AltWeeklies Wire
In a Time of Growing Need, NYC's Homeless Are Running Out of Optionsnew

This winter, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration quietly declared a two-front campaign against the shelter system that was developed to assist with the persistent homelessness problem.
New York Press |
Matt Harvey |
03-05-2009 |
Economy
Tags: homelessness, New York City
A New Effort Seeks to Stop Washington's Prison System from Releasing Inmates Into Homelessnessnew
Housing advocates are lobbying for a bill by Washington Rep. Mark Miloscia that would require the Department of Corrections to come up with a plan to eliminate homelessness among former prisoners by the year 2015.
Seattle Weekly |
Nina Shapiro |
03-02-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Miami Wants the State to Help with its Growing Sex Offender Colonynew
To sum up the good-intentioned, if somewhat toothless, resolution passed by the city: Miami will ask the state to form a task force to study and solve the public-safety-meets-human-rights nightmare.
Miami New Times |
Natalie O'Neill |
02-23-2009 |
Policy Issues
Vegas Groups Are Working to Continue the Education of Homeless Childrennew
Las Vegas' Title One HOPE provides students with backpacks, school supplies, bus tokens or transportation and outreach information, as well as free breakfast and lunch at school.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Stacy J. Willis |
02-12-2009 |
Education
San Francisco's Flawed System for Counting the Homelessnew
San Francisco's biennial homeless count has long been used as an indicator of how well the city is dealing with homelessness, which would all be fine and good, if it weren't for one small and inconvenient fact for everyone involved: It is a meaningless charade.
SF Weekly |
Ashley Harrell |
02-04-2009 |
Policy Issues
More Than 9,000 Minnesotans are Homeless. I Decided to Join Them for a Weeknew
I don't claim to have experienced homelessness at its most hopeless, its most real, nor do I intend to trivialize the travails that go along with it. Nevertheless, it's hoped that this diary will provide a window into day-to-day affairs, maybe even practical advice for those who may soon find themselves battling the real thing.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Matt Snyders |
12-01-2008 |
Housing & Development
Glendale Stewart Lives Way Off the Grid in Detroitnew
Six years ago, Stewart took a look at the world around him and decided to drop out of it. He quit working, bought an empty plot of land at a city auction, parked an old trailer on it, built a wood privacy fence around it and made it his home.
Metro Times |
Detroitblogger John |
09-23-2008 |
Housing & Development
Homeless Attacked in Baltimorenew
In many of the violent run-ins the homeless have had on the street, the criminals have sought out single pedestrians--particularly those who are elderly, disabled, or just look like an easy catch.
Baltimore City Paper |
Jay Sandler |
08-19-2008 |
Crime & Justice
The Yearlong Campaign to Introduce You to Your Homeless Neighborsnew

What good did it do?
San Diego CityBeat |
Kelly Davis |
07-16-2008 |
Housing & Development
Federal Homeless Official Tours Santa Barbara Housingnew
Philip Mangano, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, is on a multi-city tour of the US touting permanent housing as the solution to homelessness that will relegate it to the dustbin of history.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Martha Sadler |
07-14-2008 |
Housing & Development
Group Hopes to Start Homeless Newspaper in Pittsburghnew
There's just one hitch: Selling the paper could require each vendor to get a license that costs about as much as an overnight stay in a luxury hotel.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Adam Fleming |
06-30-2008 |
Media
What's Mass. Doing to Keep Former Prisoners from Returning to Jail?new

A 2002 study by the Massachusetts Sentencing Committee found recidivism rates had reached 49.1 percent. The Commission to End Homelessness estimated 16 percent of the 25,500 people released each year become homeless. Former prisoners must also navigate Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI), the state's rap sheet on anyone ensnared in the criminal justice system.
Dig Boston |
Cara Bayles |
05-15-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Ailene is 11 and Homelessnew
Where will she and 13,000 others go to school today?
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Matthew Mundy |
04-04-2008 |
Children & Families
Asleep on the Street in Portlandnew
Approximately 1,400 people sleep on the city's streets -- and for a night, I was one of them.
The Portland Mercury |
Matt Davis |
02-21-2008 |
Housing & Development
Life on the Brinknew

In Texas, 6,000 Katrina victims are about to be turned out of their FEMA-subsidized homes.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
07-05-2006 |
Disasters