Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
(08-27) 11:58 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's city's Care Not Cash program discriminates against disabled homeless people, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by a Berkeley-based group.
The lawsuit claims that the city's homeless program "blatantly discriminates" against disabled people who receive federal benefits and therefore can't use Care Not Cash services, which include the ability to reserve shelter beds.
"The core problem is that people with disabilities are absolutely excluded from that program," said attorney Sidney Wolinsky, the founder of Disability Rights Advocates, which filed the lawsuit.
"If you're not in Care Not Cash, you can't make a reservation for a bed, and you're thrown into this Byzantine system where every day you have to stand in line and try to find a bed," Wolinsky said. "It becomes survival of the fittest, and disabled people lose and end up sleeping in alleys."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/27/BA7312JCNI.DTL&tsp=1Read the lawsuit:
http://www.dralegal.org/downloads/cases/Homeless/Complaint_Filed.pdfSHAME OF THE CITY:
http://www.sfgate.com/homeless/