Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates was quoted on Channel 7 News as saying, “It’s not an effort to criminalize people, it’s an effort to try to make things more civil.” Yet the new homeless ordinance that passed 6-3 early Wednesday – nearly one week before Thanksgiving Day – does in fact criminalize the homeless and poor […]
Donald Frazier
Posted inCommunity
IKEA donates ‘makeover’ to shelter for homeless families
The families living in the McKinley Family Transitional House in Berkeley now have a lovely space from which to plot their move out from homelessness. IKEA, the Scandinavian furniture store with an outlet in Emeryville, recently donated $10,000 worth of furniture and design services to McKinley House, located at 2111 McKinley Ave. in central Berkeley. The […]
Posted inCity
Nonprofit accuses city of Berkeley of ‘unethical contracting practices’ for new homeless center
The city of Berkeley says it will change its commission recommendation process after a community agency brought allegations of serious conflicts of interest during a recent bid for municipal funding. Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) raised these concerns in an April 16 letter to city officials after bidding to run a new one-stop homelessness services center for […]
Posted inCity, Community, Housing & Development
Streamlined housing crisis center slated for Berkeley
A new one-stop homelessness services shop is in the works in Berkeley. Announced Tuesday night, the city is changing the way it funds programs offered in town, to prioritize the people with the highest needs, in line with a federal mandate to streamline services into a coordinated system. The city is looking to create a central […]