Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives

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Silhouette of a man in an old uninhabitable house in front of a window. Depression, loneliness, despair, decline, sadness concept.
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Housing First Doesn’t Work

In a classic attempt to bury embarrassing data, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its most recent annual homelessness Point-in-Time Count report on a Friday, shortly before the Christmas break, about 11 months after the counting was done. Try as it might, HUD is unable to hide the problem anymore because the increases are so high. Read More ›
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A young American farmer sheep in a pen during sunset
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Go West, Children: How Charles Brace Placed Orphans in Families

Last week I wrote about how Charles Brace set up homes for homeless children but did not see institutionalization as ideal. He wondered whether it was possible to find thousands of families willing to take responsibility for the children of the streets. The problem seemed enormous. Brace wrote: "How were places to be found? . . . And when the children were placed, how were their interests to be watched over, and acts of oppression or hard dealing prevented or punished?" Read More ›
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In 1789 a charming five year old chimney sweep toiled through tough days in the bustling streets embodying the spirit of a spirited eighteenth century street urchin
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Caring for Orphans in New York City

Two columns ago I mentioned Charles Brace's concern about high rents in New York City. When Brace founded the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, he began by setting up religious meetings aimed at orphaned or abandoned boys from 10 to 18 who slept in alleys. Read More ›
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Conservatives and Liberals Have to Come Together on This Issue

I’m joined on my very first episode by actor Billy Baldwin and Discovery Senior Fellow and homelessness expert Robert Marbut. We talk about their upcoming documentary (Americans With No Address), our experience doing outreach on the streets of Seattle, and why the right and left have every reason to find common ground on homelessness, addiction, and untreated mental illness.

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Courts Are Dismissing Eviction Cases on the Grounds of “Confusion”

A couple living in Kent, a city south of Seattle, was issued an eviction notice in May 2023 and then granted a continuance in court – a delay in eviction proceedings – five times over the last eleven months. Then last month, a King County Superior Court judge dismissed the case. The landlord has lost more than $23,000 in unpaid rent, a cost that continues to grow by $2,100 every month. Why was the case dismissed eleven months after the eviction notice was served? According to the judge, the notice was “confusing.” To understand the source of confusion, we have to go back to spring 2020, when the federal government passed the CARES Act. Alongside other measures to provide economic Read More ›

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A pioneer family on the frontier, amidst a vast prairie, setting up their homestead, gazes towards a hopeful horizon.
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Go West, Young Man (and Woman)

We often think westward migration was for males only. In 1862 the Homestead Act allowed land claims from “any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years.” Women, including those widowed by the Civil War, made one third of all homestead claims. Some men and women who made it to the Midwest and went no further became homeless. Read More ›
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Documentary Hopes to Inspire Nation to Address Homelessness Crisis

Last night, a VIP Exclusive screening of the documentary "Americans With No Address" was held in Bellevue, Washington. The documentary stars Billy Baldwin, and features Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Robert Marbut who also served as Executive Producer. Read More ›
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Manhattan Midtown Skyline with illuminated skyscrapers at sunset. NYC, USA
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Helping the Manhattan Poor: A History

Much of what we hear in national media concerning homelessness originates in the salons of Manhattan, and if we want to understand why our policy savants sometimes go far off course, we should understand the history of New York City’s successes and failures. Read More ›
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Contemplative Silhouette Sitting On Rock In Nature
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The Ups and Downs of Recovery at The Forge

The past two months I've written about those making progress at Forge, the Christian shelter I lived at in Joplin, Missouri. But not everyone perseveres. I played disc golf on a sunny day last October with one Forge resident who told me how he had become a devotee of YouTube Satanist channels. For a time, he combined demonic rituals, drug use, and increasingly elaborate drawings of skulls and skeletons. Read More ›