FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Day 3 a Peaceful, Prayerful, Sweeps-Free Sanctuary Community on “public” land was terrorized at 2am by 50 SFPD officers, DPW and Park Rangers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact:
Tiny gray-garcia, POOR Magazine,510-435-7500
John Janosko, Wood Street Commons (510) 712-7639

Day 3 a Peaceful, Prayerful, Sweeps-Free Sanctuary Community on “public” land was terrorized at 2am by 50 SFPD officers, DPW and Park Rangers
Yelamu (SF) comeUnity was removed by heavily armed multiple state agencies at 2am with menacing state violence – Huchiun remains intact at Greyhound Bus Station.

“The Park is closed, you have 15 minutes to remove your belongings and vacate the premises or you will be arrested… Actually now you have 14 minutes ,” Heavily armed San Francisco PoLice department, DPW workers, and Park Rangers arrived at 2am on Friday, December 19th at the Yelamu (SF) Sweeps-Free Comeunity  and announced to over 35 peacefully sleeping houseless, formerly houseless and housed allies that if they didn’t vacate the “park” within 15 minutes

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“This terrifying experience is just another in an ongoing militarized and endless war on houseless peoples bodies across occupied Turtle Island. We have nowhere to go, we hide in doorways and bus shelters just to try to sleep, we die of cold exposure, we lose limbs and our minds just trying to stay alive outside and if we are seen, we are harassed, arrested and terrorized for the sole act of not having access to the lie of rent,” said one of the formerly houseless organizer/residents of the Sweeps-Free Sanctuary ComeUnity and co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness.

There were over 35 houseless residents of the sanctuary comeUnity who received healthy, daily meals, clean and warm clothes, medicine, support, writing workshops and inspiration that something else besides endless violence, removal and terror was possible. 

Mutual aid groups from all across the Bay supported this beautiful, prayerful, poor and houseless peoples led sanctuary. 

On Tuesday, December 17th in response to increasingly violent and relentless  sweeps of houseless residents of California, houseless and formerly houseless sweeps survivors  along with housed allies and spiritual leaders launched several “sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities” at City Halls and other public land sites in Yelamu (San Francisco), Huchiun (Oakland), Yocut (Fresno), Tovaangar (Los Angeles) and Sogorea Te (Vallejo) and Chief Sia’hl (Seattle). 

In both Huchiun and Yelamu (Oakland & San Francisco ) houseless warriors are committed to the beautiful healing sanctuary ComeUnities we have built , 

“In Huchiun we have relocated to the parking lot of the Greyhound Bus station and are holding space “ said John Janosko, formerly houseless resident leader of Wood street commons. Oakland Sanctuary remains.

In San Francisco everyone was removed to nowhere in the dark, cold night, including gravely disabled residents who were triggerred by the violence.

 We will gather at the City Hall Plaza park on occupied Ohlone land at 11am on Friday, Dec 20th as planned and march to a privately “owned” and hoarded site of MamaEarth in Yelamu, SF 

“Sweeps fracture communities, displace people and damage physical and mental health,” Western Regional Advocacy Project(WRAP) 

“Stop the war on the Poor, sweeps are killing us,”  Junebug Kealoha, formerly houseless organizer with POOR Magazine and Homefulness.

“We have solutions, they are houseless, indigenous people-led solutions called Homefulness and Wood Street ComeUnity, not sweeps,” said Muteado Silencio, formerly houseless co-founder of Homefulness and Sanctuary resident. 

Updates from other locations who launched sweeps-free communities across so-called California 

From Tovaangar/Los Angeles: Yesterday we gathered at the site of a former city-run shelter that has since been abandoned and locked up by barbed wire fences where a year ago, our community on Aetna Street was violently displaced. On these vacant, so-called “public” lands we rebuilt our sanctuary community on Aetna Street with our announcement of the San Fernando Valley Homeless Union led and founded by warrior women who lived on Aetna Street. We are fighting for Aetna Street to once again be a sanctuary for houseless people in the San Fernando Valley where community can power free laundry, free showers and provide free clothing and hot meals to everyone in our community. That evening, we held a community dinner where 200 people came throughout the night to support local street vendors and receive free medical care powered by All Power Free Clinic to build the sanctuary we need to defend our communities from sweeps, raids, displacement and deportation. 6 unhoused people dying on the streets of LA every day. We are committed to the call of houseless action across CA to reverse the tide and stand with poor and houseless peoples fighting for land liberation everywhere. We are a landless peoples movement! We have the solutions. We are the solutions!

