It’s All About Food – John Joseph and Brian Kateman – 04.18.17

Part I: John Joseph, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon In his autobiography, John recounts his hard times and spiritual redemption. A traumatic childhood in foster homes was just the beginning of John’s evolution. Before fronting one of the most important bands in the underground punk scene, the Cro-Mags, as well as Bloodclot, John faced homelessness, addiction, betrayal and insanity. Still, …

Ruth Milka – Treasury nominee’s bank was accused of “widespread misconduct” for their role in foreclosure crisis

According to newly released documents published by The Intercept, OneWest Bank, which was ran by Trump’s treasury secretary nominee, Steven Mnuchin, from 2009 to 2015, repeatedly broke laws in California during the foreclosure crisis.  Although a suit was never brought against the company, the memo states that California’s attorney general “uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct.” OneWest is a delightful …

Michael Snyder – Tent Cities Full Of Homeless People Are Booming In Cities All Over America As Poverty Spikes

Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate.  According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day.  And it isn’t just adults that we …

Evelyn Nieves – 10 Things You Should Know About What It’s Really Like to Be Homeless

Ed. note: The San Francisco Chronicle [3] has spearheaded an effort to cover the city’s most intractable humanitarian crisis, homelessness. More than 70 local and national media organizations are participating by examining the issue from all possible angles. As part of this effort, AlterNet has interviewed homeless people in San Francisco to get their take on how and why they have lost their shelter …

Garnet Henderson – Homeless Are Flocking to America’s Forests, But It’s Damaging the Land

In 2006, Becky Blanton decided to make a radical life change. She wanted adventure, and she set out to be a full-time camper, moving into her van and parking mostly on forest roads. But then she lost her job, and she had no choice but to continue living in her van. She parked on public lands throughout Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, …

John Vibes – Homeless Man Owes Government Over $110,000 in Fines for Being Homeless

The recent case of a homeless man racking up massive fines has exposed the widespread police practice of fining homeless people for being homeless. Émilie Guimond-Bélanger, a social worker at the Droits Devant legal clinic in Montreal spoke to the media about a case that she worked on where a homeless man racked up over $110,000 in tickets. “It was …

Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Indians become the first official Climate Refugees

The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw just received $48 million to move off of their disappearing south Louisiana island. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in January that it had awarded the tribe $48 million to pay for a move, most likely farther north and inland, making them the first community of official climate refugees in the continental (lower 48) United States. The tribe wants to move as …

CORY DOCTOROW – America’s permanent, ubiquitous tent-cities

Homelessness in America dwindled away after WWII, when the GI Bill and generous social programs seemed to finally get on top of a problem that had been with the country since its inception; but starting with Reagan’s mass de-institutionalizations and cuts to social services, homelessness has only grown, a phenomenon America answered by criminalizing being alive, and pretending not to …

Michael Krieger – Welcome to the Recovery – Homelessness Amongst Students Doubles Since Before the Recession

How’s that recovery going for you? That’s what I thought. Here’s the latest data point from the ongoing oligarch crime spreeshamelessly marketed to the masses as an “economic recovery.” From Five-Thirty-Eight: The number of homeless students in the country’s classrooms has more than doubled since before the recession, according to recently released federal data. That’s an alarming trend, but a new report offers some …

Adam Mclean – Half a million California children are homeless

Last November the National Center on Family Homelessness at American Institutes for Research (NCFH) released a report exposing that 2.5 million children are homeless in America. The report analyzes each state in four different areas: the extent of child homelessness, child wellbeing, the risk for children becoming homeless, and the policy efforts undertaken to address homelessness. Child homelessness is endemic in the …