Hey WRAP Community,

Stop the Sweeps. Portland, OR.

On April 3rd the City announced a moratorium on sweeps in response to COVID-19. But the intimidation, and harassment by Portland Police hasn't stopped. We at Sisters and fellow Stop the Sweeps partners have heard reports of law enforcement harassing folks to move their safe and in compliance camps.

What's the difference between being swept and feeling threatened by cops to move? Either way your belongings are at stake and your life is uprooted all because you are trying to survive with the only shelter you have.

Justice Day Caravan - Sacramento, CA.

SF May Day #CancelRent #HomesForAll Caravan

Oakland Police criminalizing homeless, not helping relief efforts say advocates after 2 volunteers are mistakenly arrested at gunpoint

Oakland Police criminalizing homeless, not helping relief efforts say advocates after 2 volunteers are mistakenly arrested at gunpoint; Plus: How bailout money is bypassing hardest hit states, with journalist Aaron Glantz

The Village and EOC held a press conference. Police Terrorize, Arrest Black Unhoused Essential Service Volunteers in East Oakland, CA.

OAKLAND CA- On Friday, April 24, officers with the Oakland Police Dept profiled, detained, and arrested two volunteers of The Village in Oakland as they were arriving to the East Oakland Collective’s parking lot for a meeting.

The two groups, the two volunteers who endured the police terror, and other witnesses are filing a complaint with the Oakland Police Commission demanding a full investigation of the incident and all OPD personnel involved, and an accounting of what resources were involved in the operation.

Read Full Press Release >>>>>

UC Berkeley School of Public Health Releases New Report on COVID-19 Homeless Response

For the good of us all: Addressing the needs of our unhoused neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Read the Full Report >>>>>

Executive Summary
As medical practitioners, public health professionals, and social scientists who are members of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Community Action Team, we are committed to bridging the gap between scientific evidence and the community in an effort to ensure the health and wellbeing of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In our report, based on a review of a wide range of evidence, we summarize the relevant public health principles and knowledge about SARS-CoV2 and its associated illness, COVID-19. We then highlight the reasons for the greater rates of illness and mortality of PEH before the pandemic. We link these causes to their higher vulnerability to SARS-CoV2 infection, severe disease and mortality. We then provide an overview of the latest policy developments in the COVID-19 response to homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area and in 6 other cities. We conclude with recommendations regarding testing and housing to protect society’s most vulnerable people and the broader communities in which they live from preventable morbidity and mortality.

Pete rocking LACAN masks.

The City of Los Angeles is seeking to settle the lawsuit that LA CAN recently intervened in so that they can continue enforcement of camping bands and criminalization.

In a hearing before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter this week, Councilman Joe Buscaino said his colleagues are interested in a settlement agreement with the homeless advocates and downtown stakeholders that would require the city to provide a specific number of shelter beds for each of the council’s 15 districts.

Any such agreement would probably be monitored by a federal judge under a consent decree. If the city meets the requirements, Buscaino said, it could establish a way for the city to be able to enforce anti-camping rules and other laws that federal rulings have blocked in recent years. [...]

Carter has said he wants to forge a broader, more permanent solution to L.A.'s homelessness crisis, one that could be modeled after a settlement he brokered in Orange County based on a lawsuit over the clearing of homeless encampments. Under that settlement, Orange County and several cities cannot enforce their anti-camping ordinances until they have provided enough shelter beds to take 60% of the local homeless population off the streets.

Shelter beds for a measly 60% of people who are officially counted on the streets is not a solution. We need to do better!

Reclaiming Our Homes: Over One Month In

Since March 14 we reclaimed 13 vacant, publicly-owned homes in our community, and we are still here! Tune in for a live update from the Reclaiming Our Homes movement to learn how safe, healthy housing has transformed our lives in the past month, and what we are doing to fight for housing for ALL during the COVID-19 crisis, and beyond.

Community Encampment opens in MLK Park in Bayview. San Francisco, CA.

In partnership with unhoused people in the Bayview, Mother Brown's has successfully established an encampment in a public park so that community members can have a safer and more comfortable place to stay during the COVID-19 crisis response. She was encouraged by the support given by COH in advising on implementation, helping to set up, supplying tents and other goods, organizing people to help monitor, and standing by ready to help with advocacy and media support.

Right now there are around 30 tents over there. Mother Brown’s and volunteers are keeping watch all day and night to make sure this safe space can remain.

THE HOTEL SURVEY SAYS.... Homeless Youth Alliance San Francisco, CA.

On Monday we surveyed 50 people who do not have housing about what successful Shelter In Place could look like for them. After establishing 82% would accept the offer of a hotel room as their ​first choice​ we decided to ask them more about what the feasibility of this is, just in case it actually happens. 35 folks took the survey which was administered verbally and often with extended dialogue. There has been much talk among service providers and city government what it would take for this to be safe for people, but the truth is, being without housing especially now, is not safe.​ The power that having a safe place to sleep, shut a door, a shower, food and privacy should not be underestimated, these things improve a person's quality of life period.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT ON TEMPORARY ACTUAL HOTEL ROOMS - Word Doc

PORTABLE TOILETS AND HAND WASHING PLACED AT ENCAMPMENTS as City Continues to Do Nothing. Denver, CO.

On Tuesday April 21st 2020, we in Denver Homeless Out Loud placed 4 portable toilets at encampments in the area, along with hand washing stations placed by Mutual Aid Denver on Wednesday. Residents of the camps will be doing extra daily cleanings of the toilets. Hundreds of people who cannot afford housing are staying at the tent encampments in this overall area and have been left without access to basic hygiene needs as the City has refused to even listen to this demand from camp residents.

Toilets and hand washing stations are always needed where people live outside without access to bathrooms. Yet now, in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, they are ever more vital! The CDC put out a guidance on encampments weeks ago stating that;

-Encampments should not be swept/displaced during this crisis

-Tents should have 12 feet of space per tent (some space between each tent)

-Cities should provide portable bathrooms and handwashing with water and soap at every encampment of 10 people or more