Updates from occupied Duwamish land Seattle : our noon rally was beautiful and we had 30-40 houseless warriors and housed allies on the steps of “Seattle” Shitty Hall. There was music, food, hot drinks, safer drug use kits, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags. We had speakers from Nickelsville, International League of Peoples Struggle, vehicle residents and WHEELs Women in Black held a moment of silence for our stolen relatives. 

From Yocut lands aka so-called Fresno “ Yesterday we met at City Hall lawn. We had prayer then we had four speakers one regarding the housing elements and lack of units we had the attorney speak on the data of the arrest the criminalization and also the current trials that are in the courts due to the arrest for being unhoused. We had a previous unhoused individual speak about the difficulties of surviving the streets the stress and disrespect that they went through in the shelters and the length of time it took for them to get into permanent Supportive Housing. Of course I said My Words which were basically covering the county and City responsible for using the funding for more than just admin fees telling them about the dream camp safe camp that I had here in Fresno for a year and a half that had never had an issue or a problem and ask them to model another safe area just like that that’s governed by us I also spoke on the criminalization the amount it cost us how Mental Health is affected by homelessness I also spoke on the lifespan of people that are evicted and lifespan on individuals that are suffering homelessness and trying to survive. We then went over to March over to the county building which is about two blocks away from the city hall and when we got there we were met with a whole bunch of police LOL but we chanted did our chance outside then we went to go walk in they took our posters from us we still went upstairs where we were met by another group of officers and then we went inside the chambers where we met by another group of officers it was ridiculous to have that many amount of police merely for community members wanting to speak up at Board of Supervisors County meeting. We had a few interviews from media. I brought up where do we go and pour magazine and also with Street Commons of how we join forces with solidarity Liberation day. Of course I addressed my rights being violated at the County public building many of us spoke up about multiple issues with homelessness housing criminalization and fighting for more places like homefulness., “ said Dez Martinez formerly houseless founder of Homeless in Fresno and We are not invisible 

In addition to providing crucial resources for fellow houseless relatives in the cold, wet winter, we will be presenting solutions to homelessness created by us houseless people. Solutions that are healing housing models like Homefulness and Wood Street Commons Community  As well as looking at the example of Tent city 3 – created by SHARE/WHEEL in Seattle, Washington – which coulcd be replicated by cities and counties across the US 

“Public land should be for the public, instead we face violent sweeps,” said La Monte Ford, Wood Street Commons Sweeps survivor.

Following the Grants Pass Vs Johnson Superme Court Ruling that deemed houseless residents of the US no longer protected by the 8th amemdment of the constitution California Gov. Gavin Newsom enhanced his already violent “sweeps”  policy of houseless people by directing  state agencies to dismantle homeless encampments on state land. He also threatened cities across the state with drastic budget cuts if they didnt comply with his clearing orders.  Hundreds of houseless elders and disabled adults lives have become gravely endangered and have died in increasing numbers due to this state sponsored violence over the last several months. 

“Sweeping my mama and me caused us to lose multiple shelters, tents and cars we slept in and eventually each other.  Sweeping, jailing and harassing us houseless people never gets us a home, or “solves” our homelessness, it just makes our homelessness more dangerous and more deadly, said Tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, incarcerated,  co-founder of POOR Magazine, a poor and houseless people-led movement  and Homefulness – a homeless peoples solution to homelessness that currently houses 22 formerly houseless youth, adults and elders.

All the government  “Solutions” like Cabin Communities and shelters have failed to create the necessaary foundation unhoused people need to be able to rebuild our lives, said John Janasko, houseless resident leader at Wood Street Commons, a community of houseless people working to organize and support fellow houseless people.   

“There is no social justice in criminalizing our unhoused community there is no solution in solving homelessness by incarceration,” Junebug Keaoloha,formerly houseless Community health workers and poverty skola with  POOR Magazine /San Francisco 

“200 years ago, before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust and Family Elders Council member of Homefulness.

