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I have collected meager benefits from medicare since retiring in 2019.  I am a 71 year old Japanese American elder, living in Huichin, aka Oakland, since 1995.  Already, my rent is going up to $1139.07 in August.  My health insurance doesn’t include pharmacy services.  I pay nothing now, but am limited to the cheapest referrals for doctor and dentists visits.  My retirement money is less than $2,000.00 and my husband's is less than $700.00.  So what’s wrong with this picture?   The big beautiful bill is really a baaaad brutal beat down of poor people.  President cheezeit, to curry fa vor and make nice with billionaires, is cutting out the only health care in USA.  Claiming that “waste fraud abuse” is rampant, the party of the extremely rich will be the beneficiaries of our monetary losses in receiving health care.  19-64 year old able bodied adults - 4.8 million people will soon lose medical, medicaid, and medicare, SNAP.    Prez cheezeit says he won’t touch the medicare program. LIES LIES LIES.  According to website American Prospect, these cuts “ have forced nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare, the health program for the elderly....Medicare is one of the programs that will face the axe, and the damage sums to $490 billion over the next ten years, starting in the next fiscal year that begins in October. While many of the safety-net cuts in the bill are delayed to help Republicans with their re-election campaigns , the Medicare cuts must begin next year." Going back to the 1960’s, decades ago, cheezeit is using this same corrupted program where welfare recipients were under strict, unrealistic requirements to take classes in job preparation, find jobs and prove they are worthy of getting a pittance to survive.  The government didn’t take into account that many of the welfare recipients had children, were single mothers, survivors of domestic violence, disabled and elderly. Today its an exhibition of the system that has only gone backward, exposing their ignorance and dispassion. A multi pronged weapon against poor people, the government, is creating pandemonium and divide and conquer amongst all populations on turtle island. What does it look like in the bay area?  Poor Magazine Homefulness, is a family of staunch and determination.  We are of color and poor and have been making our own decisions.  Decades ago, the sliding scale cafe and Decolonize Academy was launched in a world that treats the unhoused and poor as trash. Permanent housing was constructed and today filled with 20 plus residents, living free on native land back in deep east Huichin. As an Alternative to the money based systems of health care and survival, POOR MAGAZINE started its own clinic in 1997. Through self determination and liberation, we now have doctors and dentists to do checkups FOR FREE. We are fighting for each other not at each other. We are determined to Fight for a self governed and free community with health clinics and more free food. There is a bottomless resource of those who are also feeling the future demise and are ready and available - hospital employees, nurses, health care workers, and in home care - waiting to be organized.

The One Big Beautiful Bill has sparked protests over its tax relief and cuts to safety net programs. Jim Lo Scalzo/AAP. Source: The Conversation Big, BRUTiful Bill July 7, 2025 By Angel Heart A few months ago, I had a severe toothache. It was the kind of toothache that made my face throb. I had a terrible headache for days on end, and it was difficult for me to eat. I surely needed medical help, and right away. And since I’m a United States Army Veteran, I turned to my VA Clinic for help. When I called to inquire about what to do, and how to schedule, the Veterans Representative reply was, “the VA only provides scheduling with the Dental Clinic, for Veterans with a 100% service connected disability.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! It made me think I need to make an appointment under my Medi-Cal coverage. Medi-Cal is medical coverage obtained by persons & families living at, or below poverty level, in the state of California - Many of whom qualify for, and receive food stamps - also known as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. On July 3, 2025, President Trump passed The Big Beautiful Bill. This bill includes cuts to food stamps, estimated at $1.2 trillion, and specifically cuts federal funding for SNAP by $285 billion. States will also be required to shoulder costs at a higher rate than previously responsible for. The bill also imposes new work requirements, at an 80 hours per month stipulation, for able-bodied adults within the outlined age range of 18 - 65. The Big Brutiful Bill limits future increases to the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines SNAP benefit amounts, potentially causing benefits to grow at a slower rate than food costs. It also changes how utility expenses are calculated, which may lead to reductions in benefit amounts to about 600,000 households.  This bill also creates significant cuts to Medi-Cal, by at least 28.4 billion dollars, in the state of California, with employment requirements for “able-bodied” adults at a rate of 80 hours per month, which could lead to millions of people losing their health coverage. If my Medi-Cal were to be cut, I don’t know what I’ll do if I were to ever need dental care again. When I had that toothache, it was already difficult finding a dentist or a dentist's office to help me, as there was only one endodontist listed as “accepting new Medi-Cal patients” in the city of Oakland. This bill isn’t beautiful, it’s brutiful. It’s an act of violence to all poor, houseless, disabled people, including children and elderly who rely on SNAP and Medi-Cal. This bill allows for significant tax-cuts for the wealthy, which is essentially funded, or paid into, by the poor. It allows for nearly sixty percent of the benefits of this bill being directed to the “elite,” or the “top” twenty percent of the population.   