Mike Zint will not take ‘No housing’ for an answer.
After seventeen months of Occupying the downtown Berkeley Post Office ended in April, evicted by Postal Police, Mike and his First They Came for the Homeless comrades, supported by Veterans for Peace, have turned their attention to the woeful state of Berkeley’s homeless services.
They have occupied the sidewalk outside of the Berkeley Food & Housing Project (commonly known as ‘The Hub’) on Fairview St., in Berkeley (near the Ashby BART). The Hub is supposed to serve as a central location for helping Berkeley’s homeless, but, at least from what many of the people doing the Occupation tell, serves more as a barrier than aid.
The homeless are not being helped and people are dying. Things need to change. – Mike Zint
For example, one woman said that upon going into the Hub for assistance they “asked her to prove she was homeless” before being able to offer her any assistance. A man related how they were requiring him to “reconfirm” his disability with a doctor, but weren’t providing a) a doctor or b) any means of getting to a doctor.
One can prove that one owns or rents a house – you produce a deed or a lease. But how do you prove you DON’T own or lease? And just how much demand could there be for homeless services by someone who, in fact, has a place to live, unless they are in some sort of abusive relationship or the place is uninhabitable, and they need indeed need help? Really.
The HUB, Berkeley’s solution for centralized homeless services, will not let the homeless use their bathroom.They have refused disabled and seniors while we were here. If you don’t have an appointment, you have to pee on a tree. – FTCftH Facebook post.
Beyond the terms and conditions the Hub deigns to serves the homeless, and the effectiveness of their efforts, the protest is also demanding an end to the Criminalization of the Homeless by Berkeley which last year passed ordinances designed to allow Berkeley’s police to cite and arrest homeless people for, well, trying to survive.
The Occupation begin Monday evening, October 3rd, and is now into its third day.
You can follow its progress at the First They Came for the Homeless Facebook page. You can stop by to visit, to show solidarity, and/or provide supplies and donations, just off Adeline on Fairview.
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