1987 - 1991
Formed by homeless people for homeless people.
Founded the Street Sheet, now holding the double distinction of being both the oldest continuously
published street newspaper in North America, and the paper with the largest circulation.
1991 - 1995
Created first supportive housing for homeless people in San Francisco in the form of Community
Housing Partnership, which now provides over 1,000 units of permanent affordable supportive housing
We developed the Uniform Grievance Procedure with other organizations to ensure shelter residents
have due process rights and are not unfairly evicted from shelters.
Thanks to Coalition pressure, the District Attorney dismissed 39,000 tickets issued by the anti-homeless
Matrix program.
1996 – 2000
Begin budget campaigns alongside People’s Budget
Family Rights and dignity working group create OSHUN
2001 - 2005
The Coalition led the work that created the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center (MNRC)—the first
resource center in the Mission District.
The Coalition identified hundreds of San Francisco Housing Authority vacant units and successfully
pushed the Housing Authority to place 300 homeless families in those units.
2006 - 2010
Our work led to the creation of the Shelter Monitoring Committee, which tracks conditions in shelters
and resulted in exposure and correction of countless problems in the shelter system.
Together with organizations in the East Bay, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle, we collectively founded
the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP).
Halted the practice by the City of spraying homeless people with high powered hoses in the middle of
the night.
The Coalition handled more than 3,000 civil rights cases per year, connecting homeless folks who have
received “quality of life” citations to pro bono legal representation through the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights.
2010 - 2016
We passed legislation to still the runaround associated with accessing shelter, by lengthening shelter
stays and reducing wait times. (We initiated a working group to move away from a system that requires
individuals to stand in line for up to 17 hours. This led to a new very successful call-in system.)
We beat back the implementation of Tasers three times, which are known to increase fatalities at the
hands of the police, and instead worked to get the police to implement a crisis intervention model to
address people in psychiatric crisis.
Ensured all homeless people in San Francisco would receive preferences for HUD housing.
2011 marks record numbers of homeless children in public schools
2012 create HESPA
Timeline of Prop C
The chronology of Our City Our Home goes back long before the November 2018
ballot measure. It’s decades of organizing against mean spirited attacks, anti-
homeless policies, and forging ahead despite these ever-present obstacles. It’s
years of reacting to policies which exacerbate homelessness like Sit/Lie and other
laws that criminalize being poor. Prop C was us finally saying yes to something
which we created together. Strategies that allow us to move upstream and
prevent homelessness, rather than reacting after the fact.
2016
Housing Crisis at peak – over 2,000 households faced eviction
Pitched idea for a revenue measure for homelessness to Supervisor Jane Kim, who, in the end with
general tax creating revenue for free City college.
Partnered with arts community & hotel tax to support Proposition S which got 65% of the vote.
Pitched revenue measure for homelessness to Supervisor Farrell, who went with failed sales tax instead
Superbowl 2016, Mayor Lee announces, “Homelessness has to leave” to make way for the Super Bowl,
hosted in SF. Sweeps high frequency with one-woman reporting being asked to move more than 15
times, leading to the loss of her job.
2017
January 2017: Point in Time count reveals stagnant number of individuals experiencing homelessness-
showing no improvement of crisis
COH begins extensive research on how to put on a ballot measure, what homeless people wanted
October 2017: Dennis Herrera memo, which he validates the supreme court decision that voter
initiatives need only a simple majority through the case California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland
(“California Cannabis”)
November 2017: form Steering Committee for November ballot measure
2018
April 2018: begin signature gathering to reach minimum threshold of 9,000 signatures
July 2018: reach a record breaking 26,000 signatures
July 2018: qualified for ballot
July - October 2018: fundraising, garnering thousands of volunteers, hiring more than 200 people
experiencing homelessness to knock on 30,000 doors and call 69,000 voters. Won wide support from
elected officials such as Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Jackie Speier, Phil Ting, and Mark Leno as well as
various individuals like Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Roma Guy, iconic LGBT and
Women’s Rights activist, Danny Glover, Chris Rock, and Marc Benioff. We had more than 100
community organizations support us, even ones which have traditionally been at odds like the Harvey
Milk LGBT Democratic Club and the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club.
November 2018: Election day - Prop C passes with 62% of voter support