As a woman, United States Army Veteran who lives below poverty level, I’m grateful to be part of a revolutionary movement. The project called Homefulness at POOR Magazine, provides access to The POOR People's Clinic where I can be seen by a Medical Doctor, Chiropractor, Existential Therapist, 5-Point Acupuncture, Sound Therapy, and many other modes of healing that is often invalidated by the medical-industrial-complex. It’s one of the many ways communities can think, and enact ways of healing, and supporting one-another, that isn’t rooted in dependence on the current system of government.  It’s what the Co-Founder of POOR Magazine, Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia calls, “Interdependence,” which is a reference to Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and providing love, and support to one another in our communities. It’s a nod to the ancient, cultural practices historically demonized by the White, patriarchal stomping out of, natural care and remedies, created and provided by women. By MONIQUE I am a 36 year old Afro American woman, seemingly able-bodied, single filing in the lower 30% tax payer level, with no dependent, making less than $30,000 a year, surrounded by women--all my relative men are dead, imprisoned, or estranged, never to have been able to hold one single place of employment for more than eighteen months.  I am the daughter of a mother with terminal illness, and chronic debilitating conditions forever evolving plus aging. I am a granddaughter of a grandmother raised by her fathers ex ex-wives folks, and a third grade education. Why was it that the last time I went to update my coordination entry via BACs, Bay Area Community Services, there was an update made to the list of questions, and the question that really was freaking outlandish to me was: “Have you ever had an abortion?” Are you for real, who’s asking, where is this really getting reported, and whom the actual fuck, and why it this relevant to my housing score exactly? The White Supremacy House in DC under President tha Fuck Trump passed a tied bill, winning with the vote breaker of VP Vance 51 to 50.  This bill will make cuts go, break, and permanently dismantle Medicaid and SNAP, and will increase sending of weapons of war. I mean increase spending and energy production... aka help erect facilitation of wars and policing and around 100 billion $ flushed into ICE.   In California, according to United Way, over 100,000 children depend on SNAP, supplement nutrition assistance program, and millions on Medicaid will be without access to essential and emergency care. And 2.4 million Bay Area residents rely on Medicaid, equaling 25% of our population. In California, according to Straight Arrow News, 17 million people will lose healthcare, that's 13.7 million people nationwide. United Way reports from other independent studies predict 51,000 additional deaths every year. What is a ITIN? For families who are individual entities of that unit file taxes. Taxpayer identification number. The reconciliation bill eliminates child tax credit (ctc) and earned income tax (etic) for ITIN families, or supposedly these individuals. For me this means essential aid like InHome care essentials (like caregivers and vendors jobs or entupernuerengunuity law abiding people, human beings, entities, sole properties, etc.  For me and working in the nonprofit sector I believe we as non profit are already seeing cuts to funding and scrambling to find grants and residual income to support the funding of regular programming.  ~Losing Our Benefits and Assistance By Jay Paulino    I am the son of a formerly unhoused mother of six. I am trying to get Cash Assistance to help me get started with my life, or at least get on track. I just graduated high school two years ago and I see my people struggling and suffering from the plans the State has made within the Political-Republican Party. I also understand that it will take my assistance away. If this does happen, my family won’t be able to eat as good as we do now. Who? Our President is taking away our Support to Live. There’s war going on, and a few other issues Donald John Trump/Our President of the United Snakes can prevent from happening. The Government is slowly ripping us apart with Sweeps every single week, taking people’s lives or belongings and throwing it away like it’s trash. It happens on a regular basis. It's sad. Seventeen million people are most likely losing food stamps, Cash Assistance and Medi-Cal.  Why does it affect us? We are already worrying about paying for housing. There are people living on the street, dying and sick as well because there’s no proper functional housing for the percentage of people living on the streets. California is one of the highest states that pay more than others because of how expensive it is to live. Why take away our Cash benefits if we are already struggling or in a stuck situation? I’m just saying millions of people are going to lose coverage. Our Pay is a little lower because the Government wants to take a chunk of that, going to CHP, OPD, SFPD and CTS (California HIghway Patrol, Oakland Police Department, San Francisco Police Department and CalTrans).      Sounds like the Richer People are becoming Wealthier and The Poor Keep Getting Poorer.  By Momii Palapaz I have collected meager benefits from medicare since retiring in 2019.  I am a 71 year old Japanese American elder, living in Huichin, aka Oakland, since 1995.  Already, my rent is going up to $1139.07 in August.  My health insurance doesn’t include pharmacy services.  I pay nothing now, but am limited to the cheapest referrals for doctor and dentists visits.  My retirement money is less than $2,000.00 and my husband's is less than $700.00.  So what’s wrong with this picture?   The big beautiful bill is really a baaaad brutal beat down of poor people.  President cheezeit, to curry fa vor and make nice with billionaires, is cutting out the only health care in USA.  Claiming that “waste fraud abuse” is rampant, the party of the extremely rich will be the beneficiaries of our monetary losses in receiving health care.  19-64 year old able bodied adults - 4.8 million people will soon lose medical, medicaid, and medicare, SNAP.    Prez cheezeit says he won’t touch the medicare program. LIES LIES LIES.  According to website American Prospect, these cuts “ have forced nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare, the health program for the elderly....Medicare is one of the programs that will face the axe, and the damage sums to $490 billion over the next ten years, starting in the next fiscal year that begins in October. While many of the safety-net cuts in the bill are delayed to help Republicans with their re-election campaigns , the Medicare cuts must begin next year." Going back to the 1960’s, decades ago, cheezeit is using this same corrupted program where welfare recipients were under strict, unrealistic requirements to take classes in job preparation, find jobs and prove they are worthy of getting a pittance to survive.  The government didn’t take into account that many of the welfare recipients had children, were single mothers, survivors of domestic violence, disabled and elderly. Today its an exhibition of the system that has only gone backward, exposing their ignorance and dispassion. A multi pronged weapon against poor people, the government, is creating pandemonium and divide and conquer amongst all populations on turtle island. What does it look like in the bay area?  Poor Magazine Homefulness, is a family of staunch and determination.  We are of color and poor and have been making our own decisions.  Decades ago, the sliding scale cafe and Decolonize Academy was launched in a world that treats the unhoused and poor as trash. Permanent housing was constructed and today filled with 20 plus residents, living free on native land back in deep east Huichin. As an Alternative to the money based systems of health care and survival, POOR MAGAZINE started its own clinic in 1997. Through self determination and liberation, we now have doctors and dentists to do checkups FOR FREE. We are fighting for each other not at each other. We are determined to Fight for a self governed and free community with health clinics and more free food. There is a bottomless resource of those who are also feeling the future demise and are ready and available - hospital employees, nurses, health care workers, and in home care - waiting to be organized. By Amir Cornish I am Amir Cornish from West Oakland, a youth poverty scholar. I'm a young adult that uses Medi-Cal to help with my health expenses. I can't afford my own expensive medical bill otherwise. I use my Med-cal to get check-ups as a low income person. Medi-Cal is the 900 billion state-federal health insurance program that covers low-income and disabled people and accounts for 19 % of all spending on hospital care. "President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill would make changes to U.S health care, leaving millions without health insurance," said an anonymous person. Recent changes to the bill would cut roughly 1.1 trillion in health-care spending and result in 11.8 million people losing health insurance over the decades, according to the nonpartisan budget office. Other estimates predict that the Trump bill with policy changes could result in an estimated 17 million people losing health insurance.  Our current president Donald Trump passed the bill cutting off healthcare access to the people in our state who are low-income, who can’t pay without the help of Medi-Cal. The new policy requires people to work in order to be eligible for Medi-Cal. The health industry's warnings to lawmakers have been dismissed because the hospitals, health centers, and other healthcare groups are seen by Republicans as strong backers of Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which is considered Democrats'  biggest domestic achievement in decades . Many people relying on this health care act are low-in come people. Trump is cutting all of the medical insurance for a lot of elders that need that need it because they are not in the work force anymore.      This bill is going to affect everybody, not just low-income-people. The cuts will affect the working class. Gran y Hermoso projecto de ley Translation: Big Beautiful Bill By Alvaro T. Palabras de Donald Trumpsi se aprueba este proyecto de ley, que significa? Que si lo aprueban daran un incremento de Millones de dls a {ICE] y recortarian el presupuesto del programa Medicaiden un Billon de Dls y aumentara en 3.3 Billones de Dls la deuda del pais. “Con esto el 30% de la poblacion con menores ingresos del pais, que trabaja duro para pagar sus cuentas seran mas pobres, poe que les estan quitando la cobertura medica y la asistencia alimentaria. Y todo eso para dar extenciones fiscales a los mas ricos” El 20% de la poblacion con mayores ingresos del pais obtienen el 60% de los beneficios senala el legislador Democrata Ro Khanna. Mi nombre es Alvaro T. yo y mi familia hemos sobrevivido de desalojamiento, problemas de salud, trabajo y otras necesidades aqui en California’ si llegan a aprobar esta ley va a ser un gran impactoen mi y miles de familias que dependemos de este servicio, esperemos que esta ley sea revocada, si no vamos a tener una crisis de salud peor de la que tenemos ahora! Esperamos cambiar de esta administracion y que (ICE) este fuera de nuestras comunidades y deje de separar y aterrorizar a nuestras familias y comunidades. Nuestro unico proposito es solo reclamar nuestras tierras sagradas y trabajar la tierra!! OMETEOTL Translation: Donald Trump's words: If this bill is approved, what does it mean? If it is approved, it will increase funding to ICE by millions of dollars, cut the Medicaid program budget by a trillion dollars, and increase the country's debt by 3.3 billion dollars. "With this, the 30% of the country's lowest-income population, who work hard to pay their bills, will be poorer, because they are being stripped of health care and food assistance. And all of this is to give tax breaks to the wealthiest." The top 20% of the country's population receives 60% of the benefits, says Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna. My name is Alvaro T. My family and I have survived eviction, health issues, work, and other hardships here in California. If this law is passed, it will have a huge impact on me and thousands of families who depend on this service. Let's hope this law is repealed, otherwise we'll have a worse health crisis than the one we have now! We hope to change this administration and for (ICE) to be out of our communities and stop separating and terrorizing our families and communities. Our only purpose is to reclaim our sacred lands and work the land! OMETEOTL

I am the son of a formerly unhoused mother of six. I am trying to get Cash Assistance to help me get started with my life, or at least get on track. I just graduated high school two years ago and I see my people struggling and suffering from the plans the State has made within the Political-Republican Party. I also understand that it will take my assistance away. If this does happen, my family won’t be able to eat as good as we do now. Who? Our President is taking away our Support to Live. There’s war going on, and a few other issues Donald John Trump/Our President of the United Snakes can prevent from happening. The Government is slowly ripping us apart with Sweeps every single week, taking people’s lives or belongings and throwing it away like it’s trash. It happens on a regular basis. It's sad. Seventeen million people are most likely losing food stamps, Cash Assistance and Medi-Cal.  Why does it affect us? We are already worrying about paying for housing. There are people living on the street, dying and sick as well because there’s no proper functional housing for the percentage of people living on the streets. California is one of the highest states that pay more than others because of how expensive it is to live. Why take away our Cash benefits if we are already struggling or in a stuck situation? I’m just saying millions of people are going to lose coverage. Our Pay is a little lower because the Government wants to take a chunk of that, going to CHP, OPD, SFPD and CTS (California HIghway Patrol, Oakland Police Department, San Francisco Police Department and CalTrans).      Sounds like the Richer People are becoming Wealthier and The Poor Keep Getting Poorer.

By MONIQUE I am a 36 year old Afro American woman, seemingly able-bodied, single filing in the lower 30% tax payer level, with no dependent, making less than $30,000 a year, surrounded by women--all my relative men are dead, imprisoned, or estranged, never to have been able to hold one single place of employment for more than eighteen months.  I am the daughter of a mother with terminal illness, and chronic debilitating conditions forever evolving plus aging. I am a granddaughter of a grandmother raised by her fathers ex ex-wives folks, and a third grade education. Why was it that the last time I went to update my coordination entry via BACs, Bay Area Community Services, there was an update made to the list of questions, and the question that really was freaking outlandish to me was: “Have you ever had an abortion?” Are you for real, who’s asking, where is this really getting reported, and whom the actual fuck, and why it this relevant to my housing score exactly? The White Supremacy House in DC under President tha Fuck Trump passed a tied bill, winning with the vote breaker of VP Vance 51 to 50.  This bill will make cuts go, break, and permanently dismantle Medicaid and SNAP, and will increase sending of weapons of war. I mean increase spending and energy production... aka help erect facilitation of wars and policing and around 100 billion $ flushed into ICE.   In California, according to United Way, over 100,000 children depend on SNAP, supplement nutrition assistance program, and millions on Medicaid will be without access to essential and emergency care. And 2.4 million Bay Area residents rely on Medicaid, equaling 25% of our population. In California, according to Straight Arrow News, 17 million people will lose healthcare, that's 13.7 million people nationwide. United Way reports from other independent studies predict 51,000 additional deaths every year. What is a ITIN? For families who are individual entities of that unit file taxes. Taxpayer identification number. The reconciliation bill eliminates child tax credit (ctc) and earned income tax (etic) for ITIN families, or supposedly these individuals. For me this means essential aid like In Home care essentials (like caregivers and vendors jobs or entupernuerengunuity law abiding people, human beings, entities, sole properties, etc.  For me and working in the nonprofit sector I believe we as non profit are already seeing cuts to funding and scrambling to find grants and residual income to support the funding of regular programming.

