“A record number of Americans are living outside. Cities have responded by removing encampments from public spaces, a practice commonly referred to as ‘sweeps’. In the process, workers often take people’s belongings — including important documents, survival gear and irreplaceable mementos.

Over and over, people across the country told ProPublica they were devastated by such losses. We gave them notecards so they could explain in their own words how the sweeps have affected them.
Here are some of their stories.

click on any notecard to read their stories

#sweeps #houselessness
https://projects.propublica.org/impact-of-homeless-sweeps-lost-belongings/

I don't post about local things as much as I'd like to here, since we are still building up community on niagara.social, so I haven't posted about what's been going on at City Hall, but I wanted to share this statement.

The approach many local politicians have taken to encampments and houseless has been grimly racist, classist and ableist, all with a smiling face as per usual in 21st century Canadian settler colonialism. I am very thankful for all of the work the NRNC does, and for this statement in particular.

#CanPoli #OnPoli #OurHomeSTC #StCatharines #NiagaraON #Niagara #SettlerColonialism #Houselessness #Encampments #Classism

Tune-Yard's Berkeley ticket sales support East Bay #houselessness pub "Street Spirit'

06-05-2025
https://48hills.org/2025/06/tune-yards-berkeley-ticket-sales-support-east-bay-houselessness-pub-street-spirit/?ref=ActivityPub

#48Hills #StreetPapers VIA #MPAQ #

We had our rental inspection this morning, I think it was fine but I won't know for certain until they get back to us and we resign the lease.

Did you know that renters in other countries don't have to jump through these hoops? That long term renting is normalised in other countries because renting isn't just seen as a step in the ladder to house ownership?

Australia has to do something, because fewer people are able to buy houses so will be renting their entire lives. Having a 6-monthly reminder (and often more frequently!) that you can be homeless at almost no notice because someone just feels like it is a leading cause of stress and has poor effects on both mental and physical health.

This is becoming worse now that home ownership is also seen as just a step in the property investment ladder, and that the goal is shifting from owning your own home to owning investment properties.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

April 22, 2025
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
A rally to encourage people to think about the need for social housing as an issue of Canada's federal election.
--
#yeg #yegdt #homelessness #housing #poverty #socialhousing #unhoused #houselessness #rally #canada #edmonton #photojournalism

The latest #MMN #RichDick, #ElonMusk, wants to build a #space #death #laser
#houselessness #homelessness #StarWars #GoldenDome #taxes #USPol #Musk
https://means.tv/programs/mmn

The proposed (Eureka) ordinance raises punishments from minor infractions to misdemeanor offences with jail time, outlawing not only camping in public spaces, but:
-sitting/lying in any public space
-bathing or washing belongings
-lighting warming fires

#NorthernCalifornia #humanrights #Houselessness

Pg 2 of 3

Here’s a link to the proposed ordinance to review before the meeting:
https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3202931/Unlawful_Camping_Sitting_Lying_Ordinance_-_Final.pdf

Excellent job from the RBA.

I'll be expecting my rent to come down shortly seeing as my landlord ha... wait, what?

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

Next time you see the govt talking about the Australian road toll and "preventable deaths", consider they deliberately choose to do nothing to address poverty and houselessness.
_____

Almost 1500 homeless Australians die prematurely each year. This family hopes the death of their loved one won’t be in vain

Advocates say they are struggling to place people experiencing homelessness in secure housing, resulting in preventable deaths.

#Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/19/almost-1500-homeless-australians-die-prematurely-each-year-this-family-hopes-the-death-of-their-loved-one-wont-be-in-vain?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Bulldozing the homeless is a line we could have avoided crossing.
#Homeless #MLK #Murder #Houselessness #Homelessness #Apathy
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/18/atlanta-homeless-encampment-bulldozer-death

Check out my son's initiative to help with #houselessness / #homeless and #plastic #recycling, https://www.recycledliving.org, in #portland, Oregon.

If you happen to know any local people who would be interested in advising... We're looking for construction, engineering (or architecture) and political/grant writing. Thanks!

The Ontario government says that it doesn't know why homeless is getting worse https://youtu.be/M2PtVH4r2Vg?t=804. They haven't been making the difference we expected and they expected.

#onpoli #homelessness #houselessness #QuestionPeriod

Today, encampments were torn down in downtown Guelph during a homeless shelter bed shortage. Royal City Mission who has been providing meals also had its funding cut.

Please support Your Downtown Guelph Friends who are feeding those impacted.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-feed-your-neighbours-in-need

#MutualAid #Guelph #Houselessness #YourDowntownGuelphFriends

coughcoughwhiteliberals

#USPol #election #US #USA #Trump #voting #activism #anarchism #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #Capitalism #houselessness

I just got into an argument with a shopping centre security guard because he was trying to kick a houseless person out of the shopping centre. This person seemed semi-conscious and wasn't responding to his demands to leave, so the security guard kept saying he was going to call the cops.

I asked if he'd thought of calling an ambulance, because it seemed like a medical emergency to me (me, who was a nurse for a long fucking time..), and the security guard just said that it was "obviously drugs".

Turns out when the paramedics got there the guy had a blood sugar of 1.4mmol/L (which is like 25mg/dl for the US folks).

The security guard was all like "well how was I supposed to know??"

I mean, someone who is houseless having a medical crisis from a chronic condition that needs access to specialist management and regular food?? I'm fucking shocked. Who would ever have guessed?! 🙄

#RegionalAustralia #Bathurst #BathurstNSW #Australia #houselessness #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #housing #MutualAid #CommunityNotCops #FuckThePolice #AllCops #EvenSecurityGuards #CommunityCare

Another reason I'm proud to live in #WaterlooRegion - this resource for how to be a good neighbour to houseless folks we may encounter is SO useful, and I'm so glad it's out there.

https://homelesshub.ca/blog/2024/but-what-can-i-do-taking-up-the-call-to-support-our-unhoused-neighbours/

#homelessness #houselessness #homeless #houseless #neighbour #community #SocialJustice @waterlooregion #Kitchener #Waterloo #WR

#Displacement and #Houselessness are Not Inevitable

https://progressive.org/latest/displacement-and-houselessness-are-not-inevitable-bader-20240923/

A #newbook acknowledges that “the #rent is too damn high”—then tells us what we can do about it.

Having a maximum number of days a person can stay at a homeless shelter is a pretty clear sign that the people in charge don’t actually give a shit about homeless people. The shelter is just another act of performative caring.

Sorry there’s a blizzard / heat wave / downpour. You’ve already been cared for for 15 days. The fact that you didn’t go get a home in that time just proves the problem is your laziness.

#homelessness #Houselessness

If you want to actually give any kind of shit about #housing / #houselessness, you should know and keep talking about the fact that we do not actually need to build more housing. This shit is transparently a cash grab for developers (and, further, the nonprofit industrial complex, but that's another rant).

Per the most recent HUD data, there are over two dozen empty homes per houseless person in the US on average. In some cities, the ratio is 110 to 1.

https://unitedwaynca.org/blog/vacant-homes-vs-homelessness-by-city/

Daniel Atkinson Clark, a Presbyterian minister, describes benevolence. It goes abroad, and tries miseries into joy. This is the offspring of a heavenly temper.

Some contemporary preachers talk about joy as a litmus test, where someone has to doubt salvation if they don’t have enough joy. Clark, too, would have us focus on joy, but on increasing the joy of others.

How can you spread happiness today?

#christian #houselessness #ittakesavillage #wokeism #godbreathed