,R e s o u r c e s for Independent Living, and T h e A r c of C a l i f o r n i ahave appealed for help to Sacramento’s S e n a t o r, DarrelSteinberg. Senator Steinberg is the leader of the Senate andis in a powerful position to help get the bill through the upperhouse and send it on to the A s s e m b l y, and he has shown inthe past that he cares about homeless people who are crimev i c t i m s .

I n a letter to Senator Steinberg, Loaves & Fishes and theS a c r a m e n to Housing Alliance said that Senate Bill 110 requirest h e Department of Justice to immediately inform every policechief and sheriff in California of each the f o l l o w i n g :

1. The fact that current law generally requireslaw enforcement agencies to train their off i-cers using the Commission on Peace Off i c e rStandards and Tr a i n i n g ’s excellent telecourseon law enforcement response to homeless-n e s s .

2. The Legislature’s strong encouragement thatlocal law enforcement agencies provide thetraining in conjunction with homeless and for-merly homeless people and their advocatesand service providers.

3. The Legislature’s strong encouragement thateach local law enforcement agency adopt aformal policy on law enforcement response tohomelessness based on the Commission’stelecourse and the California Department ofJustice report and recommendations.

In addition, SB 11 0 ’s other provisions, designed to help victimsw i t h disabil ities, wil l also help many homeless people.

S e n a t or Steinberg has tried to help in the past bys u p p o r t i ng legislation to make crimes against h o m e-less people hate crimes, but those efforts did n ’ tsucceed. So we encourage Senator Steinberg top l e a se continue to h e l p h o m e l e ss people byworking to pass Senate Bill 110!

Max’s View: A NewPragmatism

Crisis in Boom Townby J. FisherVictoria Street Newz

C A L G A RY, CANADA: Yo ucould fall in love with this cityat a quarter to 5am on a coldDecember morning. Dark, bleakand silent, it is the only remain-ing time of the day that permitsa peek at the way this city usedto be, at around 8 at night, just10 short years ago (nothingshort about them). It stands toremind one that this is still ayoung, provincial city, where thestreets roll up and don’t unrolltoo much before the coming ofthe sun (apologies to thebakers, the pigs, the cabbies,and the newspaper hacks). Iwas wandering these samestreets back when the boomwas just a wet towel hung overtomorrow’s chair, and any jobwas a job worth having. It’s allgone over and become some-thing to forget, but it’s still awfulgorgeous at a quarter to 5 am.

So I’m walking and I have thedowntown core to myself.Almost. Every 5 minutesanother person asks me forchange, (I haven’t a pot to pissin) for a smoke (I haven’tsmoked in the day-time foryears), some even try to sellme coupons, but to no avail.This can happen in broad day-light here, the main differencebeing the reaction I get for mydenials. Every single one ispleasant, contrite, and sorrythey bothered me. I guess thisearly they haven’t been sub-jected to the onslaught of per-sonal abuse they are guaran-teed to receive.

Were there this many broke andbroken people ten years ago?Was I too self-involved tonotice?

20 minutes of pure frozenhustle and I make the tempagency offices. 5 minutes after

5 and I’m 20th in line. (In theold days, I’d be here alone forat least an hour). I sign in, fillthe forms and hide in my cross-words. The people are pouringin. Twenty turns to thirty, thirtyto forty. The room grows dankwith morning breath and stalecoffee. The stale coffee startsto work and the fidgetingbegins. So do the bathroomruns (the bathroom here sharesthe same four walls as thewaiting room, so the odor soonbecomes unbearable), thereturn trips to the coff e emachine, the noise levels leap.My arm is bashed, I’m hit upfor smokes, my bag is repeat-edly kicked, and there is noescape from the din. I’m pulledup out of my salvation andforced to address the obviousaround me.

When I was a regular tempyears ago, the crowd wasalmost always thin andalways in rougher conditionthan I was. No matter myspot in line, I always gotwork. My apparent sobriety(which, often, was just thinlydisguised functional alco-holism) and clean clothingguaranteed it. I suppose myyouth didn’t hurt my chanceseither. One real look aroundthe room told me things herehad changed as much as thestreets I just came in on.

The overwhelming majority ofthe people sharing that roomwith me were clean cut,middle aged blue collar Joes,fully sober and equipped forthe day’s labours (visi-vests,hard-hats, safety boots, cellphones, etc). Most fingeredresume files while theywaited for their names to becalled. Some phoned hometo tell partners that there maybe no work again today. Theonly dirt these folks had onwas the residuals of dry-wall

dust or engine grease from theprevious days work. This wasnot the image most Calgarianshave of the temp labour pool.

