I read Lisa Gray Garcia's book, "Criminal of Poverty", and I never realized how much of a crime housing authority can do along with paying bills and struggling to stay alive with almost nothing. Poor magazine was birthed by Momma Dee and Tiny because of the horrific trauma from being homeless and evicted for unfair reasons. Now I actually can identify my friends battle with disability and living in a low income place. Another woman in Salinas got kicked out of her house on the basis of an accommodation for disabled child. Now it is going to be a state wide case, because no matter what poor magazine is going to fight for justice.
The housing situation of my friend in San Francisco's Fillmore neighborhood is that he got denied housing because of a DUI charge. He is mentally disabled and has been in the Napa State hospital for ten years. The Housing Authority gave us a list of impossible things he had to do. When I made some intervention the social worker was really rude, and while advocating for him, I couldn't believe what these people were doing.
I sincerely believe they attacked him with these charges because he was a community man that protected women and he would hang out in every hood in San Francisco without getting into a fight. His personality is beautiful and protective over me especially because my neighborhood is rough and he also grew up where I live. How can someone criminalize you and hold you from housing or like the family in Salinas get penalized while having an autistic child?
After filing the appeal to the housing authority's decision they told us to get a certificate of graduation from a drug program which is totally different from saying he is un-eligible for housing with a DUI charge. We complied and then she wanted recommendation letters. I wrote one and his friend wrote one, and still she would do everything to make it impossible. After calling her and dropping off papers for months she said his application is on hold and they do not have the same open spot when they contacted him, which was an apartment in Potrero Hill projects.
Overall it was hard for me, because I never knew what it was like to have a record on file and then get judged by that record. Another thing I did not like was his social workers put random lies about him and it is following him everywhere.
After reading Lisa Gray Garcias' book, I analyzed the situation and she is correct when she said you can get arrested from being black or brown in the community. The follow up happened last week and the social worker claimed there is no more housing for disabled people, yet he does not get disability nor does he see a psychiatrist so why are they calling him disabled? I had to write a little synopsis because injustice to an innocent man happens everyday and I am sick of seeing people get mistreated because of race gender and class issues. It is weird because my first time in Poor Magazine's People School I wrote about disability and all the stigma we have to deal with. How will it stop? Or will it ever stop? These questions are a long process of analyzing how the system goes for us poor folks.