Allison Lum

For more information about the Alemany Farm or how to get involved, contact Allison Lum at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center at alum@bhnc.org or 510-206-2140.

For more information, see the project website or contact Allison Lum, Community Organizing Director for the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center at 415/206-2140 x155

See http://sfcta.org/missionchavezntp.htm for more details, or email Allison Lum at alum@bhnc.org.

Allison Lum - alum@bhnc.org

Soon Allison comes in and we are ready to begin.

As we are going around the table introducing ourselves , I Iearn how it is that these people came to be here and how they are related to the subject at hand : the Transitional Housing Misconduct Act.It is a moral issue , Falechia says firmly.She would repeat this statement throughout the meeting.Falechia goes on to tell us of her own experience , one in which having completed a Transitional Housing Program in good standing ( meaning she accomplished all she had set out to do and did not get into any trouble along the way ) , she is then told that she can not stay past her exit date.The staff at the Transitional Program , who had spent the previous months portraying themselves as her allies , had suddenly become strangers who were kicking her out on the street.Her new apartment was not yet ready for her to move in , so there would be a 2 week lapse of housing for herself and her children.She fought their rules and won , but she carries a permanent wound from feeling forsaken by people who instantly changed from caring and supportive to indifferent and unyielding the moment her program clock ran out.The sense of disbelief and betrayal is still evident in her voice , though she is recounting an incident from nearly 2 years previous.

Next we heard from Allison Lum.She works at the Coalition on Homelessness.She says that she periodically gets phone calls from current shelter and Transitional Housing residents who are been forced out of their living arrangements with no place to go and no where to turn for recourse.She recounts a day when such a phone call came in as she was simultaneously staring down at a document on her desk titled Transitional Housing Misconduct Act of 1992.This coincidence prompted her to call Rebecca at Homeless Prenatal Program in search of more information.

Allison Lum, of the Coalition on Homelessness, was hoping a lawsuit that successfully diluted Care Not Cash last year would be upheld by the state appeals court in San Francisco.When that court instead restored it to its full strength on Friday, she viewed it as a triumph of politics over compassion.

contact BHNC's Community Organizing Director, Allison Lum, at 415.206.2140 x 155 or alum@bhnc.org

Allison Lum is a Community Organizer with Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center and previously with the Coalition On Homelessness, SF.She is working with the Alemany Community Gardens to grow an economic and racial justice perspective into the cooperative.

Allison Lum, with the Coalition on Homelessness, expressed concerns re the Care Not Cash implementation process.

"It's totally messed up that he didn't ask for any input from the people who work for the homeless and the homeless themselves before introducing this legislation," said Allison Lum of the Coalition on Homelessness, a group not present at the meeting.

The coalition issued a 19-page response to Newsom agreeing with the need for extended shelter hours, but disagreeing with every other part of his proposal.