Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives

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Eight days in the Golden State. First in a Series.

I’m used to hopeless stories about the growth of homelessness, particularly in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Last December LA Mayor Karen Bass declared her city to be in a “state of emergency” that demanded “a sea change in how the city tackles homelessness.” Fine, but six months later, on June 29, a Los Angeles Times headline blared about the change Angelenos has seen: “Homelessness grows 10 percent in the city.” Two weeks ago I headed to California to see for myself. I had already walked LA’s Skid Row, where 11,000 homeless people crowd into 2/5 of a square mile and create what locals call “a man-made Hell.” Didn’t need another look at that, and the hope of seeing a Read More ›

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Enticing People to Change

If we define “home” as a solid dwelling fixed to a particular spot, many Native Americans were voluntarily homeless, as hunters and gatherers are. They would follow their food supply, which was on the move. How could they be convinced to change? European Americans wanted to convince Native Americans that a settled life was better. Their position was Housing, Food, and Clothing first. Their belief: If Native Americans saw they could be warm and well-fed in cold weather rather than freezing and hungry, they would voluntarily settle down. If they became accustomed to products of civilization like fine clothing and (some craftily said) alcohol, they would want to settle down. That worked for some but not for others. Native culture Read More ›

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Mixed Messages on Homelessness

Pundits who write about homelessness should recognize that America in this decade does not have 20-20 vision on the subject. My column last week analyzed a celebrated short story in which a homeless Native American and his friends haven’t changed at all, but the city of Seattle celebrates. If you’ve been watching Jonathan Choe’s videos on this Fix Homelessness website, Seattle’s homelessness crisis is not something to cheer. But in a New Yorker short story, the Noble Savage and his alcoholic crew can live happily ever after.  Some writers cheer on homelessness, seeing it as a way to live off the land, hunting for sustenance. There are parallels between the way European Americans dealt with Native Americans two centuries ago Read More ›

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Jonathan Choe on Newsmax: Pool at Homeless Encampment Causes Controversy

Jonathan Choe joins reporters on Newsmax to discuss the illegal takeover of Washington state property in Seattle where homeless occupants are felling trees, building driveways, and setting up pools. Watch the full clip here:

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Old Mental Hospital Sign
Old Mental Hospital Sign

The Story of Mental Illness in One Graph

Discovery fellow Robert Marbut provides this telling graph on the correlation of falling support for psychiatric beds and the rise of the mentally ill population in prison. Deinstitutionalization since the ‘60’s went overboard and helped create the current crisis.  Read More ›
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Neon Pawn Shop Sign
Photo licensed via Adobe Stock

Homeless in Seattle — in fiction

In 1993 Native American writer Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. published a short story collection titled The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. In 2003 he publisherd in The New Yorker an Alexie short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” that was one of the top three stories of the year, according to the prestigious O.Henry Awards. It has been anthologized and assigned to thousands of high school students. Although all the action is within one small area of Seattle, it’s a culturally important meld of the Noble Savage and Happy Hobo traditions I wrote about last week.   The story begins, “One day you have a home and the next you don’t,” and then quickly identifies the narrator/hero Read More ›

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Leftist Media Distort New Homelessness Study To Support Failed ‘Housing First’ Policies

Advocates of “Housing First” as the solution for homelessness are praising a new study that supposedly proves their case. The trouble is, the study — conducted by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) — proves no such thing. Read More ›
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Kings of the Road, Homeless Heroes, Noble Savages

It’s hard to develop a consensus on public policy concerning homelessness. One reason: Many Americans have decried homelessness but envy the supposedly care-free lives of those who don’t have to deal with mortgages, car payments, and health insurance.   Eight decades ago Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe, starring Gary Cooper as the hobo hero, was a popular movie with positive things to say about the wandering life. Six decades ago country singer Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” glorified day-to-day hobo life and reached #1 on both the U.S. Country chart and Easy Listening surveys. Miller sang, “I’m a man of means by no means/ King of the road.” He summarized disadvantages and advantages: “Old, worn out suit and shoes/ Read More ›

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EXCLUSIVE: Seattle-area July 4th parade rerouted to avoid homeless camp

The city of Burien, Washington altered the parade route for its 100th Annual Independence Day Celebration to avoid a massive homeless encampment. The encampment on SW 152nd St near the entrance of a Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree is now close to 20 tents deep. “It’s best just to err on caution,” Debra George, who leads Discover Burien, a coalition of business owners responsible for making the last-minute decision, said. “We’re going to take a left on 4th and just head into town square park,” George added. Families, children, and tourists usually line downtown streets to get a glimpse of the floats and marching bands, but George says they have no choice but to alter the route since the city is refusing to remove the Read More ›