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the 22nd houseless resident is welcomed into Homefulness- rent-free forever Healing housing Dear Loving ComeUnity and Family, I can’t get warm  no matter how tight i clutch my hoodie to my ice-cold body  Sometimes I am so cold I burn myself.  As the daggers of winter cold  approaches my years of homelessness on the street scream into my bones.  I have a dry jacket and a roof and yet i still can’t get warm..tiny. From Grants Pass to Palestine, from Newsom’s Disappearing (Clearing) Orders and the genocide across Mama Earth to the Orange Colonial Monster, all of our radical self-determined movements are the answer to this violent sickness. With deep gratitude in our hearts for all of you radical redistributors, ComeUnity Reparators and love warriors, 22 houseless youth, babies, adults and disabled elders are permanently housed in rent-free, forever healing housing at Homefulness;   Deecolonize Academy  is a thriving school for low/no-income/houseless indigenous children; a Poor Peoples’ liberation radio station  broadcasts weekly; the Sliding Scale Cafe  shares free organic food, fruits, veggies, diapers and love with over 800 families every week; and Poor Magazine provides so many more street-based, poverty scholarship-informed programs rooted in radical interdependence and revolutionary love. Right now, we are asking for help to bring 14 homes to Homefulness #2 at 7600 BlackArthur in deep east Huchiun.  Thanks to you all badass reparators and donors, we were able to get the first two homes for Homefulness #2 with working water and sewage. All we need is the off-grid solar system to have houseless families move in. We also need help purchasing the remaining 12 recycled container homes, better known as ADU’s (the first one pictured above).  We are also actively working with houseless poverty skolaz and housed allies in the Pacific Northwest, Tovaangar (LA) and Yelamu (San Francisco) to bring/mamafest more of the medicine of Homefulness. To do that, we have launched a new effort with guidance from our first Nations Ohlone/Lisjan relatives called The Homeful Tax . Please help us put this out as far and wide as possible, and please help us with your love-stained dollars so we can finish Homefuness #2, and launch #3PNW , #4Yelamu(SF) & #5Tovaangar(LA) lifting up, liberating and unSelling more of occupied Turtle Island.  To redistribute to the Homeful Tax, visit linktr.ee/homefultax . To learn more about the practicable solution of Homefulness, radical redistribution and ComeUnity reparations , consider registering for the upcoming Decolonization/DegentriFUKation seminar of PeopleSkool. Your love-stained dollars fund Homefulness 1 and will mamafest  Homefulness 2’s solar energy system, Homefulness 3 in the Pacific Northwest, Homefulness 4 in occupied Yelamu (San Francisco), Homefulness 5 in occupied Tovaangar (LA), and sustain hundreds of houseless families with rent, food, utility bills and basic support.  Ometeotl, Ase, Semign Cacona Guari, A’hooooooo     Tiny and the POOR Magazine, Homefulness & DeeColonize Academy Family  2024 has been an incredibly challenging year, and we see that echoing in poor people’s resistance movements all across Mama Earth. In the midst of the year’s many traumas, we have continued fighting to dismantle the lies of krapitalism and wealth-hoarding from the bottom up and responding to the needs of poverty skolaz from Turtle Island to Palestine. Here are just a few  of the huge amount of love-work we did in 2024: We moved our 22nd resident into HOMEFULNESS #1 DEECOLONIZE ACADEMY is in our 11th year with 11 enrolled students and 3 of our graduates becoming teachers 13th year of SLIDING SCALE CAFÉ, a radical redistribution (mutual aid) of healthy food groceries, diapers & media, support for deep East Oakland every Thursday Continued in-person People Skool for East Oakland poverty skolaz with Theatre of the Poor and Po Peoples Radio workshop series The Po Poets and Poverty Skola authors of Poor Press ( www.poorpress.net ) released their books, poems and anthologies in February 2024. One new book to come in 2025! Listen to PNNKEXU 96.1FM every Tuesday & Thursday for multi- generational radio programming: We r All Connected, The Peoples Botánica, Dr. Sweets Critique, & In the Spirit of Nat Turner.  We had two annual People Skool Decolonization/DegentriFUKation Seminars on Zoom. Next People Skool Seminar is January 25th & 26th, 2025 , info at www.poormagazine.org/education .  Fighting against the war on our houseless bodies after the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision Led a national press conference to Decline to Accept Grants Pass and to charge Gavin Newsom with War (On the Poor) Crimes. Launched “Sweeping us to Nowhere” WeSearch (aka research) investigation into sweeps after Grants Pass, with RooflessRadio reports across Yelamu (SF), Tovaangar (LA), Huchiun (Oakland), so-called Sacramento. Launched “Black Land Theft & Black Homelessness in Black History Month” youth and elder poverty skola WeSearch Report. Mamafesting Homefulness #4 in Tovaangar (LA) to permanently house our relatives Began a movement/family collaboration with our fellow Houseless relatives at Aetna Street Solidarity to help them Liberate Mama Earth and build their own forever homes. This October, we had the first HERstoric Elephant Meeting with 22 houseless poverty skolaz in so-called LA to fully mamafest Homefulness #4 with the help of ancestors and an amazing solidarity family. Crushing Wheelchairs  movie is in production - coming in 2025 After selling out 3 productions of the original theater show, Crushing Wheelchairs , with an all Houseless cast – honoring ancestors of homelessness, poLice terror and sweeps – the Crushing Wheelchairs  narrative film is in editing and will be released in 2025. View the “ Behind The Scenes: CRUSHING WHEELCHAIRS ” on Youtube and stay connected to learn more! Homefulness #2 in Deep East Huichin (Oakland) construction underway The construction of Homefulness #2, a fully off-grid project and a collaboration between Poor Magazine and Wood Street Commons, has commenced. We acquired the first two fully equipped container homes for Homefulness 2 – water and sewer system and two Pachamama garden boxes launched with DeeColonize Academy students. Still working on raising money for off-grid solar power for this powerful liberation project.

