Solidarity rather than charity
Material support is shared responsibility and justice, not benevolence handed from helpers to recipients.
Austin, Texas · Since spring 2019
About Street Forum
A grassroots mutual-aid collective centering unhoused Austinites, built on the belief that housing is a human right and that poverty should never be criminalized.
Origins
It started with breakfast and Know Your Rights
Street Forum was formed in the spring of 2019 as part of a local grassroots movement to challenge the criminalization of homelessness in Austin. The collective organized against no-sit/no-lie, no-camping and anti-panhandling ordinances — punitive measures that hide poverty rather than meet people’s needs.
What began with hot breakfast and Know Your Rights literature has grown into a weekly Sunday gathering at Republic Square. The pop-up café offers hot tacos, coffee, hygiene supplies, practical resources, and a space for unhoused neighbors to talk, rest, grieve, be angry, ask questions and be heard. The collective has kept that Sunday presence for seven years, missing only one week during the first stage of COVID-19 quarantine.
Street Forum operates from a solidarity model, not a charity model. We believe people do not need to earn basic care, and that wealth redistribution is an enactment of justice. Volunteers are trained to recognize privilege gaps, practice crisis de-escalation, prioritize safety, and make human connection — not simply distribution — the center of the work.
Our framework
We name colonialism, white supremacy and capitalism as root causes of homelessness. We reject carceral responses, and we have no confidence in policing as a concept.
Values
How we work
Housing as a human right
Nobody has to prove worthiness before receiving housing, food, coffee, hygiene supplies, conversation or support.
Anti-carceral practice
We do not partner our work with policing or other carceral systems, and we reject policing as an answer to homelessness.
Human connection
Volunteers slow down, listen, recognize privilege gaps, and prioritize genuine interaction over finishing a task.
Safety and dignity
The forum makes room for the anger, despair, grief and frustration that come with being unhoused.
Wealth redistribution
Redistributing money and supplies is justice in action, not a favor.
Structure
A collective, not an institution
Street Forum is a grassroots mutual-aid collective — not a shelter, food bank, outreach agency or case-management provider. We are fiscally hosted by Keep Austin Neighborly, and we use Open Collective to make contributions and expenses publicly visible.
Solidarity, not charity.
Come to a Sunday. Bring coffee, bring your hands, bring your attention. The forum is built by the people who show up.