July 7, 2025 A few months ago, I had a severe toothache. It was the kind of toothache that made my face throb. I had a terrible headache for days on end, and it was difficult for me to eat. I surely needed medical help, and right away. And since I’m a United States Army Veteran, I turned to my VA Clinic for help. When I called to inquire about what to do, and how to schedule, the Veterans Representative reply was, “the VA only provides scheduling with the Dental Clinic, for Veterans with a 100% service connected disability.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! It made me think I need to make an appointment under my Medi-Cal coverage. Medi-Cal is medical coverage obtained by persons & families living at, or below poverty level, in the state of California - Many of whom qualify for, and receive food stamps - also known as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. On July 3, 2025, President Trump passed The Big Beautiful Bill. This bill includes cuts to food stamps, estimated at $1.2 trillion, and specifically cuts federal funding for SNAP by $285 billion. States will also be required to shoulder costs at a higher rate than previously responsible for. The bill also imposes new work requirements, at an 80 hours per month stipulation, for able-bodied adults within the outlined age range of 18 - 65. The Big Brutiful Bill limits future increases to the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines SNAP benefit amounts, potentially causing benefits to grow at a slower rate than food costs. It also changes how utility expenses are calculated, which may lead to reductions in benefit amounts to about 600,000 households.  This bill also creates significant cuts to Medi-Cal, by at least 28.4 billion dollars, in the state of California, with employment requirements for “able-bodied” adults at a rate of 80 hours per month, which could lead to millions of people losing their health coverage. If my Medi-Cal were to be cut, I don’t know what I’ll do if I were to ever need dental care again. When I had that toothache, it was already difficult finding a dentist or a dentist's office to help me, as there was only one endodontist listed as “accepting new Medi-Cal patients” in the city of Oakland. This bill isn’t beautiful, it’s brutiful. It’s an act of violence to all poor, houseless, disabled people, including children and elderly who rely on SNAP and Medi-Cal. This bill allows for significant tax-cuts for the wealthy, which is essentially funded, or paid into, by the poor. It allows for nearly sixty percent of the benefits of this bill being directed to the “elite,” or the “top” twenty percent of the population.   As a woman, United States Army Veteran who lives below poverty level, I’m grateful to be part of a revolutionary movement. The project called Homefulness at POOR Magazine, provides access to The POOR People's Clinic where I can be seen by a Medical Doctor, Chiropractor, Existential Therapist, 5-Point Acupuncture, Sound Therapy, and many other modes of healing that is often invalidated by the medical-industrial-complex. It’s one of the many ways communities can think, and enact ways of healing, and supporting one-another, that isn’t rooted in dependence on the current system of government.  It’s what the Co-Founder of POOR Magazine, Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia calls, “Interdependence,” which is a reference to Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and providing love, and support to one another in our communities. It’s a nod to the ancient, cultural practices historically demonized by the White, patriarchal stomping out of, natural care and remedies, created and provided by women.

By Amir Cornish I am Amir Cornish from West Oakland, a youth poverty scholar. I'm a young adult that uses Medi-Cal to help with my health expenses. I can't afford my own expensive medical bill otherwise. I use my Med-cal to get check-ups as a low income person. Medi-Cal is the 900 billion state-federal health insurance program that covers low-income and disabled people and accounts for 19 % of all spending on hospital care. "President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill would make changes to U.S health care, leaving millions without health insurance," said an anonymous person. Recent changes to the bill would cut roughly 1.1 trillion in health-care spending and result in 11.8 million people losing health insurance over the decades, according to the nonpartisan budget office. Other estimates predict that the Trump bill with policy changes could result in an estimated 17 million people losing health insurance.  Our current president Donald Trump passed the bill cutting off healthcare access to the people in our state who are low-income, who can’t pay without the help of Medi-Cal. The new policy requires people to work in order to be eligible for Medi-Cal. The health industry's warnings to lawmakers have been dismissed because the hospitals, health centers, and other healthcare groups are seen by Republicans as strong backers of Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which is considered Democrats'  biggest domestic achievement in decades . Many people relying on this health care act are low-in come people. Trump is cutting all of the medical insurance for a lot of elders that need that need it because they are not in the work force anymore.      This bill is going to affect everybody, not just low-income-people. The cuts will affect the working class.