Photo credit: Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash.com Hello. My name is Freeway. I am a founding member of the Oakland Homeless Union. I am reaching out to express my concerns for the apparent recent change in policy that the city has undergone in reference to the Encampment Management Policy. Over the last few weeks, I have witnessed an unsettling trend in the encampment closures- or sweeps, as they're often known. More and more commonly, these traumatic events are beginning to take place over the weekend.  The notice of these sweeps is also becoming more and more vague, as it has become more common to see these pink notices being posted in the cover of dark- a tactic that is both confusing and intimidating.  It has long since been a common narrative of the City and the departments that oversee sweeps to tout that their motivation for these events is the safety and well-being of the unhoused residents. If this were true, why then is it necessary to present in such a secretive and misleading manner? Additionally, the question of who is responsible for these postings continues to go unanswered. A friend and advisor, Andrea Henson, informed me recently that she had spoken with the Chief of Police for Oakland and the City Attorney of Oakland. The conversation was based around clarifying who was responsible for these postings. After multiple correspondences, it still remains unclear which department is at the control panel, so to speak.  Of course, neither DPW, nor the Police Department, would take responsibility, nor would either give a straightforward answer.  So I am writing to ask for clarification on this matter. If no one is able to answer this question clearly, my next step will be to submit a Public Records request; afterall, if neither Andrea Henson, nor myself, can effectively get a clear, concise, honest answer, we must not be communicating our request clearly enough and I should just look up the answers for myself. In addition to these questions, I would also like to know why the city is now making it the standard to not include all of the intended sites for closure on its website showcasing the weekly schedule? On more than one occasion recently, unhoused residents were forced to endure sudden, unexpected encampment closures, with little or no notice at all. I'm aware of at least one that took place during the atmospheric river we experienced a couple weeks ago. As we speak, the small, majorly disabled encampment at 5th and Embarcadero is in the process of being swept- in the middle of a rainstorm, and right before the Christmas holiday. As if these sweeps were not difficult enough, now these residents are being forced to endure them in a torrential downpour? And with almost zero notice?  This leads me to wonder: how does this fit into the Encampment Management Policy? Unless the policy has changed, these are all direct violations of the city's own policy on how to conduct these sweeps. And, if it has changed, it certainly was not with the inclusion of input by people with lived or living experience. I would strongly urge the city, if this is the case, to reconsider this change and bring everyone back to the drawing board, with those most directly effected present. I also have to point out, that not only do these policies not represent the needs and the demands of those directly impacted by them, but they are, in fact, directly in opposition to the very well being that they are supposed to be preserving. After all, I can't remember the last time I witnessed a city official, the Governor, or any person who was living inside, undergoing a move where 50-100 police were present, most or all of their belongings were destroyed or disposed of, and the amount of time the person was given to complete the move was less than 30 minutes- that's including how much notice they had of the move even happening. The city is at the precipice of some very major change. The voices of the oppressed have gone silenced far too long. To summarize the collective conscience in a quote from Desmond Tutu: "I am not interested in picking up the crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights."  We're hungry, we're tired, and we're fed up with being given scraps and being told that we should be grateful for leftovers that nobody else wants. We are your neighbors, and we are fellow human beings. We have solutions to these so called "problems" that are so commonly blamed on our existence, but in truth, have very little to do with us; homelessness is nothing more than another colonizer lie.  We are ready to work with you to solve these problems, but make no mistake- we will work just as hard against you, if that's the path that is chosen. The ball is in your court now.  You may contact via my email, freeway.the.writer23@gmail.com ; or you can reach me on my phone, (510) 260-9420. I look forward to your response. In humble service, Freeway

Yelamu (SF) comeUnity was removed by heavily armed multiple state agencies at 2am with menacing state violence - Huchiun remains intact at Greyhound Bus Station. “The Park is closed, you have 15 minutes to remove your belongings and vacate the premises or you will be arrested… Actually now you have 14 minutes ,” Heavily armed San Francisco PoLice department, DPW workers, and Park Rangers arrived at 2am on Friday, December 19th at the Yelamu (SF) Sweeps-Free Comeunity  and announced to over 35 peacefully sleeping houseless, formerly houseless and housed allies that if they didn’t vacate the “park” within 15 minutes “This terrifying experience is just another in an ongoing militarized and endless war on houseless peoples bodies across occupied Turtle Island. We have nowhere to go, we hide in doorways and bus shelters just to try to sleep, we die of cold exposure, we lose limbs and our minds just trying to stay alive outside and if we are seen, we are harassed, arrested and terrorized for the sole act of not having access to the lie of rent,” said one of the formerly houseless organizer/residents of the Sweeps-Free Sanctuary ComeUnity and co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness. There were over 35 houseless residents of the sanctuary comeUnity who received healthy, daily meals, clean and warm clothes, medicine, support, writing workshops and inspiration that something else besides endless violence, removal and terror was possible.  Mutual aid groups from all across the Bay supported this beautiful, prayerful, poor and houseless peoples led sanctuary.  On Tuesday, December 17th in response to increasingly violent and relentless  sweeps of houseless residents of California, houseless and formerly houseless sweeps survivors  along with housed allies and spiritual leaders launched several “sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities” at City Halls and other public land sites in Yelamu (San Francisco), Huchiun (Oakland), Yocut (Fresno), Tovaangar (Los Angeles) and Sogorea Te (Vallejo) and Chief Sia’hl (Seattle).  In both Huchiun and Yelamu (Oakland & San Francisco ) houseless warriors are committed to the beautiful healing sanctuary ComeUnities we have built ,  “In Huchiun we have relocated to the parking lot of the Greyhound Bus station and are holding space “ said John Janosko, formerly houseless resident leader of Wood street commons. Oakland Sanctuary remains. In San Francisco everyone was removed to nowhere in the dark, cold night, including gravely disabled residents who were triggerred by the violence.  We will gather at the City Hall Plaza park on occupied Ohlone land at 11am on Friday, Dec 20th as planned and march to a privately “owned” and hoarded site of MamaEarth in Yelamu, SF “Sweeps fracture communities, displace people and damage physical and mental health,” Western Regional Advocacy Project(WRAP)  “Stop the war on the Poor, sweeps are killing us,”  Junebug Kealoha, formerly houseless organizer with POOR Magazine and Homefulness. “We have solutions, they are houseless, indigenous people-led solutions called Homefulness and Wood Street ComeUnity, not sweeps,” said Muteado Silencio, formerly houseless co-founder of Homefulness and Sanctuary resident.  Updates from other locations who launched sweeps-free communities across so-called California:   From Tovaangar/Los Angeles: Yesterday we gathered at the site of a former city-run shelter that has since been abandoned and locked up by barbed wire fences where a year ago, our community on Aetna Street was violently displaced. On these vacant, so-called “public” lands we rebuilt our sanctuary community on Aetna Street with our announcement of the San Fernando Valley Homeless Union led and founded by warrior women who lived on Aetna Street. We are fighting for Aetna Street to once again be a sanctuary for houseless people in the San Fernando Valley where community can power free laundry, free showers and provide free clothing and hot meals to everyone in our community. That evening, we held a community dinner where 200 people came throughout the night to support local street vendors and receive free medical care powered by All Power Free Clinic to build the sanctuary we need to defend our communities from sweeps, raids, displacement and deportation. 6 unhoused people dying on the streets of LA every day. We are committed to the call of houseless action across CA to reverse the tide and stand with poor and houseless peoples fighting for land liberation everywhere. We are a landless peoples movement! We have the solutions. We are the solutions! Updates from occupied Duwamish land Seattle: our noon rally was beautiful and we had 30-40 houseless warriors and housed allies on the steps of "Seattle" Shitty Hall. There was music, food, hot drinks, safer drug use kits, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags. We had speakers from Nickelsville, International League of Peoples Struggle, vehicle residents and WHEELs Women in Black held a moment of silence for our stolen relatives.  