BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org
PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:Indybay-18709454
SEQUENCE:18801719
CREATED:20120316T205200Z
DESCRIPTION:Fair Shelter Access Hearing:\nDemand a Fair, Humane, Efficient 
 System!\nThursday, April 5, 1:30 PM\nRoom 263, City Hall\n\nSan 
 Francisco’s barbaric Shelter Reservation System forces people to wait 
 hours for a bed, walk huge distances to reach their beds, and often to be 
 turned down, or having to repeat the same process the next day. (See 
 below.) This treadmill of torture must stop. Come to this hearing to demand 
 a fair, humane, and efficient system.\n\nSee the Coalition on Homeless 
 Reports on the SF Shelter System\n\n“Special Needs, Special 
 Disadvantages” 
 (2007)\nuserwww.sfsu.edu/~dcmarla/documents/homelessnesspaper.pdf \n\nSee 
 SF Gray Panthers June 2009 article on the shelter bed 
 situation:\nhttp://graypantherssf.igc.org/09-06-GPNewsletter.pdf\n\nIs 
 Care-Not-Cash a Success?\n\nA May 3 2009 Chronicle article on Mayor 
 Newsom’s Care-Not-Cash proclaimed, “SF Making Strides to Solve Homeless 
 Problem. 83 percent reduction in people receiving checks who are homeless." 
 A new member was outraged. “Are we to be happy that there has been a 
 5/6th reduction in money for homeless people? How does this relate to 
 abatement of human suffering? Why does the Chronicle or Newsom feel that 
 it's a great accomplishment?”\n\nMost General Assistance (GA) recipients 
 got their checks reduced to $65 monthly, but only one in three or four got 
 any kind of housing. And "housing" increasingly means a shelter bed.\n\nThe 
 increasingly inadequate number of shelter beds are reserved for those GA 
 recipients because every shelter bed occupied by a GA recipient represents 
 a big savings for the City.\n\nIf you don't qualify for GA, such as being 
 undocumented, or are receiving any other benefits (like most seniors and 
 people with disabilities), you start standing in line at 4 AM to get a bed, 
 and even then you’ll be turned away an average of six times a month. 
 You’re not allowed to use your bed until 8 PM, so you’re on the street 
 all day. The drop-in center where you can rest or use the bathroom is being 
 closed as part of the budget cuts.\n\nIf you get a bed, it’s supposed to 
 be yours for a week, but some are one-night-only beds that belong to other 
 programs but aren’t being used that night for some reason. So if you’re 
 unlucky enough to be assigned a one-night-only bed, you’re back on the 
 line the next morning at 4 AM hoping you’ll get a week-long bed.\n\nThe 
 number of families needing shelters doubled from 2007 to 2008, At the same 
 time, the city has reduced family shelter beds by 20 percent, and the 
 waiting list is now more than four months long — meaning families are 
 waiting for shelter longer than they can actually stay in it.\n\nAround 3 
 AM on even the coldest of nights, a City water truck makes its rounds 
 through the Tenderloin, hosing down doorways where homeless unable to get a 
 bed are sleeping. And this is what Newsom and the Chronicle call success.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/16/18709454.php
SUMMARY:Fair Shelter Access Hearing: Demand a Fair, Humane, Efficient System!
LOCATION:City Hall, Room 263
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/16/18709454.php
DTSTART:20120405T203000Z
DTEND:20120405T223000Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR