![]() ![]() In reality they've been advocating for years for treatment."Ĭommunity Housing Partnership director Jeff Kosinsky has a similar analysis: "They've gotten in the past a really bad rap as maniacal advocates that don't accomplish much. "The coalition is continually fighting the enforcement and prosecution of quality-of-life offenses, and in their opposition to these efforts, they're portrayed as if they're advocating for people to die on the streets. "The jail is the most expensive and inappropriate homeless shelter that San Francisco has," Riker said. Riker, who directs jail services for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, said this is especially a factor in the public perception of fights over "quality of life" crimes (like sleeping outside or pissing in the bushes). That's the same approach taken by the local coalition, which has created a public relations problem for the group: comprehensive social change is hard to fit into a sound bite, and it's tough to compete with well-tailored, poll-driven nuggets like "care not cash.Īnd over the years - as the coalition has fought with mayor after mayor over policy decisions - it has been portrayed as stalling and angry, coalition board member Alissa Riker said. "The organizations that are experiencing financial difficulties are the organizations that oppose it." While Mangano is promoting an increase in supportive housing funds, he's on record as endorsing deep cuts in the federal Section 8 program, which subsidizes rents for low-income people.īut Whitehead supports a comprehensive approach to ending homelessness, which emphasizes affordable housing, living-wage jobs, and broad-based social change. "The president's plan talks about ending chronic homelessness but cuts the Section 8 program," he said. What could be hitting the homeless coalitions in particular, by Whitehead's analysis, is that funders have been influenced by the emphasis the Bush administration's homeless czar, Philip Mangano, has placed on supportive housing and ending "chronic homelessness" - a notion that's been embraced by Mayor Gavin Newsom. ![]() A study released earlier this year by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy shows that conservative funders are more effective than liberal or left-wing foundations in advancing their policy agenda by giving to groups in a sustained way. One challenge is a systemic problem among left-leaning foundations. After 9/11 many foundation investments lost money, leaving a very thin funding pool available, with no less need. ![]() Part of the problem the organization faces is common to most nonprofits. Circulation of the Street Sheet, the newspaper put out by the group and sold by homeless people, has been reduced.īoden, who was laid off with the rest of his staff, said the group needs about $100,000 to bring its employees back to paid status by the end of the year. In early June the group laid off all of its 13 paid staffers and has been running on volunteer time, with shortened hours, according to executive director Paul Boden. The effect on the local coalition - which is best known for its in-your-face direct action and vocal legislative advocacy but which has also founded direct service programs - has been dramatic. "During this administration, support for groups that are more advocacy-based groups and groups that have poor or homeless in their leadership has gone down," Whitehead said. Whitehead told the Bay Guardian that under the Bush administration funds have been especially scarce for overtly political organizations. The strained financial situation for the group comes as homeless coalitions nationwide face tight budgets, according to Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C. Without a significant increase in new money over the next couple of months, the group risks losing its offices for lack of rent. The San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness - an agency whose policy and program decisions are made by homeless and formerly homeless people - faces what could be the most severe funding shortage in its 17-year history. ![]()
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