“We center the launching of these sweeps-free sanctuary comeUnities in liberation of occupied and stolen indigenous land because we cannot talk about homelessness without talking about indigenous and Black Land theft, return and reparations, the violent history of indigenous land theft and genocide of colonization, chattle slavery, false borders and mass incarceration of Black, Brown, Indigenous and Disabled houseless peoples have led to the collective trauma of so many of us on the street and then we are terrorized by hundreds of laws that criminalize our bodies for being poor, without a roof, sleeping in our car, in doorways, in parks, on streets and in tents on so-called public (read: stolen) land. ” concluded tiny gray-garcia  

“The city, the so-called service providers—they’re not offering anybody anything. They’re just leaving us destitute. What should we get instead? We should get treated like the human beings that we are. I should get treated like your brother or sister.” – Giselle “Gelly” Harrell, Aetna Street Solidarity, Aetna Street Solidarity is an intergenerational community of housed & unhoused people organizing in Van Nuys against the criminalization of the poor currenlty working with POOR Magazine to create their own Homefulness Project..  

Homefulness -is  a homeless peoples solution to homelessness which  just welcomed their 22nd houseless family into rent-free forever housing is one of the models we are presenting at the Sweeps-Free Sanctury ComeUnities.We are currently working with houseless comeUnities in San Francisco, LA, Seattle to create their own Homefulness Projects and on a second site of Homefulness in Oakland 

Wood Street Sanctuary Community –  is a collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok over the last year to envision a community-led solution to homelessness which houses teachers, working class families and the unhoused and includes an academy, a jobs program, dental care, health care and mental health care on site.

In addition to press conferences, free stores, art installations, prayer vigils and sanctuary communities, housed allies will be standing, working and speaking up with houseless leaders to show their support for actual solutions, not more violent sweeps. 

See Testimonials from houseless and formerly Houseless residents of Wood Street Commons and Homefulness by clicking here 

Solutions to homelessness 

presented by houseless people

1. Sanctuary Communities, Not Sweeps: Stop sweeps, tows, and criminalizing poverty. Redirect encampment management funding towards positive solutions like encampment upgrades, sweeps-free sanctuary communities, and permanent low to no-income housing. 

• Land Back/Public Land for Public Good: House hundreds of people in the vacant Hilton Hotel on Port of Oakland land, The Civic Center Inn in the tenderloin District of San Francisco and/or countless other vacant and hoarded lots and land across Oakland and San Francisco.. Unsell and return sacred sites, vacant land, buildings and homes to stewardship by 1st peoples of Turtle Island who suffered the brutal genocide of colonization. Use public and vacant land for poor people led solutions like rent-free forever healing housing like Homefulness,  communities and the Wood Street Commons housing vision designed with architect Mike Pyatok and Share/Wheel in Seattle. 

• Prevent Homelessness: Strengthen renter’s rights and provide rent subsidies. Create a permanent moratorium on rental evictions and foreclosures for non-payment. Evictions and foreclosures are elder and child abuse* and cause homelessness. (Based on POOR Magazine poor & houseless people-led WeSearch study of 2014)

• Defund Coercive “Care Courts:” reinvest in an accessible and non-carceral approach to mental health care and harm reduction rooted in a framework of interdependence, care, and love first. Stop 5150 holds, medical incarceration, and forced conservatorships through Gavin Newsom’s care courts which threaten to circumvent due process and other constitutional protections.

*More Homeless peoples solutions available at this link 

Follow the work of this movement on IG 

@BayHousingLiberation 

@poormagazine

@woodstreetcommons

Or websites: poormagazine.org / woodstreetcommons.org 

You can’t audit a course in the skoo of Hard Knocks…. Povertyskola

Tiny (Lisa) Gray-Garcia
Daughter of Dee/Co-madre/Co-founder
POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork(PNN)/Homefulness
Author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America & SideWalkMotel – Poems & PoShunary from a PovertySkola

IG/Twitter/FB/TikTok:@povertyskola & @poormagazine 

www.lisatinygraygarcia.com
www.poormagazine.org
www.poorpress.net