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"It has traditionally been very difficult to organize very poor people Tiffany Elsa Peretti Teardrop bracelet are living on the streets and spending all their time just meeting their needs," says homeless activist Ted Gullickson, one of the group's founders. "What we are able to do is meet those needs while politicizing people. After you help someone get a place to live, they see you are really doing something. Tiffany Atlas most homeless services there is a very clear distinction between well-paid staff people and their clients, who they see as needing their paternalistic help to get off the street. What we are saying is that we all have a right to a home, and people respect that." Homes Not Jails has also been able to present an alternative Tiffany Elsa Peretti the standard media depiction of the homeless as helpless. "With us, you see people saying we don't want to live on the street," says Gullickson. "At one of our last actions, one of our squatters told me that seeing us on television was the first time he ever saw homeless people fighting back." Like Food Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails has a relatively simple message. Tiffany Elsa Peretti Teardrop drop earrings street outreach work with the homeless, Homes Not Jails has heightened awareness of the fact that according to the last U.S. census there are more than 6,500 vacant buildings in San Francisco alone. The bulk are left vacant by real estate speculators. "Homeless people understand this message," says Gullickson. "They can understand the connection between private real estate and poverty.