Uncle Brokin Cloud on his Self-made Bike from recycled parts- photo by Momii Palapaz Listen and Watch LoveUary for Brokin Cloud here By tiny Brokin Cloud aka Billy Simpson Jr, an Afro-Indigenous Elder, was a warrior, revolutionary, artist, teacher and povertyskola, but above all he was a survivor. Non-profit industrial complex workers and anti-social workers as i call them, would consider and label Uncle Cloud as they did me and my houseless mama, "Service Resistant" which is just a way that the system describes houseless, traumatized, often severely disabled, medically fragile houseless people who refuse and resist the harmful, unsafe temporary fixes such as Navigation Centers, Emergency Shelters, Transitional Housing, cabins and so many more solutions for houseless peoples created about us without us. Uncle Cloud, like many of us houseless and formerly houseless folks at POOR Magazine/Homefulness refuse those "resources" because they are dangerous places for vulnerable, barely holding on and residing on the street folks. Uncle Cloud was an indigenous Black man and like so many poor peoples of color had lost his families home to the violence of white laws and white lawyers, aka foreclosure and bankkksters and his large family was scattered to the wind. Many of them never recovered from that loss. Uncle Brokin Cloud struggled with severe trauma which manifested in the compulsive need to collect recycled trash, way more than he could ever manage or store or use, this is often referred to as Hoarder/Clutterer illness, yet another by product of decades of survival on the street and great loss experienced in your life. In any state or federal sponsored or funded "Housing project" he would have faced violations, criminalization and eviction, but Homefulness is informed by Poverty Scholarship (poor people-led theory of change and healing) so instead we launched a series of what we call Love Cleans , which supported Uncle Cloud to live in habitable living while we slowly worked with him to heal from the trauma of collecting and hoarding. These are just some of the multiple strategies we povertyskolaz at POOR Magazine employ to care for each others severe trauma that never engages the State or the PoLice or other agents of fear as we know that triggers more trauma and pain. After 25 years on the street, Uncle Brokin Cloud, like 24 other houseless youth, adults and elders found not only a home at HOMEfulness - he found healing, love , family, support, food, art, spirit, prayer, and hope. Uncle Brokin Cloud moved into his own beautiful unit we called the Luxury SRO ( Single Room Occupancy ) at Homefulness in September of 2022 when the City of Oakland finally allowed us to open our beautiful homeless peoples solution to homelessness, On July 5th, 2025 at 7pm Uncle Brokin Cloud joined the ancestors from heart damage related to his decades long survival on the street. We are supporting his Blood family with Cremation costs and will hold an all Nations Ceremony in his honor tomorro, Sunday , July 13th at 3pm on the sacred land us houseless peoples call Homefulness in Deep East Huchiun - 8032 BlackArthur Bl (MacArthur) , Deep East Huchiun (Oakland) LoveUaryFor Brokin Cloud aka Billy Simpson by tiny gray-garcia Sometimes the birds disappear So that we can see our way out of here Sometimes we get to touch the clouds Sometimes Tonateu collides with Omayacan and the wind calms us down Sometimes a coyote whispers sometimes a story becomes a dream In the shape of a man Hello little sister Sometimes trauma looks like love Sometimes pain grips us tight like a glove Sometimes waves talk to the moon and Sometimes -once in a lifetime  we r on the MOVE There is a memorial made of clouds In the shape of a bicycle At the entrance to a revolution called Homefulness Built by poor and houseless people For poor and houseless people Uncle Brokin Cloud brought it With all of the things he brought Broken tools, molded bread magic , revolution and more bicycle seats than anyone could ever sit on I know u are riding on one of your cloud chariots now Cloud And we will miss u everyday REST IN POWER BROKIN CLOUD aka Billy Ervin Simpson 9/13/1954 - 7/5/2025 Listen to the LoveUeary here Read the whole LoveUAry here

a HERstorical journey thru the visual and performance art of poor/houseless, indigenous peoples-led movement toward self-determination and land liberation. For Immediate Release: Contact: Muteado or Tiny/poormagazine  (510)-435-7500 In 1996, a houseless, indigenous mother and daughter began poetry and art workshops in homeless shelters, jail cells, street corners and lobbies of General Assistance offices in San Francisco and Oakland. Their movement grew, and has since built a homeless people’s solution to homelessness (housing 24 formerly houseless youth, adults and elders in rent-free forever homes), published numerous books, and released a feature length movie on the violence of sweeping houseless people like we are trash–to name just a few accomplishments. The scrappy but powerful multi-generational, multi-cultural poor, houseless, disabled movement members known as POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE, PoorNewsNetwork and Homefulness have produced a great body of cultural, performance, visual and literary art over the last 29 years.  On July 19 at 3pm, at the invitation of Swim Gallery in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, they invite the world into a HERstorical walk through this art which has served as a powerful resistance to the silencing, criminalizing and invisiblizing of houseless and poor people’s voices and solutions. The opening, in addition to beautiful works of visual art created over the last 29 years of revolutionary street-based work, will include a theatre performance presented by POOR Magazine’s Teatre de los Pobres, Indigenous prayer, Poetry from the Po Poets Project, food and more and will be dedicated to all of the ancestors of homelessness across so-called California.  The Art of HOMELessness installation will be up through July and will include street writing workshops for houseless youth and elders.   From 1996 when a houseless, indigenous mother and daughter began poetry and art workshops in homeless shelters, jail cells, street corners and lobbies of General Assistance offices in San Francisco and Oakland to the present day building of a homeless people’s solution to homelessness that houses 24 houseless youth, adults and elders in rent-free forever housing, publishing books and releasing a feature length movie on the violence of sweeping houseless people like we are trash (to name just a few of their accomplishments), the scrappy, but powerful multi-generational, multi-cultural poor, houseless, disabled movement members known as POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE, PoorNewsNetwork and Homefulness have produced a great body of cultural, performance, visual and literary art for the last 29 years.  Follow @poormagazine for livestream of event

