I couldn't even get a bed last night...

by A. Faye Hicks, Tiny and The Coalition on Homelessness

"I couldn't even get a bed last night" Miss. A. Faye Hicks, the elegant recipient of the Po Poet Laureate title at POOR was standing in the middle of PNN's newsroom explaining the mayhem of the previous night, "they (shelter staff) were turning the men away as they came in, it was something terrible - telling them they couldn't get in if they weren't on GA (Welfare) and even if they were on GA they had to go all the way across town to another place to get fingerprinted and registered..and even though it was for the men only all us women got caught up in it."

Miss A. Faye was referring to the most recent attack from the Prop N front; On Friday, May 2nd,
69 clients of Multi-Service Center South were notified that their beds would no longer be available to them after Monday, May 5th.

The beds are being removed from the 7 – 9 day lottery system to begin accommodating CAAP recipients who will be given first priority in the shelter system as a result of Care Not Cash (Proposition N, which passed in November).

Clients were asked to leave by Monday, where they then must go to a drop-in
center to be registered and fingerprinted. If individuals refuse either to
have their picture taken or to have their fingerprints scanned by a computer
at the shelter, they are refused access to the shelter. However, they are
not guaranteed beds.

According to Ivette Blair, MSC-South’s Program Director, the 68 beds would
be used to accommodate CAAP recipients.

City officials have confirmed this information, but are not providing
anything in writing. Since this policy has been rushed into affect, there
is much confusion among homeless provider staff, and clients are receiving
contradictory information.

These changes were implemented on a Friday, which made it impossible
to obtain any response from city officials until Monday, the day of implementation, when it was too
late. Advocates like The Coalition on Homelessness and POOR Magazine are asking DHS to stop these changes, at least until proper preparation can take place.

Inwardly, I scream in frustration at this whole situation after spending at least 30 minutes on a phone call with "the information officer" (that was his title) of one of the largest non-profit providers two weeks ago when PNN reported on the first eviction notices that were served on case managed residents of Next Door Shelter due to Prop N - where this information officer accused PNN of doing "irresponsible journalism" because we kept the headline intact "billions For War while folks are evicted from Next Door" I wondered at what any of these "officers" would have to say now.

"and they were tellin' all the women up in there that it wasn't gonna affect us- well, that's a lie - we already affected.. we already bein' lied to..", Miss A. Faye was waving her long arms into the sky in exasperation, " Willie Brown put us down there talkin' all this about how it is "women's world" now they just gonna put us out."

"This is only a sample of what is coming to the City’s shelter system, as the
implementation of Prop N is being pushed at City Hall and Department of Human Services," Juan Prada of Hogares Sin Barreras. commented, "Without any regard for how it will affect not-on-welfare homeless people. As the July 1st implementation date nears, the people of San Francisco should expect a lot more homeless people being dumped on the streets."