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Housing First Failures

Don’t Let a Book by Experts Silence Your Common Sense: “Homelessness is [Not] a Housing Problem”

Marsha Michaelis
January 13, 2026
6
Housing
A book written and applauded by experts can tempt you to doubt your common sense and quietly surrender intellectual ground at a crucial moment, especially if it makes a bold claim and you haven’t read it yet. Consider Homelessness is a Housing Problem by authors Gregg Colburn (an assistant professor at the University of Washington) and Clayton Page Aldern (a Seattle-based data scientist and policy analyst). The book’s attractive cover claims the authors have used “accessible statistical analysis” to “test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain the variation …

HUD Secretary Champions Efforts to Treat Root Causes of Homelessness

Caitlin Cory
December 19, 2025
3
Homelessness
On December 16, HUD Secretary Scott Turner toured facilities at the Helping Up Mission in Baltimore, Maryland, a faith-based organization serving the homeless for 140 years. This visit was part of a larger tour in which Turner will visit facilities that are successfully helping people transition from homelessness to self-sustained living as HUD reexamines its approach to homelessness. Yesterday, @SecretaryTurner joined Helping Up Mission in Baltimore to see how the organization is serving the most vulnerable on Baltimore’s streets.Helping Up Mission assists their homeless neighbors by going into the roughest neighborhoods in Greater Baltimore, offering meals… pic.twitter.com/phnHoI8MF7— Department of Housing and Urban Development (@HUDgov) December 17, 2025 WMAR 2 News …

HUD Secretary: We Must “Treat the Root Cause,” Not Just House the Homeless

Jonathan Choe
December 17, 2025
1
Homelessness
Tackling the Root Causes HUD Secretary Scott Turner takes direct aim at America’s “homeless industrial complex” and says the the days of “warehousing people” are over. The Trump administration is reallocating federal dollars to tackle the root causes of homelessness like drug addiction and mental illness. This plan could cripple so called Housing First programs that do not require people to find jobs or enter drug treatment. Many of these understaffed facilities under Housing First also trigger the most 911 calls in cities, allow drug use behind closed doors, and attract an inordinate amount of crime to neighborhoods. California and WA are ranked in the top three for overall homelessness in the nation. But elected officials in these states are …

Good Dreams Destroyed by Bad Homeless Policies

Marsha Michaelis
December 11, 2025
5
Homelessness
Of all the things a citizen should reasonably expect from her city, the “quiet enjoyment and protection of her civil rights and liberties” (so phrased by the great English jurist William Blackstone) is certainly foremost. Linda Biel, a citizen and business owner in the city of Spokane, is being denied that. Like most citizens of Spokane, when Linda pursues her dreams life in the city gets better. She pays taxes, creates jobs, provides desirable services, improves and expands her business in response to the community, and engages helpfully with her neighbors. Linda’s dream is good: She loves beauty and wellness, and long-imagined building and operating her own sophisticated downtown spa. She worked hard over many years, studying business and mathematics and …

Permanent Supportive Housing Resident Rampages Through the City with No Consequences

Jonathan Choe
December 10, 2025
1
Housing
Bellevue repeat offender Merrell James Gorham-Craig just went on another rampage through the city. The Plymouth Housing/PorchLight campus resident is accused of ransacking a Walgreens and QFC late Monday evening. But even more disturbing, cops let him go back to his apartment without booking him into jail and are now refusing to answer my questions. NEW: The 911 calls to the Plymouth Housing/PorchLight homeless campus in Bellevue are off the charts this year.My team @DiscoveryCWP and @FactoriaLLS are playing catch up on dozens of problematic incidents since the end of November.None have been reported to the public. From… https://t.co/jhnRAZCd0H— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) December 9, 2025 A.K.A. “Manny” Gorham-Craig is also known as …

Drug Activity Flourishes Around Plymouth Housing Stewart Street Location

Jonathan Choe
December 1, 2025
2
Drug Epidemic
Harm Reduction In Action Plymouth Housing continues to be a blight on the downtown Seattle community. Look at all the drug action in front of the Stewart Street location. This is “Housing First” and “Harm Reduction” in action. Staff give out free drug supplies and no one is required to go into detox or find jobs. So they hang out all day in their apartments and do fentanyl. In some cases, dealers actually live in the units. It’s one stop shopping and a death trap. If any of these so called “permanent supportive” apartments are pitched for your community, fight like heck to keep it out. Unless you like to live next to crime, chaos, and death everyday. 911 calls to these places are also off the charts. You can blame spineless woke …

Michele Steeb Talks Housing First Failure and What Fixes Homelessness on Morning Wire