From Yocut lands aka so-called Fresno: “ Yesterday we met at City Hall lawn. We had prayer then we had four speakers one regarding the housing elements and lack of units we had the attorney speak on the data of the arrest the criminalization and also the current trials that are in the courts due to the arrest for being unhoused. We had a previous unhoused individual speak about the difficulties of surviving the streets the stress and disrespect that they went through in the shelters and the length of time it took for them to get into permanent Supportive Housing. Of course I said My Words which were basically covering the county and City responsible for using the funding for more than just admin fees telling them about the dream camp safe camp that I had here in Fresno for a year and a half that had never had an issue or a problem and ask them to model another safe area just like that that's governed by us. I also spoke on the criminalization, the amount it costs us, how Mental Health is affected by homelessness I also spoke on the lifespan of people that are evicted and lifespan on individuals that are suffering homelessness and trying to survive. We then went over to March over to the county building which is about two blocks away from the city hall and when we got there we were met with a whole bunch of police LOL but we chanted, did our chants outside, then we went to go walk in they took our posters from us we still went upstairs where we were met by another group of officers and then we went inside the chambers where we met by another group of officers it was ridiculous to have that many amount of police merely for community members wanting to speak up at Board of Supervisors County meeting. We had a few interviews from media. I brought up where do we go and pour magazine and also with Street Commons of how we join forces with solidarity Liberation day. Of course I addressed my rights being violated at the County public building many of us spoke up about multiple issues with homelessness housing criminalization and fighting for more places like homefulness., “ said Dez Martinez formerly houseless founder of Homeless in Fresno and We are not invisible  In addition to providing crucial resources for fellow houseless relatives in the cold, wet winter, we will be presenting solutions to homelessness created by us houseless people. Solutions that are healing housing models like Homefulness and Wood Street Commons Community  As well as looking at the example of Tent city 3 - created by SHARE/WHEEL in Seattle, Washington - which could be replicated by cities and counties across the US  “Public land should be for the public, instead we face violent sweeps,” said La Monte Ford, Wood Street Commons Sweeps survivor. Following the Grants Pass Vs Johnson Supreme Court Ruling that deemed houseless residents of the US no longer protected by the 8th amendment of the constitution California Gov. Gavin Newsome enhanced his already violent "sweeps"  policy of houseless people by directing  state agencies to dismantle homeless encampments on state land. He also threatened cities across the state with drastic budget cuts if they didnt comply with his clearing orders.  Hundreds of houseless elders and disabled adults lives have become gravely endangered and have died in increasing numbers due to this state sponsored violence over the last several months.  "Sweeping my mama and me caused us to lose multiple shelters, tents and cars we slept in and eventually each other.  Sweeping, jailing and harassing us houseless people never gets us a home, or "solves" our homelessness, it just makes our homelessness more dangerous and more deadly, said Tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, incarcerated,  co-founder of POOR Magazine, a poor and houseless people-led movement  and Homefulness - a homeless peoples solution to homelessness that currently houses 22 formerly houseless youth, adults and elders. All the government  "Solutions" like Cabin Communities and shelters have failed to create the necessaary foundation unhoused people need to be able to rebuild our lives, said John Janasko, houseless resident leader at Wood Street Commons, a community of houseless people working to organize and support fellow houseless people.    “There is no social justice in criminalizing our unhoused community there is no solution in solving homelessness by incarceration,” Junebug Keaoloha,formerly houseless Community health workers and poverty skola with  POOR Magazine /San Francisco  “200 years ago, before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust and Family Elders Council member of Homefulness. "We center the launching of these sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities in liberation of occupied and stolen indigenous land because we cannot talk about homelessness without talking about indigenous and Black Land theft, return and reparations, the violent history of indigenous land theft and genocide of colonization, chattle slavery, false borders and mass incarceration of Black, Brown, Indigenous and Disabled houseless peoples have led to the collective trauma of so many of us on the street and then we are terrorized by hundreds of laws that criminalize our bodies for being poor, without a roof, sleeping in our car, in doorways, in parks, on streets and in tents on so-called public (read: stolen) land. " concluded tiny gray-garcia   “The city, the so-called service providers—they’re not offering anybody anything. They’re just leaving us destitute. What should we get instead? We should get treated like the human beings that we are. I should get treated like your brother or sister.” - Giselle “Gelly” Harrell, Aetna Street Solidarity, Aetna Street Solidarity is an intergenerational community of housed & unhoused people organizing in Van Nuys against the criminalization of the poor currenlty working with POOR Magazine to create their own Homefulness Project..   PNN RoofLessRadio street writing workshop with houseless residents of Huchiun. Homefulness -is  a homeless peoples solution to homelessness which  just welcomed their 22nd houseless family into rent-free forever housing is one of the models we are presenting at the Sweeps-Free Sanctury ComeUnities.We are currently working with houseless comeUnities in San Francisco, LA, Seattle to create their own Homefulness Projects and on a second site of Homefulness in Oakland  Wood Street Sanctuary Community -  is a collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok over the last year to envision a community-led solution to homelessness which houses teachers, working class families and the unhoused and includes an academy, a jobs program, dental care, health care and mental health care on site. In addition to press conferences, free stores, art installations, prayer vigils and sanctuary communities, housed allies will be standing, working and speaking up with houseless leaders to show their support for actual solutions, not more violent sweeps.  See Testimonials from houseless and formerly Houseless residents of Wood Street Commons and Homefulness by clicking here   Solutions to homelessness presented by houseless people     1    Sanctuary Communities, Not Sweeps: Stop sweeps, tows, and criminalizing poverty. Redirect encampment management funding towards positive solutions like encampment upgrades, sweeps-free sanctuary communities, and permanent low to no-income housing.      2    Land Back/Public Land for Public Good: House hundreds of people in the vacant Hilton Hotel on Port of Oakland land, The Civic Center Inn in the tenderloin District of San Francisco and/or countless other vacant and hoarded lots and land across Oakland and San Francisco.. Unsell and return sacred sites, vacant land, buildings and homes to stewardship by 1st peoples of Turtle Island who suffered the brutal genocide of colonization. Use public and vacant land for poor people led solutions like rent-free forever healing housing like Homefulness ,  communities and the Wood Street Commons housing vision designed with architect Mike Pyatok and Share/Wheel in Seattle.      3    Prevent Homelessness: Strengthen renter’s rights and provide rent subsidies. Create a permanent moratorium on rental evictions and foreclosures for non-payment. Evictions and foreclosures are elder and child abuse* and cause homelessness. (Based on POOR Magazine poor & houseless people-led WeSearch study of 2014)     4    Defund Coercive “Care Courts:” reinvest in an accessible and non-carceral approach to mental health care and harm reduction rooted in a framework of interdependence, care, and love first. Stop 5150 holds, medical incarceration, and forced conservatorships through Gavin Newsom's care courts which threaten to circumvent due process and other constitutional protections. *More Homeless peoples solutions available at this link   Follow the work of this movement on IG  @BayHousingLiberation  @poormagazine @woodstreetcommons Or websites: poormagazine.org / woodstreetcommons.org

Houseless artists, housed allies and spiritual leaders faced all night harassment by poLice , City Administrators and Park Rangers and still remain in SF City Hall - and Oakland Greyhound Parking Lot  “You can’t stay here,” City Administrator of occupied Huchiun aka Oakland told us houseless, formerly houseless and housed allies gathered peacefully at Oakland CIty Hall at Day 1 of our  Bay Area launch of Sweeps Free Sanctuary Communities.  “You are violating Park Code - you can’t have tents here, you can’t sleep here,”  at approximately 11:50pm at SF City Hall site of Sweeps-Free Sanctuary ComeUnities 8 park rangers arrived with guns and mace on their holsters and told us we needed to leave - that our work, although important wasn’t legal in the park. “This is important work but you can’t stay in the park with these tents, you are welcome to move to the perimeter of the park,” he said pointing to the green bike lane that surrounded the city hall plaza in San Francisco. “You mean we can move to the bike lane- how is that safe? We as houseless people are never safe, we are constantly , violently swept and removed,  but we are safe here together in this sanctuary and if you force us to leave you will be making us Unsafe again,” said tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, sweeps survivor and co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness. On Tuesday, December 17th in response to increasingly violent and relentless  sweeps of houseless residents of California, houseless and formerly houseless sweeps survivors  along with housed allies and spiritual leaders will launch “sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities” at City Halls and other public land sites in Yelamu (San Francisco), Huchiun (Oakland), Yocut (Fresno), Tovaangar (Los Angeles) and Sogorea Te (Vallejo) and Chief Sia’hl (Seattle).  In both Huchiun and Yelamu (Oakland & San Francisco ) houseless warriors are committed to the beautiful healing sanctuary ComeUnities we have built ,  “In Huchiun we have relocated to the parking lot of the Greyhound Bus station and are holding space “ said John Janasko, formerly houseless resident leader of Wood street commons  In San Francisco we remain in the city hall plaza -pls support us  Updates from other locations who launched sweeps-free communities across so-called California: From Tovaangar/Los Angeles: Yesterday we gathered at the site of a former city-run shelter that has since been abandoned and locked up by barbed wire fences where a year ago, our community on Aetna Street was violently displaced. On these vacant, so-called “public” lands we rebuilt our sanctuary community on Aetna Street with our announcement of the San Fernando Valley Homeless Union led and founded by warrior women who lived on Aetna Street. We are fighting for Aetna Street to once again be a sanctuary for houseless people in the San Fernando Valley where community can power free laundry, free showers and provide free clothing and hot meals to everyone in our community. That evening, we held a community dinner where 200 people came throughout the night to support local street vendors and receive free medical care powered by All Power Free Clinic to build the sanctuary we need to defend our communities from sweeps, raids, displacement and deportation. 6 unhoused people dying on the streets of LA every day. We are committed to the call of houseless action across CA to reverse the tide and stand with poor and houseless peoples fighting for land liberation everywhere. We are a landless peoples movement! We have the solutions. We are the solutions! Updates from occupied Duwamish land Seattle: our noon rally was beautiful and we had 30-40 houseless warriors and housed allies on the steps of "Seattle" Shitty Hall. There was music, food, hot drinks, safer drug use kits, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags. We had speakers from Nickelsville, International League of Peoples Struggle, vehicle residents and WHEELs Women in Black held a moment of silence for our stolen relatives.  From Yocut lands aka so-called Fresno: “Yesterday we met at City Hall lawn. We had prayer then we had four speakers one regarding the housing elements and lack of units we had the attorney speak on the data of the arrest the criminalization and also the current trials that are in the courts due to the arrest for being unhoused. We had a previous unhoused individual speak about the difficulties of surviving the streets the stress and disrespect that they went through in the shelters and the length of time it took for them to get into permanent Supportive Housing. Of course I said My Words which were basically covering the county and City responsible for using the funding for more than just admin fees telling them about the dream camp safe camp that I had here in Fresno for a year and a half that had never had an issue or a problem and ask them to model another safe area just like that that's governed by us I also spoke on the criminalization the amount it cost us how Mental Health is affected by homelessness I also spoke on the lifespan of people that are evicted and lifespan on individuals that are suffering homelessness and trying to survive. We then went over to March over to the county building which is about two blocks away from the city hall and when we got there we were met with a whole bunch of police LOL but we chanted did our chance outside then we went to go walk in they took our posters from us we still went upstairs where we were met by another group of officers and then we went inside the chambers where we met by another group of officers it was ridiculous to have that many amount of police merely for community members wanting to speak up at Board of Supervisors County meeting. We had a few interviews from media. I brought up where do we go and pour magazine and also with Street Commons of how we join forces with solidarity Liberation day. Of course I addressed my rights being violated at the County public building many of us spoke up about multiple issues with homelessness housing criminalization and fighting for more places like homefulness," said Dez Martinez formerly houseless founder of Homeless in Fresno and We are not invisible  In addition to providing crucial resources for fellow houseless relatives in the cold, wet winter, we will be presenting solutions to homelessness created by us houseless people. Solutions that are healing housing models like Homefulness and Wood Street Commons Community  As well as looking at the example of Tent city 3 - created by SHARE/WHEEL in Seattle, Washington - which could be replicated by cities and counties across the US.  “Public land should be for the public, instead we face violent sweeps,” said La Monte Ford, Wood Street Commons Sweeps survivor. Following the Grants Pass Vs Johnson Supreme Court Ruling that deemed houseless residents of the US no longer protected by the 8th amendment of the constitution California Gov. Gavin Newsom enhanced his already violent "sweeps"  policy of houseless people by directing  state agencies to dismantle homeless encampments on state land. He also threatened cities across the state with drastic budget cuts if they didn't comply with his clearing orders.  Hundreds of houseless elders and disabled adults lives have become gravely endangered and have died in increasing numbers due to this state sponsored violence over the last several months.  "Sweeping my mama and me caused us to lose multiple shelters, tents and cars we slept in and eventually each other.  Sweeping, jailing and harassing us houseless people never gets us a home, or "solves" our homelessness, it just makes our homelessness more dangerous and more deadly, said Tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, incarcerated,  co-founder of POOR Magazine, a poor and houseless people-led movement  and Homefulness - a homeless peoples solution to homelessness that currently houses 22 formerly houseless youth, adults and elders. All the government  "Solutions" like Cabin Communities and shelters have failed to create the necessaary foundation unhoused people need to be able to rebuild our lives, said John Janasko, houseless resident leader at Wood Street Commons, a community of houseless people working to organize and support fellow houseless people.     “There is no social justice in criminalizing our unhoused community there is no solution in solving homelessness by incarceration,” Junebug Keaoloha, formerly houseless Community health workers and poverty skola with  POOR Magazine /San Francisco. “200 years ago, before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust and Family Elders Council member of Homefulness. "We center the launching of these sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities in liberation of occupied and stolen indigenous land because we cannot talk about homelessness without talking about indigenous and Black Land theft, return and reparations, the violent history of indigenous land theft and genocide of colonization, chattle slavery, false borders and mass incarceration of Black, Brown, Indigenous and Disabled houseless peoples have led to the collective trauma of so many of us on the street and then we are terrorized by hundreds of laws that criminalize our bodies for being poor, without a roof, sleeping in our car, in doorways, in parks, on streets and in tents on so-called public (read: stolen) land. " concluded tiny gray-garcia   “The city, the so-called service providers—they’re not offering anybody anything. They’re just leaving us destitute. What should we get instead? We should get treated like the human beings that we are. I should get treated like your brother or sister.” - Giselle “Gelly” Harrell, Aetna Street Solidarity, Aetna Street Solidarity is an intergenerational community of housed & unhoused people organizing in Van Nuys against the criminalization of the poor currenlty working with POOR Magazine to create their own Homefulness Project..   Homefulness -is  a homeless peoples solution to homelessness which  just welcomed their 22nd houseless family into rent-free forever housing is one of the models we are presenting at the Sweeps-Free Sanctury ComeUnities. We are currently working with houseless comeUnities in San Francisco, LA, Seattle to create their own Homefulness Projects and on a second site of Homefulness in Oakland  Wood Street Sanctuary Community -  is a collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok over the last year to envision a community-led solution to homelessness which houses teachers, working class families and the unhoused and includes an academy, a jobs program, dental care, health care and mental health care on site. In addition to press conferences, free stores, art installations, prayer vigils and sanctuary communities, housed allies will be standing, working and speaking up with houseless leaders to show their support for actual solutions, not more violent sweeps.  See Testimonials from houseless and formerly Houseless residents of Wood Street Commons and Homefulness by clicking here   Solutions to homelessness   presented by houseless people     1    Sanctuary Communities, Not Sweeps: Stop sweeps, tows, and criminalizing poverty. Redirect encampment management funding towards positive solutions like encampment upgrades, sweeps-free sanctuary communities, and permanent low to no-income housing.      