The City Created a supposed  an alleged “solution” to homelessness which became a dangerous site of negligence and mismanagement and now the City is evicting houseless residents  What: Speak-out of residents and advocates   When: 8am Monday, July 14  Where The Cabins-  2601 Wood Street Oakland “Left for dead by B.O.S.S and the City of Oakland,  when does the madness stop? When does accountability start. When do we as a community stand united? Housed and unhoused and demand that this blatant act of irresponsiblness stop!!” John Janasko, formerly houseless Wood Street Commons resident and organizer  The City of Oakland created The Wood Street Cabins which they claimed was a solution to homelessness after violently evicting hundreds of houseless residents from one of the largest encampments in Oakland in the spring of 2023. Since it’s opening in 2023, the Cabins have struggled with mismanagement and negligence by contractoed service providers and abuse of the residents human rights. Now they are evicting all the already houseless residents to nowhere. “This has never been a solution, the City and the service providers got alot of money to “manage us” and they really have done nothing at all,” said Larry, one of the houseless residents of the Cabins. “We have nowhere to go but back to the streets,” he concluded. After struggling with live sewage in their walkways, broken plumbing and doors and locks never replaced or repaired and only one working bathroom for the whole community, The residents of the Cabins have now received an eviction notice to be out to nowhere on Monday, July 14th  “The poltricksters keep creating solutions about us without us, they are not infomed by Poverty Scholarship, love or dignity, they just want us out of sight, swept to nowhere like we are trash,” What continues to shock me is the lateral violence by the City of our houseless bodies, this violent War ON the poor, with no account for our lives,” said tiny gray-garcia, formerly hosueless co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness.  Since the Supreme Court Ruling of Grants Pass vs Johnson which stated that Houseless residents of any city or town across the US, should not be afforded protection under the 8th amendment of the constitution and then the followup mandates by the Govenor of California, cities across California have been following this violent trajectory of Sweeps and Non-solutions that never last. To hear testimonies from current residents of the Cabins- click here   Follow  @poormagazine (for live stream of the event ) @Woodstreetcommons @Oakland.homeless.union

Uncle Brokin Cloud -a LoveUary.... Sometimes the birds disappear So that we can see our way out of here Sometimes we get to touch the clouds Sometimes Tonateu collides with Omayacan and the wind calms us down Sometimes a coyote whispers sometimes a story becomes a dream In the shape of a man Hello little sister Sometimes trauma looks like love Sometimes pain grips us tight like a glove Sometimes waves talk to the moon and Sometimes -once in a lifetime  we r on the MOVE There is a memorial made of clouds In the shape of a bicycle At the entrance to a revolution called Homefulness Built by poor and houseless people For poor and houseless people Uncle Brokin Cloud brought it With all of the things he brought Broken tools, molded bread magic , revolution and more bicycle seats than anyone could ever sit on I know u are riding on one of your cloud chariots now Cloud And we will miss u everyday REST IN POWER BROKIN CLOUD aka Billy Ervin Simpson 9/13/1954 - 7/5/2025 We will be holding a multinationed prayer ceremony and herb planting at HOMEfulness within a week -(date /time not yet confirmed ) and a Bike Ride for Brokin Cloud on July 27th at 10am -leaving HOMEfulness for Lake Merrit -His Blood family needs support with cremation -we r raising that for them thru the Bank Of ComeUnity reparations @poormagazine -pls redistribute to: POOR-magazine on Venmo Poormag@gmail.com on PayPal Brokin Cloud aka Billy Ervin Simpson 9/13/54-7/5/25 -houseless resident of Homefulness -powerful povertySkola, teacher , thinker, media producer, revolutionary Rest in Revolution And Power Forever On The Move At Homefulness Occupied Huchiun Turtle Island MamaEarth

On Juneteenth 2009, POOR Magazine began the two day herstoric revolutionary change session (that is now bi-yearly Peopleskool) that taught young wite privileged peoples the concept of Poverty scholarship, ComeUnity Reparations and radical redistribution which resulted in the creation of the powerFULL Solidarity family of Poor Magazine, the Bank Of ComeUnity Reparations that immediately implemented Poor people Reparations & created: the po mamaz Reparations fund for poor mamaz rent and utitilties and hoopties repair and so much more the HOMEfulness Hotel fund for houseless peoples to get in motel rooms, off the streets the poMamas panale /diaper fund and so many other emergencies And us poor/houseless Black/Brown/Disabled/Indigenous peoples received enuf blood stained dollars--that we transformed into love stained dollars--to "buy" then spiritually and legally unsell occupied land to mamafest HOMEfulness #1, which currently houses 24 houseless elders and families in rent-free forever housing with permission and guidance from 1st nations peoples on deep east Huchiun land, a tution free liberation school for low/no-income houseless children, a radio station, the sliding scale cafe, free food and groceries for all, and free media and education and healing for all the ComeUnity, and we r currently working in five other settler towns to bring the same template to their houseless povertyskolaz. #Juneteenth   #Herstory   #LaureMcElroy   #MamaDee   #PiriThomas   #BruceAllison   #KathyGalves #IdrissStelley #PapaBear   #KailaMoore   #LuisGongora   #LarryLattimore   #UncleAlRobles   #WoundedKneeDeOcampo   #JulioChavez  Iba Baba Iba Yeye Ase ahooooo ThankU so much SisStar Vivian Flaherty  and Carina Lomeli  for pics and your beautiful work and love and time and every povertySkola who walks this journey into self determination and Liberation.

