This summer, I was fortunate to be chosen to be on the Unhoused Task Force, whose purpose is to formulate emergency solutions to aid with the homeless crisis Santa Clara County is facing. Improving the quality of life for individuals who are living unsheltered — those in encampments, on the street, in parks, under freeways,...
In Your Backyard
Betts: Art and commentary from life on the street
Through my art, I hope to make people aware of the extreme inequality in our region and their inability to put themselves in the shoes of struggling people. Our society is very judgmental and cruel to poor people. Upper-class people are so dismissive of poor and uneducated people. When they want to help, they often...
Eckhart: The painful path to homelessness
I was asked to write a short story about my experience in the military and then take that experience and write a quick couple of paragraphs on my experience as a homeless vet. I can’t do that easily because we are talking about two different times in my life. I went into the military right...
Shaw: What it feels like to be a Black man in America
When I was asked to share what I call my Black Lives Matter experience, I was divided within myself. It is difficult to write about an experience in your past when it brings back so many different emotions. Feelings of helplessness, shame, regret, fear and hopelessness. It took me back to a time when I...
In Your Backyard: How police treat you when you’re homeless
Two weeks ago we watched in horror the ugly side of the San Jose Police Department. For many of us, the aggression and cruelty was a surprise. For the writers of the In Your Backyard column, this was the police force they’d known for decades. Below are three accounts of what it meant to face...
Watch: A live chat with current and formerly homeless ‘In Your Backyard’ columnists
Six months after our first ‘In Your Backyard’ column was published, the country and San Jose are in turmoil. As the pandemic and homelessness crises converge, it has become clear a lot more people are a lot more vulnerable than we thought. The columns we published from people who have faced homelessness and prevailed have...
Martin: Human life is worth more than getting back to business
I have seen many difficulties in my life. Some undeserved — a product of being born poor in an unstable family unit. I have also made many mistakes that have led to repercussions, both emotional and physiological in nature. I was homeless for years. I have feared for my life many times. But nothing comes...
Shaw: Homeless shelter clients shouldn’t be pushed out after 120 days
I like to book a hotel room some weekends to rest up and get a quick break from life at the Sunnyvale Shelter. It’s not that the shelter is not well run or that I don’t like the people I live with — it is and I do. Anyone who’s ever lived in any kind...
Ramsey: Homelessness and voting
My husband and I lived on the sidewalks of Downtown San Jose for years. I can spot the different places where we made beds and memories as I walk around these streets today. Strangely, I feel nostalgic, as if I was visiting my old high school and seeing my freshman year homeroom. It’s almost like...
Larson: Snake oil solutions to homelessness and a child’s lesson in empathy
Becoming a mother a few decades ago and a grandmother recently, I’ve come to appreciate considering the world through the eyes of a child and listening to words out of the mouths of babes. We could all learn a few things if only we would take the time to listen. But listening deeply is easier...