2    Land Back/Public Land for Public Good: House hundreds of people in the vacant Hilton Hotel on Port of Oakland land, The Civic Center Inn in the tenderloin District of San Francisco and/or countless other vacant and hoarded lots and land across Oakland and San Francisco.. Unsell and return sacred sites, vacant land, buildings and homes to stewardship by 1st peoples of Turtle Island who suffered the brutal genocide of colonization. Use public and vacant land for poor people led solutions like rent-free forever healing housing like Homefulness , communities and the Wood Street Commons housing vision designed with architect Mike Pyatok and Share/Wheel in Seattle.      3    Prevent Homelessness: Strengthen renter’s rights and provide rent subsidies. Create a permanent moratorium on rental evictions and foreclosures for non-payment. Evictions and foreclosures are elder and child abuse* and cause homelessness. (Based on POOR Magazine poor & houseless people-led WeSearch study of 2014)     4    Defund Coercive “Care Courts”: reinvest in an accessible and non-carceral approach to mental health care and harm reduction rooted in a framework of interdependence, care, and love first. Stop 5150 holds, medical incarceration, and forced conservatorships through Gavin Newsom's care courts which threaten to circumvent due process and other constitutional protections. *More Homeless peoples solutions available at this link  Follow the work of this movement on IG  @BayHousingLiberation  @poormagazine @woodstreetcommons Or websites: poormagazine.org / woodstreetcommons.org

By tiny aka povertyskola  Shipping containers placed to block access to People’s Park. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight via Berkeleyside Cement blocks and locks built on settler intentions  Locking up -  Blocking up  Poor bodies lives  Until they chauking us  Our Houseless bodies  r worth more to them locked up  So what is mine and what is yours  The question seeds a thousand wars  So how many homes can they shut up with lock and key  How many times will you incarcerate me  How many locks will they place on Mama Earths and ancestors sacred spaces   So we can’t even sit or stand while poor in any of the places Gates, walls, doors & fences How tall do u need to build  Before you bring out the guns and shoot to kill  gates, walls and fences  Formations meant To contain and maintain  Until you have crushed our hearts and our Mama Earth A thousand ways  But cant u see  No matter how high u build  No matter how many of us u buy to keep still  We come back  We rise up, tear down and clap back We scream, we will be heard  We will be seen  We will take down your gates From Peoples Park to the West Bank  Piece by piece in a thousand ways  We will sing -  We will pray  Mama Earth and all us poor mamas will prevail  From Palestine  To Turtle Island MamaEarth is NOT for sale

By tiny aka povertyskola “Did you now or did you ever refer to each other as “family” ? “Did you call each other by 'code names' like Carnal or Hermano?” These racist classist profiling statements were brought to you courtesy of the legal “team” for the California Department of Corrections and (rehabilitation), against George Franco and three other Prisoner Hunger Striker representatives who were part of a powerful group of plantation prison warriors who organized a historic hunger strike with fellow inmates to end indefinite solitary confinement in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCr). I sat listening aghast in the deafeningly silent marble and wood mausoleum known as the United States Federal Court, filled with brightly polished floors and wooden church pew-like seats. The surrounding walls were filled with monstrously giant paintings of “judges” and other colonial ghosts of this system. “This case is absolutely retaliation,” said Jose Valle, organizer and advocate with SV Debug speaking along with George Franco’s cousin Melissa Valdez and Minister King X from Prison Focus and Kage Universal to speak on Poor Peoples Radio about the trial.  “The strike led to the creation of the Agreement to End Hostilities - a historic agreement between all prisoners of all cultures and communities realizing that their only true opposition was in fact the CDCr (California Department of Correction and rehabilitation) - aka the system.” concluded Jose. In 2012, George Franco and three other Prison Hunger Strikers Rights Movement (PHRM) representatives organized the aforementioned hunger strike with 30,000 participants to end the inhumanity and Brutality of indefinite solitary confinement in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Historically, solitary confinement has been used on incarcerated folks based solely on gang allegations, not conduct, sentencing or due process. In 2015, hunger strikers agreed to a settlement (Ashker v. Governor of CA) that radically reformed the use of solitary confinement in the California prison system, and a historic end of hostilities of all racial groups in CDCR. The CDCR hunger strikes were part of a statewide campaign that included a successful end of hostilities between all racial groups in CDCR, solidarity efforts to end solitary confinement in county jails i.e. Chavez v. County of Santa Clara and the greatest peace efforts in prison history. In addition, criminal justice reform legislation efforts by community organizations i.e. Prop 57, SB 81 , SB 1437 , AB 333 etc. have massively decreased the prison population and crime rates in communities across California. California’s legislative prison reform efforts would not be possible without the sacrifices taken by the Prisoners Human Rights Movement. Community members gathered in protest outside the Federal Courthouse in downtown Oakland. As I sat listening to more inane arguments and watching more powerpoints that “proved” these men's relationship to each other in that inhumane and brutal system, I was reminded that CDCr is just one in a long line of institutional systems built by colonization to destroy indigenous values, interdependence and ancestors' teachings in communities. To label, criminalize and codify the life ways of community and connections that have existed long before the settler colonial lies came to this stolen indigenous land and imposed a reign of genocide and criminalization.  Long before colonizers boxed in, red-lined and ghettoized communities of color in barrios, towns and so-called ghettos, there was family, cliques, grupos and villages. There were lifeways of interdependence which weren’t turned into Codes of Conduct to be deconstructed in a powerpoint. There were elders, and ancestors and ceremonies and care. These were all destroyed to “build” the wite supremacy nations we know as the United Snakkkes and of course the builders, the enslaved, the underpaid and the red-lined needed to “Stay in their place,” needed to be silenced and marginalized and to do that this settler society needed to criminalize and leech the culture and indigeneity from the communities so they could be exploited and extracted from, and ultimately when there wasn’t enough work for all of them, incarcerated for those same life-ways -- beginning with the very real school to prison pipeline, which i have sadly felt and witnessed firsthand as a houseless child of an indigenous mother, and then later a revolutionary teacher and advocate who was able to interrupt the intentional profiling and destruction of multiple indigenous children in poverty lost in the settler colonial system’s grips.     There is no rehabilitation in the r of CDCr which is why abolitionists say it's a small “r” but what there is, is intimidation and domination and more colonization.   Criminalizing of cultures and family and values  “The prosecution tried to offer our loved ones inside a sweet deal and thought they would take it - but we said no, let’s go to trial, because we knew they had no case and sure enough, this case is turning out to be a sham case and i do see bias from the judge,” said Melissa Valdez about the two month trial that launched in June and is winding down now in closing arguments.  From SVdeBug -  In 2016, George Franco was finally released to the general population with good behavior that allowed him to downclass to a level three facility. George Franco is one of the four PHRM representatives and we strongly believe that due his influence in ending indefinitely solitary confinement, implementing the end of hostilities, both CDCR and the federal government is retaliating against George and his co-defendants in the form of a RICO indictment for the purpose of job security in the prison industrial complex and inciting hostilities that may result in mass incarceration. “This case is the example of the CDCr continued attempt to try and stigmatize people with gang affiliation, but what is really being revealed is CDCr’s necessity to maintain racial capitalism and prison commerce,” said Minister X King to Poor Peoples Radio.  “In the end, no matter how many times the settler State tries to deconstruct our community, we will peacefully prevail,” said Brokin Cloud, Afro-indigenous elder formerly houseless resident of Homefulness at the prayer ceremony, organized by SV-Debug and POOR Magazine, that launched the trial in June. One of the things I felt was most ironic listening to the “prosecution’s” thin case against these resistors, is that the very things they are being “prosecuted” for, the very values of family and community, are the things we work so hard to lift up and live by at Homefulness- a homeless peoples solution to homelessness. We as Black, Brown, Houseless, Disabled and Pan-indigenous criminalized peoples work really hard to bring back all of the deeply important values of family and community for our children and our elders. Just like the PHRM, we do all of this to bring peace to all of our broken colonized selves, living inside this very hard, system abused krapitalist reality on stolen land. Like the brave hunger strikers, we lift these values up for peace, to end hostilities, to end the fake wars the system wants to impose on us, to accuse us of. Peace.