Tiny aka @povertyskola Banner from a Powerful resistance protest organized by coalition on homelessness  I can’t rest  They are sweeping me to death One day its a tow The next day my home is bouncing in the road Then i end up in a tent  And then they want me dead  Then why take my RV  When it's us you don't want to see Now you've left us  Exposed    Why tow my home  When you have nowhere for me to go -excerpt of Towed by tiny 8th and harrison Berkeley -site of violent tows and then sweeps   “We can only hold two bags , choose one, screamed my mama to me over the shriek from a tow hitch scraping our already broken bumper against the asphalt “We don’t even have bags to put our stuff in,” I screamed back “Then grab whatever you can carry,” she motioned to my backpack and our one blanket we shared in the backseat when we slept to try to stay warm. But what about our bag of pictures, my favorite boots, her medicine, my emergency stuffie, I watched them all clunk down the road never to b seen again  This moment bled into so many trauma-filled moments of our houseless life, when i heard about the SFMTA “vote” to implement yet more laws making it illegal to live in your Recreation (read: survival) Vehicle (Read: home)  After a series of other anti-poor people actions like attempting to get rid of funding for life-saving harm reduction services and getting “tough” in the Tenderloin on houseless people, Mayor Lurie  proposed a terrifying and violent plan to implement a ridiculous two hour limit on RV’s  To this act of violence I ask  Lurie in earnest -why tow us when u have nowhere for us to go? RV’s aren't a long term solution but they are a form of insideness. As I have often said when we are outside we suffer the violence of exposure -our lives and trauma, our belongings and struggles now up for scrutiny from the hating public. When we have our cars and RVs we are provided a modicum of shelter, of privacy. It is anti-poor people abuse to intentionally deprive us of the most minimum of a roof.why ? Because the RVs hurt your *starbukian eyes.  The settler myth of open road, RVs and travel is also clearly seen here.Certain RVs, the ones in over-priced “campsites” aren't ticketed. Their shiny new winnabego RVs aren't towed after two hours. Their dogs aren't killed by bulldozers and tow trucks like so many of our  houseless pets are in these violent sweeps and tows. And the reality is low-income/no-income & working class families who clean the bugie restaurant kitchens and clean San Francisco's  homes can't afford the insane rent in the Bay Area.  And god forbid we have a crisis and can't work.  “After Covid we ended up homeless, we had no money for the rent, “ said Alvaro T, formerly houseless San Francisco resident, povertySkola, Danzante and Janitor who is now homeful in rent free forever, healing  housing  at Homefulness after spending two years houselsss in his car in San Francisco. Homefulness is a homeless peoples solution to homelessness and currently houses 24 houseless youth , adults and elders with protocol and permission from 1st nations relatives of this land. We are trying to bring this powerful vision to SF, because we as poor people have solutions, maybe they could just listen to us and stop sweeping and towing us because we are not trash   “We don't need a sandwich or a navigation center we need a home, “ said junebug Kealoha, formerly houseless POOR magazine poverty Skola and community health worker in the Tenderloin working with me and so many more houseless mamas to bring a Homefulness to Occupied Yelamu aka San Francisco.  In so-called progressive Berkeley they just operated a viscious and violent sweep of houseless relatives in west Berkeley who used to live in RVs but after the city towed them all now they are in tents being subject to violent sweeps. Mama, where is your medicine,?  “I’m Sorry Ma’am it’s time, you can collect the rest of your stuff at the tow yard,”  - the tow hitch was dragging our home away, “Nooooooo,” I let out a silent scream knowing that just like the other times they towed our homes, there would be nothing left in the car by the time it got to the tow yard and most importantly that we could NEVER afford to get our home back. Our next home was a tent. Our next tow was a sweep. ## Houseless /poor mamas and papas present their poems to build HOMEfulness Yelamu (SF)