Center on Wealth & Poverty

Our friends at We Heart Seattle are doing incredible work transforming lives. The testimonial below features recovering addict Stephen Dowd, who was found living in a tent before We Heart Seattle helped him get into treatment. We Heart Seattle is modeling what actually works to rescue people from homelessness. “Everybody else is focused on getting somebody housed,” says We Heart Seattle’s Tim Emerson. “I’m more focused on getting somebody better and then housed.”

On National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show alongside actor Billy Baldwin to discuss their new documentary, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” They talk about the lethality of fentanyl, where fentanyl is coming from and how it is getting across U.S. borders, and the legal and social difficulties of getting people into treatment. Find out more about “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated” at fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut and actor Billy Baldwin appeared on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show to discuss their new documentary, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” Marbut and Baldwin discuss how they got involved with the creation of the documentary, the origin of the fentanyl crisis, and the scope of the problem. “The stat that really brings it home,” says Marbut, “[is] more people have died of fentanyl in the last five years than the last hundred years of war for Americans.” Find out more about “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated,” and where you can watch it, at fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

Discovery Institute Research Fellow Caitlyn McKenney appeared on [un]Divided with Brandi Kruse this week to discuss McKenney’s op-ed in The Seattle Times, “Sensible WA Tenancy Laws Will Help Housing Stability.” McKenney argues that nonsensical laws protecting tenants from eviction cause harm to housing stability. This is substantiated by emergency funding applications from Seattle affordable housing units, documenting the assaults, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, drug use, arson, and other criminal activity occurring without any recourse. “Instead of mandating rent control, lawmakers should provide housing stability by enacting smart landlord-tenant laws,” writes McKenney. Watch McKenney and Kruse discuss.

In Seattle, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness is on track to double in just the next three years. Robert Marbut appeared on KIRO Newsradio’s John Curley Show to discuss the policies that have exacerbated the crisis and the solutions available to the city and county. Discovery Institute released a report last November detailing our policy recommendations for the city of Seattle to curb their homelessness crisis.

Recent Housing of Urban Development (HUD) figures reveal that homelessness reached an all-time high in 2024. Robert Marbut addresses these new figures — and why Housing First isn’t solving the problem — on NewsNation Prime.

Despite being the main supplier of America’s fentanyl crisis, China does not have the same addiction problem. Robert Marbut appeared on NewsNation Prime to compare and contrast the robust ways that China addresses addiction with America’s harm reduction policies. Robert Marbut is Senior Producer of the new film, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated,” now streaming at Salem NOW. To find out more about the film, go to fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

In December, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Robert Marbut appeared on NewsNation Prime to discuss the fentanyl crisis and the upcoming movie, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” Marbut is the Senior Producer of the film. “We have never seen a drug this deadly, this lethal, this potent, ever in the history of the world,” Marbut told host Natasha Zouves. “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated” will begin streaming in 2025. To find out more, go to fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

The following is a press release for the new documentary Fentanyl: Death Incorporated. Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness initiative is proud to partner with filmmaker Stephen Wollwerth in the production of this documentary that explores the fentanyl crisis in depth. The documentary is produced by Senior Fellow Dr. Robert G. Marbut, Jr., the former Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness under both the Trump and Biden administrations. Senior Fellow and journalist Jonathan Choe also contributed and is featured in the documentary. San Antonio, Texas (September 24, 2024) — American citizens are the world’s top consumers of illicit synthetic Fentanyl that is often laced with other illicit drugs, including horse tranquilizers. The size of two grains of salt is Read More ›

The following press release for the new documentary “Behind Closed Doors” is from ChangeWA. ChangeWA and Ginny Burton are friends of Discovery Institute. Our work on homelessness is featured in “Behind Closed Doors” in an interview with our program coordinator Caitlyn McKenney. ChangeWA has teamed with filmmaker V Ginny Burton to produce “Behind Closed Doors,” a shocking 30-minute documentary which exposes the unsafe and drug-filled conditions within King County’s low-barrier housing and provides strong evidence that these are not conditions where formerly homeless individuals “can get their lives back,” as King County Executive Dow Constantine has repeatedly promised. Burton’s interviews with residents and workers from several of King County’s housing projects reveal that most residents continue to use illegal drugs, Read More ›