Shelter Beds Are NOT Housing- the Fair Shelter Act - a PNN report

p span style="font-family: Times;"Trying to get Government Assistance ( welfare) wasnrsquo;t what I had in mind waiting to be released from prison. Sitting in that cell I pictured myself setting tile, building homes, or maybe even washing dishes, to get my life on track, make some money, and start being a part of my daughtersrsquo; life . Yes, I thought that I would do most any job, so long as it wasnrsquo;t illegal, to be there like a father should./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp; When the reality of my situation finally took hold after innumerable phone calls, resumes and lsquo;yeah right lsquo; looks, when the part about prior felonies emerged in the conversation, I decided to try to temporarily try to get span data-scayt_word="G.A" data-scaytid="1"G.A/span.. .. just until I could find work.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; I still hadnrsquo;t given up on hope that something would come my way, but the pressure was on. /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp; I applied for food stamps and received them. Needed them, too!nbsp; Every month left me a zero balance way before the end of the month, and I was unable to purchase the basic hygiene items like toilet paper, deodorant,nbsp; toothpaste and toothbrush, razors, soap, and necessary items like clothing, and detergent to wash the clothing in./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp; I decided to apply for span data-scayt_word="G.A" data-scaytid="2"G.A/span. then and there when I needed to buy some shoes.nbsp;nbsp; Discouraged by my prospects already, and expecting this too to be another dead end , I found myself well prepared for the experience./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;The tricks and turns of public assistance proved to be enough to thwart my best efforts to obtain financial aid in Solano County in 2008, and 3 years later in San Francisco the powers that be havenrsquo;t made things any simpler. /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"Last week the San Francisco board of Supervisors met to hear a proposal for the upcoming November election called the Fair Shelter Initiative, which if passed would return General Assistance dollars to 500nbsp; san Franciscans without homes who are lucky enough to have been granted their claims for span data-scayt_word="G.A" data-scaytid="3"G.A/span. Now known as span data-scayt_word="C.A.A.P" data-scaytid="5"C.A.A.P/span. /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"This measure, if passed in November, would return the funds, redirected by the lsquo;care not cash rsquo; initiative, to the homeless receiving benefits from span data-scayt_word="C.A.A.P" data-scaytid="6"C.A.A.P/span. Homeless men and Women in San Francisco./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp; In 2002 , Measure ldquo;Nrdquo; or the lsquo;care not cashrsquo; measure took Cash aid going to people without homes and gave it to shelters in San Francisco like the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (span data-scayt_word="T.H.C" data-scaytid="7"T.H.C/span.)nbsp; run by Randy Shaw. span data-scayt_word="T.H.C" data-scaytid="8"T.H.C/span. gets the lions share of thenbsp; lsquo;care funds for reserving beds in itsrsquo; shelters. Actually those beds represent 40% of the available beds in the shelters receiving lsquo;care not cashrsquo; funds when the percent of span data-scayt_word="houseless" data-scaytid="10"houseless/span persons receiving funds is something like 8% according to the Fog City Journal.. Nearly one third of the total beds available for the homeless in our city are being reserved for 8% of the homeless.nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp; During last weeksrsquo; meeting one might expect that Local Poverty Pimps and so-called ldquo;affordable housing developersrdquo; will have some very smooth talking to present his case for the over $ span data-scayt_word="150K" data-scaytid="11"150K/span every month in withheld lsquo;care not cashrsquo; funds ../span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp; The money that should be being spent by homeless people receiving aid./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp; The money that people need for ldquo;items like toilet paper, deodorant,nbsp; toothpaste and toothbrush, razors, soap, and necessary items like clothing, and detergent to wash the clothing span data-scayt_word="in.”" data-scaytid="9"in.rdquo;/span /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp; The money that for almost a decade local poverty pimps have been collecting instead of it going to people who need it, and are entitled to it./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; I finally gave up trying to get span data-scayt_word="G.A" data-scaytid="4"G.A/span. but I might try again, because my need has only grown , 3 years and two stays in prison later. I just hope that if my claim is honored, that my money get to bme/b/spanspan style="font-family: Times;", and not a poverty pimp. /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; I doubt they need it as badly as I do./span/p p class="MsoNormal" span style="font-family: Times;"nbsp;/span/p