Editor and Michele Steeb
December 1, 2025
1
Homelessness
Michele Steeb joined a weekend edition of Morning Wire, presented by Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley and co-host Georgia Howe, to discuss the recent federal reforms that offer hope for our homelessness crisis. Steeb covers how faith-based programs used to spearhead the fight against homelessness, how the Obama administration changed the federal approach for the worse, and what the Trump administration’s recent reforms mean for the homeless and communities nationwide. Years after President Barack Obama promised to end homelessness, the problem has only surged. In this episode, we sit down with expert @SteebMichele, who wrote the book on how to approach the homeless crisis, and discuss the moves President Trump is making to force progressive… …

Small Businesses Struggle, Black Market of Stolen Goods Thrives in Seattle’s Chinatown

Jonathan Choe
November 29, 2025
1
Crime, Law, and Order
“We Call Every Week, But They Just Keep Ignoring” Christmas shopping is underway in downtown Seattle. But if you are looking for a good deal on stolen items, head to Chinatown-ID. Late Saturday evening, 12th Ave & Jackson St remains a total train wreck. Drug addicts are passed out in vestibules, the mentally ill are flailing in the streets, and cops are driving by without enforcing the law. The vast majority of the people admit they are not homeless. They are here to score drugs. Outgoing Mayor Bruce Harrell has failed this Asian American community after pushing “Housing First” and “harm reduction” policies that are not working. He allowed this neighborhood to turn into a containment zone and human dumping ground. Unless Mayor-elect …

New Federal Direction Frees Cities to Ditch Housing First, Pursue Real Solutions

Center on Wealth & Poverty
November 17, 2025
2
What Works
SEATTLE, WA — “Federal reforms have finally created space for local leaders to put treatment and recovery back at the center of homelessness policy,” says Discovery Institute President Steve Buri. “Real compassion means helping people reclaim stability and dignity, not leaving them trapped in addiction and illness without a path to restoration.” Following a newly-released reformed funding package from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Discovery Institute published an essential policy brief calling on local governments, Continuums of Care (CoCs), and service agencies to leverage these new federal reforms and make treatment and recovery central to local homelessness solutions. The brief outlines how “Housing First” and …

Erratic Homeless Man Threatens Plymouth Housing Staff

Jonathan Choe
November 5, 2025
1
Homelessness
Chaos Continues at Plymouth Housing The cancer continues to spread in Bellevue’s Eastgate community. The @FactoriaLLS team and I have gone through dozens of 911 calls to uncover another horrific incident at the Plymouth Housing/PorchLight campus. On October 30, a PorchLight worker called cops to trespass a homeless man who threatened to kill employees and police. The unhinged individual claimed to be infected with HIV after a tussle with the worker. When will City Manager Diane Carlson and Mayor Lynne Robinson finally admit this permanent supportive housing project and homeless shelter are destroying the community with crime, chaos, and death? Some neighbors believe these elected officials are running cover for the homeless industrial complex. What an epic …

Prominent San Francisco Housing First Advocate Faces Vote to Remove Her from Committee

Jonathan Choe
November 3, 2025
1
Homelessness
Booted Jennifer Friedenbach is the queen of San Francisco’s homeless industrial complex. Looks like she’s getting booted from the “Our City Our Home Oversight Committee.” This collective is responsible for looking after a billion dollars in homeless and housing services. I spoke to Friedenbach earlier this year. She took shots at recovery advocates like @Twolfrecovery and defended the failed Housing First and “harm reduction” policies that have led to record drug overdose deaths in the city. About fuking time. #SanFrancisco https://t.co/lqjFGMzdXH— T Wolf 🌁 (@Twolfrecovery) November 3, 2025 Final Vote Nov. 11 The Board of Supervisors will take a final vote on Friedenbach’s future with the committee on November …

Housing Without Healing Won’t Cure Homelessness

Michele Steeb
October 20, 2025
4
Homelessness
Homelessness in California — and across America — has reached a breaking point. The crisis has climbed to the highest level ever recorded, even as billions more are poured into housing subsidies and bureaucratic programs that promise compassion but deliver only despair. No one bears the consequences more cruelly than the homeless themselves. Their death rate has soared by 77% in the country’s largest urban areas, a devastating indictment of a system that prioritizes housing units over human healing. Communities, too, shoulder the burden — streets overrun, neighborhoods destabilized and taxpayers funding a model that fails everyone it claims to help. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order marks the first real course correction in over a decade. By …

