homelessness

Tax Weed, Save the Homeless

Hamilton Nolan · 07/13/16 08:30AM

Life is not all about sitting around “getting high” and daydreaming about saving the world and having hot sex at the same time. Life is about tax policy—that’s where the action is.

Homeless in Public

Hamilton Nolan · 12/28/15 04:15PM

Homeless people are sleeping on public property. What shall we do?

Hamilton Nolan · 12/07/15 01:02PM

The city of Albuquerque is trying the radical approach of giving homeless people jobs. Perhaps not as satisfying a solution as just outlawing homelessness, but it has the advantage of working.

Jason Parham · 09/23/15 09:13AM

Los Angeles is set to declare a “state of emergency” and commit $100 million to help end its homelessness crisis, which has ballooned out of control. It is not exactly clear, however, where the money will come from. According to the LA Times, the budget “only recently began to recover from revenue shortfalls.”

Justice Dept.: Human Beings Need Sleep, So Stop Fining Them for Sleeping Outside

Jay Hathaway · 08/13/15 01:02PM

Human beings need sleep. Homeless people are human beings. Therefore, homeless people need sleep and shouldn’t be banned from getting it in what is often the only place they can: outdoors. That’s the simple argument the Justice Department is making in a case out of Boise, Idaho, one of the many U.S. cities with inadequate shelter space that have nonetheless attempted to bar unhoused people from sleeping outside.

Let the Homeless Have the Parks

Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/15 10:29AM

From time to time, New York City’s reactionary elements decide to villainize the homeless by casting them as menaces to the quality of life of decent folks. Our parks—our precious public parks—are full of homeless people, you see. Well? Good.

Hamilton Nolan · 04/17/15 12:15PM

The city of Los Angeles says it spends more than $100 million per year on homelessness, for a homeless population of 23,000. More than 80% of that money is spent on things that are not "building places for the homeless to live," which could be one reason the homeless population in L.A. is growing.

Prospective Home Buyers Find Dead Body in Fixer-Upper

Kelly Conaboy · 11/22/14 12:45PM

A man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin got a surprise recently while touring a fixer-upper with a real estate agent and a friend: a trash cart full of live kittens. Ah! Later, the group also found a dead body.