1) The immediate end of “sweeps” of houseless comeUnities and the end of criminalization of homelessness. Any act of state violence against the poor is completely unacceptable and undermines all attempts to provide actual solutions.   2)LAND BACK/BLACK LAND  The unselling and return of sacred sites,  occupied/hoarded vacant land, buildings and homes to stewardship by 1st peoples of  Turtle Island who suffered the genocide of colonization and make up a large majority of houseless peoples across Turtle Island. The paying of reparations by city and county governments and/or private wealth-hoarders/housing devil-opers to Black families who suffered eviction, foreclosure, blight notices, bank seizure of their homes and /or resources and are now houseless in settler towns like so-called Oakland, San Francisco,LA and beyond  3) The immediate liberation of  vacant bank and state "owned" so-called "private property" so that it may be used for housing for Homefulness - which is a homeless peoples solution to homelessness which includes rent-free forever housing, healing, art, education and care on-site to youth , adults and elders struggling with poverty and homelessness . It was reported in 2022 that there are approximately 1.2 Million vacant properties in California. This means there are six vacant properties for every unhoused person in the state.   4) A permanent moratorium on rental evictions for non-payment of rent. Evictions are elder and child abuse and cause homelessness. One of the ways to address  homelessness is to prevent any more people from becoming homeless.    5) The complete overhaul and restructuring of the HUD coordinated entry and Section 8 housing processes. The current wait for permanent housing is anywhere between 1-10 years. Navigating homeless housing through coordinated entry is so difficult and inaccessible that despite their want for housing, many people will never be able to get close.   6) The implementation of oversight by poverty skolaz of Non-profits  who supposedly provide services for houseless people. Poverty skolaz who ourselves  overstand the violence from the inside of homelessness and anti-social work and the multiple traumas involved in even receiving care while in the middle of trauma and crisis   At this moment there is little to no accountability for the behavior and spending habits of major non-profits. Current homeless shelter conditions in California are deplorable and dangerous. If a program can not maintain a person's safety and dignity, it should have no right to public funding.   7) An accessible and non-carceral approach to mental health care rooted in Poverty Scholarship- a framework of interdependence, care and love first versus.  5150 holds, medical incarceration, and forced conservatorships through Gavin Newsom's care courts which threaten to circumvent due process and other constitutional protections.   8) A Homeful (Not Homeless) Tax charged to every housing devil-oper, "private property owner" who is currently hoarding multiple lots of vacant land/vacant buildings in all of these settler towns  across Turtle Island. This "tax" rooted in radical interdependence would   be assessed based on the "property value" increased per year by hoarding the land.   9) Monthly rent support funds created for houseless/marginally housed/barely housed/ formerly houseless peoples from a Tech Reparations Fund, CorpRape Reparations Fund created by the Bank of ComeUnity Reparations which would be paid to all houseless peoples evicted from their homes and apartments due to violent gentriFUKation so they could remain housed once they are re-housed - read more about this here

Houseless people build rent-free, forever, healing housing in deep East Oakland and welcome in their 22nd houseless family.     What: Welcoming in Ceremony    When: 8am Friday, November 29th   Where: Homefulness 8032 MacArthur Bl , East Oakland, Ca "I am excited and scared and so happy  to finally reunite with my daughters after struggling with homelessness for over 10 years, we finally have a home," said LeaJay Harper, Houseless resident of Wood Street Commons and now Homeful at Homefulness.  While this classist, racist, ableist, government legislates against us houseless people, we build our own solutions, healing solutions, because after the trauma of homelessness it isn't only housing that we need and we as poor and houseless survivors know what we need to keep us permanently safe and housed  From Grants Pass Vs Johnson to Governor Newsom and London Breed, Karen Bass, Sheng Tao and Eric Adams, all of these towns across occupied Turtle Island are waging a war against houseless residents. Sweeping, disappearing and arresting us to nowhere.Our poor people-led research,  RoofLess Radio WeSearch, has revealed the deadly impact of the violence of sweeps, bus tickets, jail-like motel rooms, navigation centers, temporary shelters, cabins, and arrests, that are killing us. The insane part of all the millions and billions spent on disappearing, sweeping and incarcerating us is we have actual solutions created by us for us - solutions like Camp Resolution, Wood Street Commons, Aetna Street solidarity, Reclaiming Our Homes and Homefulness to name a few.   Homefulness #1 was an 11 year long journey In 2022, after being blocked for over 11 years by the City of Oakland, the 1st Homefulness project  located at 8032 MacArthur bl was finally allowed to open its doors to houseless families, elders and youth. Friday's ceremony makes  21 formerly houseless, now homeful, residents living in rent-free forever healing housing. POOR Magazine is currently working with houseless communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and West Oakland at Wood Street to open their own versions of this powerful and doable dream we call Homefulness. "Friday's event is celebrating a Herstoric Day- 530 years after the violence of colonization we poor and indigenous peoples are building our own solutions..". Muteado Silencio- formerly houseless co-founder,povertyskola and lead builder Homefulness "With permission, prayer and guidance from 1st Nations Ohlone, Lisjan leaders we are opening a 2nd site for our own self-determined solutions of Healing Housing without the Lie of Rent... only possible because of the radical redistribution of conscious housed residents with resources radically redistributing to us poor peoples so we can mamafest this dream," tiny aka povertyskola, formerly houseless co-founder, povertyskola and visionary of Homefulness

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE TUESDAY DEC 17th DAY 1 Yelamu/SF 11AM - Press Conference , resource fair and art installation 12:30 - lunch and elephant mtg 7PM - Dinner 7:10PM - Movie night with Crushing Wheelchairs Other MOVIE TBA Huchiun/Oakland 3PM-Press Conference, Resource Fair, Art Installation 4PM Elephant mtg Public Comment in Shitty Hall - (times subject to change) 4:30-5PM Early Dinner served WEDNESDAY DEC 18th DAY 2 Yelamu/SF 8-9am BREAKFAST 11am Elephant mtg 12:30 LUNCH & ROOFLESS Radio WRITING WORKSHOP with Po Poets DINNER 6pm Huchiun/Oakland 8-9 BREAKFAST 9-12 Art Build making more signs 12:30 LUNCH 3pm ELEPHANT MTG 4pm ROOFLESS radio street writing workshop with stipends 6pm DINNER 6pm crushing wheelchairs movie trailer- & maybe more movies? THURSDAY DEC 19th DAY 3 Yelamu/SF 8-9am Breakfast 11am ELEPHANT MTG 12:30 LUNCH Sliding Scale Cafe 12:30pm Poetry READING WITH Po Poets, GUEST POETS 5pm HOMELESS MEMORIAL 6pm Dinner Huchiun/Oakland 8-9am BREAKFAST 12:30pm LUNCH 3pm ELEPHANT MTG 6pm DINNER FRIDAY DEC 20 Day 4 Yelamu/SF 8-9am Breakfast 11am MARCH TO PRIVATELY "OWNED" PARTY LOCATION- Huchiun/Oakland 8-9am BREAKFAST 12:30pm LUNCH 3pm ELEPHANT MTG 6pm DINNER (provided by WSC) 6pm GUEST POETS READING (TIME Subject to change) SATURDAY DEC 21 Huchiun/OAKLAND ONLY 9-10 am BREAKFAST 11am MARCH TO PRIVATELY OWNED LOCATION Calendario de actividades YELAMU (SF) 17 DE DICIEMBRE (MARTES) 12:30 - almuerzo y reunion de elefantes 7:00 p. m. - Cena 7:10 p. m. - Noche de peliculas con Crushing Wheelchairs Otra PELICULA POR CONFIRMAR Huchiun (Oak) 17 DE DICIEMBRE (MARTES) 3:00 p. m. - Conferencia de prensa, feria de recursos, instalacion de arte 4:00 