Category: Homelessness
In San Francisco, hundreds of homes sit vacant
In spite of a growing Department of Homelessness with an annual budget of $598 million, eligible people still wait months or even years after being approved for assisted housing. Meanwhile, hundreds of units remain unused. by…
Reno Seeks to purchase motels as affordable housing instead of letting developers demolish them
The mayor of Reno did little to stop the razing of motels that housed low-income residents or to replace lost units. Following a ProPublica investigation, that may change. by Anjeanette Damon For more than…
Reno developer plans to demolish motel that serves as housing lifeline
Jeffrey Jacobs has been buying and demolishing Reno motels for years. He promises the low-income tenants who live there he’ll find them a better place. Displaced residents of the Castaway Inn paint a fuller picture of…
He Tore Down Motels Where Poor Residents Lived During a Housing Crisis. City Leaders Did Nothing.
by Anjeanette Damon, photography by David Calvert, special to ProPublica November 12, 2021 Co-published with Reno Gazette Journal For most of his life, Ernest Block has managed to stay one step ahead of homelessness. When he…
Hard lives made harder by COVID: homeless endure a ‘Slow-moving train wreck’
This was supposed to be the year California finally did something about its homelessness epidemic. COVID-19 upended that promise. by Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Angela Hart October 8, 2020 CALEXICO, California — The message wasn’t lost…
Community land trusts could help heal segregated cities and reduce homelessness
Efforts to build wealth for Black Americans could focus on property ownership. Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images by Mark Roseland, Arizona State University and Christopher Boone, Arizona State University American cities represent part of the…
Trump eviction moratorium only delays—doesn’t prevent—housing crisis
“While an eviction moratorium is essential, it is a half-measure that extends a financial cliff for renters to fall off when the moratorium expires and back rent is owed.” by Kenny Stancil, staff writer Wednesday, September…
The toll that curfews have taken on homeless Americans
Homeless people across the country have been affected by the curfews. In Los Angeles on June 2, police fired a hard rubber bullet at a homeless man in a wheelchair who was out after curfew, hitting…
What the coronavirus crisis reveals about vulnerable populations behind bars and on the streets
by Stephanie Hartwell, Wayne State University; Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, Wayne State University, and Sheryl Kubiak, Wayne State University The notion that COVID-19 is an equal opportunity killer has crumbled. The health and economic fallout from…
Millions stuck at home with no plumbing, kitchen or space to stay safe
Laura Ungar and Elizabeth Lucas, Kaiser Health News May 12, 2020 In nearly half a million American homes, washing hands to prevent COVID-19 isn’t as simple as soaping up and singing “Happy Birthday” twice while scrubbing….
Tenants are facing eviction across America
New Orleans Recession is here. Layoffs are in the millions. The service industry is hammered. Small businesses are underwater, while the Senate Republicans are only listening to big corporations. Trump is trying to elbow…
America’s poorest children won’t get nutritious meals with school cafeterias closed due to the coronavirus
Thurston Domina, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Schools aren’t only places where kids learn. They are also places where kids eat. Thanks to the National School Lunch Program, 30 million U.S. children – some…
Coronavirus could hit homeless hard, and that could hit everyone hard
Michael Cousineau, University of Southern California As the number of cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, continues to grow, the nation is on edge. Doctors and scientists do not know what percentage of…