Cities Create Jobs

Earlier this month, two major American cities announced jobs programs. In Los Angeles, city services have been deteriorating since the global economic disaster of 2008. Trees don’t get trimmed, which is not just an aesthetic issue but a safety issue. Streets...

States of Emergency – or Not

A state and some cities have declared a state of emergency. Traditionally, such a designation would come after a natural disaster, but this time, the reason is homelessness. It doesn’t mean they get federal money— not unless the federal government itself declared the...

Making the Homeless Unwelcome

Out in California’s Coachella Valley desert, about 75 people are about to be evicted from their huts and tents. The California Department of Transportation doesn’t want them on its land. The ostensible reason is a concern for safety because, Paulina Rojas...

Breathing While Homeless – in the News Again

To speak of the crime of “Breathing While Homeless” is no joke any more—not that it ever was. In the late 1880s, singly and in groups, thousands of jobless, impoverished people roamed the countryside. The homeless wanderers were called tramps, and in Wisconsin...

Will Nationwide Change Start in Idaho?

Faceless force: police officers strut between Austin’s homeless shelter and Salvation Army building. On August 6, something interesting and potentially very significant happened. A federal court case filed in the District of Idaho in 2009 is just now being considered,...