p. m. Reunion de elefantes Comentarios del publico en Shitty Hall (horarios sujetos a cambios) 4:30 a 5:00 p. m. Cena temprana servida 11:00 a. m. - Conferencia de prensa, feria de recursos e instalacion de arte MIERCOLES 18 DE DICIEMBRE DIA 2 Yelamu /SF 8-9 AM DESAYUNO 11 AM Reunion de Elephant 12:30 ALMUERZO y TALLER DE ESCRITURA sobre radio con Po Poets CENA 18:00 Huchiun (OAKLAND) 8-9 DESAYUNO 9-12 Art Build haciendo mas carteles 12:30 ALMUERZO 15:00 ELEPHANT MTG 16:00 ROOFLESS taller de escritura callejera sobre radio con estipendios 18:00 CE Jueves Dec 19 Yelamu (SF) 8-9am Desayuno 11am REUNION DE ELEFANTE 12:30 Almuerzo de Sliding Scale 12:30pm LECTURA DE POESIA CON Po Poetas, POETAS INVITADOS 5pm memorial para los personas desemparados 6pm Cena Huchiun OAKLAND 8-9am Desayuno 12:30pm Almuerzo 3pm Reunion de Elefante 6pm Cena VIERNES 20 DE DICIEMBRE Yelamu (SF) 8-9 am Desayuno 11 am MARCHA A UN LUGAR DE FIESTA DE PROPIEDAD PRIVADA OAKLAND 8-9 am DESAYUNO 12:30 pm ALMUERZO 3 pm REUNION DE ELEFANTES 6 pm CENA (proporcionada por WSC) 6 pm LECTURA DE POETAS INVITADOS (HORARIO Sujeto a cambio) SABADO 21 DE DICIEMBRE Huchiun (OAKLAND) SOLAMENTE 9-10 am DESAYUNO 11 am MARCHA A UN LUGAR DE PROPIEDAD PRIVADA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: tiny gray-garcia, POOR Magazine,510-435-7500  John Janasko, Wood Street Commons (510) 712-7639  Sweeps-Free Sanctuary Communities launched Across California    Houseless artists, housed allies and spiritual leaders create Sanctuary from violent, deadly sweeps across so-called California   What: Sweeps-Free Sanctuary ComeUnities, Resource fairs/Free Stores “Homeless Peoples Solutions to homelessness”  art installations & Press Conferences Across California  When & Where:  11am City Hall in Yelamu (San Francisco) 3pm City Hall in Huchiun (Oakland) 9am City Hall in Yocut lands (Fresno) 11am City Hall in Sogorea Te (Vallejo)     12 noon City Hall in Chief Siah'l (Seattle) 11am at Aetna Street Solidarity 6060 Van Nuys Blvd Tovaangar (LA)    On Tuesday, December 17th in response to increasingly violent and relentless  sweeps of houseless residents of California, houseless and formerly houseless sweeps survivors  along with housed allies and spiritual leaders will launch “sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities” at City Halls and other public land sites in Yelamu (San Francisco), Huchiun (Oakland), Yocut (Fresno), Tovaangar (Los Angeles) and Sogorea Te (Vallejo) and Chief Sia’hl (Seattle).  In addition to providing crucial resources for fellow houseless relatives in the cold, wet winter, we will be presenting solutions to homelessness created by us houseless people. Solutions that are healing housing models like Homefulness  and Wood Street Commons Community  As well as looking at the example of Tent city 3 - created by SHARE/WHEEL in Seattle,  Washington - which coulcd be replicated by cities and counties across the US  “Public land should be for the public, instead we face violent sweeps,” said La Monte Ford, Wood Street Commons Sweeps survivor. Following the Grants Pass Vs Johnson Superme Court Ruling that deemed houseless residents of the US no longer protected by the 8th amemdment of the constitution California Gov. Gavin Newsom enhanced his already violent "sweeps"  policy of houseless people by directing  state agencies to dismantle homeless encampments on state land. He also threatened cities across the state with drastic budget cuts if they didnt comply with his clearing orders.  Hundreds of houseless elders and disabled adults lives have become gravely endangered and have died in increasing numbers due to this state sponsored violence over the last several months.  "Sweeping my mama and me caused us to lose multiple shelters, tents and cars we slept in and eventually each other.  Sweeping, jailing and harassing us houseless people never gets us a home, or "solves" our homelessness, it just makes our homelessness more dangerous and more deadly, said Tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, incarcerated,  co-founder of POOR Magazine, a poor and houseless people-led movement  and Homefulness - a homeless peoples solution to homelessness that currently houses 22 formerly houseless youth, adults and elders. All the government  "Solutions" like Cabin Communities and shelters have failed to create the necessaary foundation unhoused people need to be able to rebuild our lives, said John Janasko, houseless resident leader at Wood Street Commons, a community of houseless people working to organize and support fellow houseless people.    “There is no social justice in criminalizing our unhoused community there is no solution in solving homelessness by incarceration,” Junebug Keaoloha,formerly houseless Community health workers and poverty skola with  POOR Magazine /San Francisco  “200 years ago, before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust and Family Elders Council member of Homefulness. "We center the launching of these sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities in liberation of occupied and stolen indigenous land because we cannot talk about homelessness without talking about indigenous and Black Land theft, return and reparations, the violent history of indigenous land theft and genocide of colonization, chattle slavery, false borders and mass incarceration of Black, Brown, Indigenous and Disabled houseless peoples have led to the collective trauma of so many of us on the street and then we are terrorized by hundreds of laws that criminalize our bodies for being poor, without a roof, sleeping in our car, in doorways, in parks, on streets and in tents on so-called public (read: stolen) land. " concluded tiny gray-garcia   “The city, the so-called service providers—they’re not offering anybody anything. They’re just leaving us destitute. What should we get instead? We should get treated like the human beings that we are. I should get treated like your brother or sister.” - Giselle “Gelly” Harrell, Aetna Street Solidarity, Aetna Street Solidarity is an intergenerational community of housed & unhoused people organizing in Van Nuys against the criminalization of the poor currenlty working with POOR Magazine to create their own Homefulness Project..   Homefulness -is  a homeless peoples solution to homelessness which  just welcomed their 22nd houseless family into rent-free forever housing is one of the models we are presenting at the Sweeps-Free Sanctury ComeUnities.We are currently working with houseless comeUnities in San Francisco, LA, Seattle to create their own Homefulness Projects and on a second site of Homefulness in Oakland  Wood Street Sanctuary Community -  is a collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok over the last year to envision a community-led solution to homelessness which houses teachers, working class families and the unhoused and includes an academy, a jobs program, dental care, health care and mental health care on site. In addition to press conferences, free stores, art installations, prayer vigils and sanctuary communities, housed allies will be standing, working and speaking up with houseless leaders to show their support for actual solutions, not more violent sweeps.  See Testimonials from houseless and formerly Houseless residents of Wood Street Commons and Homefulness by clicking here  Solutions to homelessness  presented by houseless people Sanctuary Communities, Not Sweeps: Stop sweeps, tows, and criminalizing poverty. Redirect encampment management funding towards positive solutions like encampment upgrades, sweeps-free sanctuary communities, and permanent low to no-income housing.  Land Back/Public Land for Public Good: House hundreds of people in the vacant Hilton Hotel on Port of Oakland land, The Civic Center Inn in the tenderloin District of San Francisco and/or countless other vacant and hoarded lots and land across Oakland and San Francisco.. Unsell and return sacred sites, vacant land, buildings and homes to stewardship by 1st peoples of Turtle Island who suffered the brutal genocide of colonization. Use public and vacant land for poor people led solutions like rent-free forever healing housing like   Homefulness ,  communities and the Wood Street Commons   housing vision  designed with architect Mike Pyatok and Share/Wheel in Seattle.  Prevent Homelessness: Strengthen renter’s rights and provide rent subsidies. Create a permanent moratorium on rental evictions and foreclosures for non-payment. Evictions and foreclosures are elder and child abuse* and cause homelessness. (Based on POOR Magazine poor & houseless people-led WeSearch study of 2014) Defund Coercive “Care Courts:” reinvest in an accessible and non-carceral approach to mental health care and harm reduction rooted in a framework of interdependence, care, and love first. Stop 5150 holds, medical incarceration, and forced conservatorships through Gavin Newsom's care courts which threaten to circumvent due process and other constitutional protections. *More Homeless peoples solutions available at this link  Follow the work of this movement on IG  @BayHousingLiberation  @poormagazine @woodstreetcommons Or websites: poormagazine.org  / woodstreetcommons.org