Newsom Just Made a Catastrophic Mistake on California’s Homelessness Disaster

Michele Steeb
October 9, 2025
3
Homelessness
In a catastrophic miscalculation that exposes his continued attachment to failure, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 255 on Oct. 1. It was a bipartisan measure designed to expand access to recovery housing for homeless individuals struggling with substance use disorders. His veto comes at a time when California’s homeless can least afford more failure. AB 255, authored by Assembly member Matt Haney, would have allowed up to 10% of state homelessness funds to support abstinence-based recovery housing. These programs integrate shelter with sobriety requirements, accountability and supportive services that help people reclaim stability. Newsom dismissed the bill as “unnecessary,” insisting that current guidelines already permit sober housing and …

Plymouth Housing Hides Event from Community Members, Bans Reporters

Jonathan Choe
October 2, 2025
3
Housing
Exclusive Controversial homeless services provider Plymouth Housing banned me, We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez and podcaster Brandi Kruse from a secret ground breaking ceremony in Redmond, WA. But I exposed them anyway. “Our Faces Were Plastered Everywhere” On Wednesday, Plymouth hosted a private ceremony at the Hilton Garden Inn. It was invite only. Sources told me photos of our faces were plastered everywhere and security was told to keep us out. Brandi Kruse’s Reporting Kruse has been annihilating Plymouth. Just … wild. Governor Bob Ferguson is celebrating Plymouth Housing, just days after @choeshow exposed the taxpayer-funded entity for covering up overdoses, deaths, and crime. https://t.co/5xph0uW8Si …

On Homelessness, HUD Is Right to Move Away from Failed “Housing First” Policies

Marsha Michaelis
October 1, 2025
4
Homelessness
In a memorable scene from “Casablanca,” actor Claude Rains plays a corrupt police chief ordered by the Germans to shut down a popular nightclub after patrons indulge in a disfavored patriotic song. “But I have no excuse to close it!” protests Rains. “Find one,” is the curt reply. Rains orders everyone to leave immediately. When the nightclub’s owner Rick (played by the unforgettable Humphrey Bogart) demands to know “on what grounds,” Rains exclaims: “I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here!” He then cordially thanks the staff member who hands him his night’s winnings. In a similar show of manufactured outrage, executives at the National Alliance to End Homelessness filed a …

Plymouth Housing CEO Defends Housing First, Calls Criticism “Misinformation”

Jonathan Choe
September 24, 2025
2
Housing
Damage Control Embattled Plymouth Housing CEO Karen Lee is doing damage control after our series of reports highlighting all the crime, chaos, and death in her Bellevue, WA facility. I have obtained an email Lee recently sent to Bellevue councilmembers. Based on her talking points and spin, she appears to think they’re gullible and stupid. #BREAKING: I have now officially been trespassed from Plymouth Housing's(@PlymouthHousing) Bellevue facility in the Eastgate neighborhood. Sources say my photo is everywhere and staff members are being told to call the cops if they see me. In fact that's what happened the other… pic.twitter.com/NKQLzsr1Hd— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) September 23, 2025 Page 1 Lee claims some of the content about Plymouth …

Another 911 Call from Plymouth Housing

Jonathan Choe
September 23, 2025
1
Crime, Law, and Order
This is “Housing First” Another crazy incident at Plymouth Crossing in Bellevue’s Eastgate neighborhood Tuesday morning. 911 dispatchers say a call came in about a 65 year old woman in a wheelchair going on a bender. She was suspected of using meth or fentanyl. Just in the past couple weeks, the FactoriaLLS team has documented more than a dozen cases of fights, drug use, and other disturbances. There were likely more incidents that were missed. This Plymouth Housing/PorchLight campus triggers the most 911 calls in the city. Ladies and gentlemen, this is “Housing First” and “harm reduction” in action. Your taxpayer dollars are funding all this crime and chaos. This is what Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson voted for and what WA Governor …

Michele Steeb Talks Homelessness with Shaun Thompson

Center on Wealth & Poverty and Michele Steeb
September 18, 2025
1
Homelessness
Michele Steeb appeared on The Shaun Thompson Show to discuss homelessness. Steeb explains the pivotal shift in homelessness policy that occurred in 2013, the new direction President Trump is steering homelessness policy today, the financial corruption behind Housing First, and more. Listen to the Podcast Episode Here …

Michele Steeb Talks Rethinking Homelessness with Tudor Dixon

Center on Wealth & Poverty and Michele Steeb
September 18, 2025
1
Homelessness
Michele Steeb appeared on The Tudor Dixon Podcast to discuss why Housing First isn’t enough. Steeb reviews the history of Housing First, why it has failed, the dismal state of homelessness in California, and why treatment- and recovery-focused policies are the correct path forward. Listen to Podcast Episode Here …