I’ve sat without work for weeksnow, and I never thought I’d bedown here, hustling for daylabor again. I guess none ofthese people did, either. Likeme, they’ve washed out throughthe boom grate as the weathergoes foul and the outdoor jobsdry up. This is the real face ofthe recession. It’s not aboutwho can afford lattes at break,or SUVs when the lease runsout. It’s about looking thesepeople in the face, at 8 am,when they’ve sat for threehours, and telling them there’llbe no work again today.

At least I can write about it todull the hunger and the fear thatthis day has wrought upon me.

•••

J. Fisher lives and works inCalgary’s downtown core. He isbusy writer and a prolific sub-mitter. New pieces are currentlyrunning in Inscribed, Germany’sBlue Print Review, and, asalways, the back pages of theStreet Newz. His first two col-lections, Death Day Erection(2004) and bulletin from the lowlight (2006) are available onFrontenac House.

Reprinted from Victoria Street Newz Street News Service:www.street-papers.org

page 6 Homeward 3.2

Street News Service www.streetnewsservice.org

Homeward 3.2 page 7

For about the last week or soI have been without money andhave had no place to stay soI sleep where ever seems safe.It’s against the law to do thisin populated areas in the USas far as I know. Sometimesthere are no beds available andso it shall be the homelessperson sleeps outside someplace. If this is you be pro-fessional don’t disturb anything

or anyone. Don’t sleep in plainview of the general public if youdon’t like being disturbed.Don’t sleep in dirty places, staywarm and be nice to yourselfwhenever possible, it’s the leastyou can do it’s tuff out on thestreet - and don’t forget to spiton the sidewalk once in awhile...

Adam Moore

A Final Thought

I Am the Wi n d

I am the wind, gently blowing your hair -you cannot see me, but I am there.I will take your kite high in the sky -through drafts in a house you can hear me sigh.Times I will blow softly and whisper to the trees -the flowers gently beckon to the bees.I will rustle them lightly, my sigh is low -and the autumn leaves shining their red and gold.I am the wind, and will push your sails far out to sea -like a gracefull swan, the ocean waves, you and me.Like an angry stranger I can turn on you -your sailboat suddenly thrown askew.The waves will rise with sudden force - and the little boat will loose its course.Then the rage I feel will be calm once more -and I will guide your boat back to shore.

Rosanna 9/24/08

Save The DateThe Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee isholding a fund raiser near downtown Sacramento

on April 16, 2009

Dinner & MusicFun For All!

Please R.S.V.P.

For more info call the office at 442-2156 or visitSHOC’s Wiki at http://shoc.wikispaces .com

Jesus "Jesse" Reyesd. 1/5/09 aged 72

pending

Obituary

Alonzo Kingd. 1/20/09 aged 72

of Pneumonia

Jennifer Doyled. 1/26/09 aged 35

of injury during siezure

Dane Plungerd. 2/16/09 aged 51

Hit by Amtrak train

Steve "Stretch" Arnoldd. 2/18/09 aged 40

of natural causes

Night SheltersSalvation Army: 12th and North B St.

30 days per year: Dormitory living, C&S:Dinner, breakfast clothing for residents:Men/Women: Sign-up SA patio weekdaysat 1PM. 442-0331

St. John’s Shelter: Women andChildren. 4410 Power Inn Rd. Callbetween 10am & 3pm for space avail-ability. 453-1482

Union Gospel Mission: 400 BannonSt. Beds for Men Only, sign up 6:30pm atmission, Newcomers/Referrals have prior-ity. 7:30pm Chapel Service with mealafterwards, 6am breakfast for residents.Showers / shaves 9-11am & 1-2:45pm.open to all homeless men: 447-3268

SAEHC, Sacramento AreaEmergency Housing Ce nter: 4 5 1 6Parker Ave. 24 hrs: Family Shelter:Families, single adults with children whohave no other resource: Women’s Refuge,single women, no children: Call for screen-ing/space availability 455-2160

Day SheltersFriendship Park: 12th St. & North C:

Weekdays 7am - 2:30pm: open to anyone:Many services

MealsUnion Gospel Mission: 400 Bannon

St.: 7 days, Evening meal, Men/Women:Church service 7:00pm required, dinnerfollowing 8:30-9:15pm. Sunday 11amservice, lunch at noon. 447-3268

Loaves & Fishes: 1321 No. C St.:Lunch every day 11:30am-1pm. Ticketsavailable 7 am- 12:30 pm at FriendshipPark weekdays: at 8 am on Saturday and10am on Sundays .