According to Caltrans work order reports from fiscal years 2020-2022, obtained via PoorMagazine’s investigation: “The Cost of Sweeping Us vs Housing Us” After a year-long process, PoorMagazine’s unhoused and formerly unhoused reporters reveal that Caltrans, a state transportation agency, spent $9.27 million on 490 violent encampment sweep orders in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco in FY 2020-2022. This is on top of rampant spending by a local/state network of police and city departments, who work together to enforce and conduct daily sweeps. In Oakland, audits revealed the Oakland’s Encampment Management Team alone spent $12.6 million between FY 2018-2020 .  These reports come at a time when the state and city have ramped up encampment sweeps, killing the unhoused, causing spillover into local communities, while stalling on proposals for deeply affordable projects. In response, a coalition  of unhoused and housed advocates are launching art builds and Sanctuary communities for unhoused people, starting December 17th across the US in Seattle, SF, Oakland, Vallejo, LA, and more . Their demands are to end sweeps and the Landback of vacant public land to indigenous and unhoused communities for self-governed housing solutions. What is an encampment sweep? In California, encampment closures, aka sweeps, are violent operations in which city public works departments, Caltrans, or both, force residents to remove all belongings and vehicles under a tight deadline. Sweeps are performed under agency watch of local public works departments and police, with one commonly seen sergeant making over $480k a year . If residents resist or cannot relocate in time, police threaten arrests on residents, advocates, and even journalists , frequently utilizing the controversial Safe Work Zone Ordinance  to arrest supporters. Eventually public works forcibly tows vehicles and destroys all property, including medical equipment and tiny homes, even killing pets in the process. Sweeps happen daily in SF, Oakland, Berkeley, and cities across the US.  Unhoused communities are overrepresented by disabled people, with a 2024 Alameda county survey  showing 60.3% of unhoused individuals had at least one disabling condition. These are the same people who are swept in sweltering heat and pouring rain, forced to move without any support from the city. People of color are also overrepresented, especially Black/African Americans with the same survey showing 41.3% of unhoused individuals identified as Black/African Americans vs 9.8% overall in Alameda.  These sweeps have left hundreds of unhoused individuals dead, with 1062 mortalities reported from 2020 to 2022.  Many others are displaced, often forced into unfamiliar neighborhoods or unsafe, mold-infested shelters, far from their support networks. Ultimately, sweeps worsen the “homelessness” issue for all those involved, serving only to wear out residents and line the pockets of those involved, particularly towing companies and contractors. Sample of 3 work orders in the Wood Street Commons region (Columns: Total Cost, Comments, Project Code). These represent the most expensive Caltrans work orders in SF, Oakland, and Berkeley ($700k in March 17-28, 2022, $630k in Sep. 6-15 2022, and $426k in Sep. 19-28, 2022 ). Where are they being swept? Mostly costly encampment sweep order zones in Alameda County (calculated by average Post Mile of work orders, binned by 5 miles) Many frequently targeted locations are long-time unhoused communities, which serve as a make-shift safe-haven. One of these was Wood Street Commons, a community which served hundreds of unhoused folks as a safe-haven for over a decade. It was violently bulldozed  in May 2023. Documents show the state spent $2.13 million in the area during 2020-2022 even before the closure. During the closure, dozens of state and city police, highway patrol officers, public works employees, and contractors swarmed the street for days. The total cost of the closure is unknown. What is the impact? Agencies admit that major closures, such as Wood Street Commons, have caused significant impact to nearby communities , filling beleaguered shelter beds. Oakland’s stopgap solution was setting up sheds, including a 70 unit program built on former Wood Street Commons. Oakland spent a $8.3 million grant from the state to develop the site, which have been reported to have “unsanitary, inhumane conditions” including a lack of drinking water, unusable toilets, exposure to harmful chemicals , and recently reports of black mold. In comparison, Wood Street Commons provided community for hundreds of residents through internal organizing and volunteers, including housed residents of Wood Street. Their lifetime budget was about $50k from GoFundMe campaigns . A joint effort from the state and city has failed both the unhoused and housed residents of Wood Street, wasting millions to forcibly displace residents, rather than supporting residents with mutual concerns.  What are the Solutions?  Unhoused communities have long advocated for self-governed housing solutions. These include PoorMagazine’s Homefulness model , which has successfully housed over 20 residents in Oakland since 2015, and has begun construction plans for 2 more communities across California. These solutions integrate trauma-informed councils and conflict resolution frameworks to support the challenges of being formerly unhoused.  Recently, Wood Street Commons worked in collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok proposed  a 405 unit building complex with a similar self-governing model. Separately, PoorMagazine collaborated with San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston on a proposal to convert office buildings into housing. So far, both have been blocked by local and state government bodies.    Calls to action However, the unhoused and housed are still pushing for an end to sweeps and for long-term solutions. Here are a few upcoming projects: Where Do We Go has launched camps across Berkeley , protesting the city’s new punitive policies under Grants Pass.  Attend Berkeley City Hall Meetings Donate in person, or online . The Tuesday, December 17th Sanctuary Community installation from Bay Housing Liberation . Organizers are asking the public to: Attend the press release (11am SF City Hall, 11am Vallejo City Hall, 11am Fresno City Hall, 11am LA City Hall, 3pm Oakland City Hall) Promote their  demands to government officials Donate to the sanctuary villages in person , or online (please indicate the Sanctuary Community)

Indigenous Holiday Art Market 12/15 3-6pm 3-7pm Sunday 12/15 8032 Macarthur Blvd, OAK, CA DM us @poormagazine by 12/10 for Vendor/Artist Tables This is a POOR Magazine/ Deecolonize Academy/ Homefulness Benefit. If you can't make it please donate. Indigenous Art/ Vendors Food, Performances, All Nations prayer, Music 3-7pm Domingo 12/15 8032 Macarthur Blvd, OAK, CA Mensajenos @poormagazine antes de 12/10 para mesas de Vendadores/Artistas Este es un beneficio por POOR Magazine/ Deecolonize Academy/ Homefulness Benefit. Si NO puedes venir, por favor done aqui. (venmo) Vendadores Indigenas Comida, Actuaciones, Oraciones de Todas Lugares, Musica