Women’s Civic Improvement Center:Seniors Only: 3555 3rd Ave. 11:30-12:30lunch M-F 452-2866

Helping Ha nds: 3526 5th Ave.Sundays, 8-11 breakfast, sack lunch,clothing

Food-not-Bombs: serves free food inCesear Chavez Plaza, 9th & J St., everySunday 1:30 pm. and at James McClatchyPark on Wed. 4 pm. All Welcome.

Women & Children

Maryhouse: 1321 No. C St. suite 32:Breakfast for Women and children 8am-9am. Day shelter 8am-3pm weekdays forwomen and families.

Wellspring 3414 4th St.: T&Th fullbreakfast: M-W-F continental breakfastfor women and children. 454-9688

see Wind in Youth Services foryoung adults

Free Clothing

Sacramento Food Bank: 3333 3rd Ave.(at Broadway) 10am-2pm Mon - Fr i.456-1980

Union Gospel Mission: 400 BannonSt. Men: M-Sat 9-11am or 1-2:45pm:Women and Children: Wed. only. Call forappointment to go in at 11am, 1 or 1:30pm,or attend Bible study at 9:15am and getclothing at 10am 447-3268

MedicalMercy Clinic: Adults, children: Nurse’s

office in Fr iendship park 7:30am &12:30pm. 446-3345

Capital Health Clinic: 1500 C St. (near15th) Adults 8-5 M-F: 874-5302.

Sacramento Dental Clinic: 1500 C St.(near 15th) Adults- Emergency Dental Callfor Appt. M-F 7:40am-5pm. Walk-insscreened for eligibility. 552-8300

Mental HealthGuest House, 1400 N. A St.: Homeless

Mental Health Clinic, M,W,Th,Fri., 8-11:30am Tues 8-11:30am only. MentalHealth evaluation, medication if needed.Housing referrals for mentally ill, GA refs,SSI aps, refs to A & D counseling:443-6972

TLCS Intake Offices: 1400 N.’A’ St.Blding. A; Adults 18 yrs & up; Refferralsto transitional living programs, indepen-dant living, mental health support services;SSI/SSDI applicat ion assista nce;Walk-ins 8-11am M-F 440-1500

Consumer Self-Hel p: CurrentlyClosed

Genesis: Professional Counseling forlif e prob lems. Referrels. Next toFriendship Park gate. 699-1536

Youth ServicesDiogenes: youth 16-21 yrs old. Hot

Line call 1-800-339-7177

Wind Youth Center: 701 DixieanneAve. Serves youth ages 12-20. Breakfastand Lunch ; Clothing; Laun dry andS h o w e r s ; Case Management. Drop-inHours: M – F from 8:00am to 4:30pm andSat 10am to 2pm. 443-8333

Crisis InterventionWEAVE: Services for victims of domes-

tic violence and sexual assault and theirchildren. Referrals to court mandatedbattery intervention pro grams, Safehouse, 24 hr. crisis line: 920-2952

S a c r ame n t o Mental Health Center(County): 2150 Stockton Blvd (at T St.)24hr. Will evaluate anyone for voluntartyor involuntary psychiatric care due todanger to self or others. In-patient care

facility, drop-in. 732-3637

AIDS / HIVAIDS Housing Alliance provides res-

idential care, transitional housing & per-manent housing services to homelesspersons living with aids. 979-0897 week-days.

CARES (Center for AIDS Research,Education and Service): 1500 21st ST.Serves people with HIV and AIDS. Medicalcare, mental health, case mgmt, health edand regional prevention /ed cla sses.443-3299

Breaki ng Barriers: H o m e l e s sOutreach Program provides direct servicesto people living with AIDS and HIV.Transportation to social services, medicalappointments, job interviews, and housingassistance. 447-2437

Harm Reduction Services: 3640 40thSt.; High risk outreach; HIV, Hep-C testing;case management for HIV; free medicalclinic, needle exchange. 456-4849

Alternative Test Site: Free anonymoustesting, Wed /Thurs. Call for appt .874-7720.

Legal AidDisability Rights, CA: Free legal ser-

vices for people with disabilities. Call forappt. toll free: TTY:(800)776-5746

Legal Services of NorthernCalifornia, Inc: 515 12th St. (at E ST.)M-F 8:30am-12pm, 1pm-5pm. Problemswith public benefits, landlord / tenant,divorce clinic. Call for appt. 551-2150

Welfare Rights: 1901 Alhambra Blvd.(2nd floor) M-F 9am-5pm: AFDC, FoodStamps, Workfare and Medical rep at hear-ings. 736-0616

MiscellaneousFrancis House: 1422 C st. 9:30-11:30

am M-W & 1-3 pm M-F: walk-in or refer-ral providing resource counseling, advo-cacy, vouchers for IDs, Dvr Licenses, BirthCertificates, plus motel vouchers for qual-ified families. 443-2646

Social Services: 28th & R ST. M-F7:30am-5pm. Call for asst. 8 7 4 - 2 0 7 2

Employment DevelopmentDepartment (EDD): 2901 50th St. (atBroadway) M-F8am-5pm. Unemployment,job services. 227-0300

Medi-Cal: 1-800-773-6467,1-888-747-1222. Or see DHA eligibility workers 172528th St. 916-874-2256

Social Security Office: 8351 FolsomBlvd (College Greens Lite-rail stop) M-F9am-4:30pm 381-9410: Natl line 1-800-772-1213

Infoline: Tele-info & referral service:

498-1000

Califorina Youth CrisisLine:

1-800-843-5200

Health Rights Hotline:551-2100

VA Outreach:1-800-827-1000

Homeless VA Coordinator:(916) 364-6547

T he Sa c r amento Hous ingAlliance is a network ofconcerned ci tizens which pro-motes decent affordable housingfor low income households andhomeless people through advo-cacy and participation in publicdiscourse.

The SHA does notitself provide or

manage housing .

You may cal l for in fo: (916) 455-4900

Annual Membershi p dues:Standard, $35;

L o w - i n c ome, $15

Org ani z a t i o n s :Full , 0 .1% agency budget;

As s ociate, $10 0

Send don a tions to:

Sacramento Housing Alliance1800 21st St. Suite 100Sacramento, CA 95814

clip & mail coupon

I want to see HOMEWARD ,a newspaper produced by homeless people, expand in Sacramento.

Enclosed find my donation of $15 for a one year subscription.

Please mail my copies to:

Name: ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ _____

Street & Apt: _ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ ____ _____ ____ _____ _

City : ____ ____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ____ ____ _____ __

State:___ _____ ____ _____ ____ ____ _____ ____ _____ ___ Z ip: __ _____ ____ _ Make checks payable to the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC)

and mail to: PO Box 952 • Sacramento, CA 95812

page 8 Homeward 3.2

HO M E L E S S RE S O U R C E S

Homeward StreetJournal has b eenp u b l ishing since1997 as a non-profitproject of t he

Sacramento HomelessOrganizing Committe e,

which is a member of the SacramentoHousing Alliance. The paper's missionis to alleviate miscommunication betweencommunities by educating the publicabout housing and poverty issues, andby giving homeless people a voice in thepublic forum. Homeward also informshomeless persons of shelter and occu-pational assistance, and acts as a cre-ative self-help opportunity for those indi-viduals who wish to participate.

The opinions expressed in Homewardare those of the authors, and not nec-essarily the Sacramento Housing Allianceor SHOC or Homeward.

Submissions and Editorial Policy

We welcome any participation or con-tributions: Articles, poems and otherwriting can be submitted at our office inFriendship Park, or mailed to the addressbelow.

All writing submitted for publicationwill be edited as necessary, with duerespect for the authors’ intent. Theeditors will attempt to consult with anauthor if changes are necessary,however, the paper will go to print withthe story as edited if the author is unavail-able.

All Letters to the Editor must be signedto be published. If the writer wishes toremain anonymous s/he should so state,but the letter must still be signed .

Poetry and graphics will not be edited,either the paper will publish the submis-sion or not.

In submitting articles to the paper,authors give their permission to printtheir submissions in accordance with theabove stipulations, as well as possiblereprinting in NASNA member papers, withdue byline. Any requests for storiesoutside the above three will be referredto the author.

Subscriptions are available with a$15 contribution. Make checks out toSHOC (Sacrame nto HomelessOrganizing Committee).

Loaves & Fishes is not affil-iated with the HomewardStreet Journal in any way.Participants with the paperare not allowed to solicit fordonations, nor make any ref-erence regarding the relation-ship between Loaves &Fishes and this newspaperwhatsoever.

All correspondence can be sent toHomeward Street Journal, PO Box 952,Sacramento, CA 95812

The paper may bereached at :

(916) 442-2156

The paper may also beE-mailed at

Homeward2@yahoo.com

Welcome toHOMEWARD: Please help us make a diff ere nce!

Yes!received

mail list

O f f iceU s eo n l y

3.2 About SH A

C L A S S I F I E DMail or bring your ad to the

Homeward office. Try to keepit under 25 words.

Jobs Wanted Give hope and happiness.

Give a job, such as moving oryard wo rk, to a homelessw o r k e r.

C a l lLoaves & Fishes

job phone at8 3 2 - 5 5 1 0;

Or mail toLoaves & Fishes,

Jobs for Homeless,PO Box 2161,Sac, CA 9 5 8 1 2

Social Securi tyDisabil ity / SSI Lawy er

Free Consulta tion(916) 658-1880