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The Link Between Anti-Homeless Rhetoric, Public Policy, and Deadly Attacks on Unsheltered People Kevin Johnson was an odds beater. An athletic LA native, his ambition caught the eye of the National Football League while he was enrolled at HBCU Texas Southern University, and he went on to become that one out of 1,000 football players […]

New Federal Data Shows Housing Costs Are Rising Faster Than Incomes — and Homelessness Is Climbing as Support Shrinks  Millions of renters in America are struggling to afford their homes, even though governments and nonprofits have expanded their rental assistance pipelines, according to a new report. Housing instability and homelessness are inextricably linked. According to

Critics Warn Changes to Timing and Transparency Could Distort the City’s Homelessness Data for Years San Francisco officials have announced a big change to the way they perform their citywide point-in-time count of homeless San Franciscans. The count, which usually takes place overnight, will now be held between 5 am and 10:30 am.  The city

Cities Say the Lights Deter Drug Use. Research and Advocates Say They Stigmatize Unhoused People Instead. As snow and ice pummel the Philadelphia suburbs, some sections of Chester and Marcus Hook are blanketed in an eerie shade of blue. The cool hue blinks like a beacon, draping Tenth Street in a strobe-like glow. But this

As Other Cities Clear Encampments, Atlanta Proves Investing in Housing Works When cities prepare to host global events, there is usually an unspoken cost paid by the people with the least power to resist it. Encampments are cleared. Sidewalks are swept. People are pushed out of sight in the name of “public safety,” “clean streets,”

174 Organizations Warn Rescinding Fair Housing Protections Would Undermine Civil Rights and Worsen Housing Inequality A coalition of 174 fair housing organizations demanded that the Department of Housing and Urban Development halt a proposed rule to eliminate certain fair housing protections.  The proposed rule would overturn the disparate impact rule, which says that housing practices

RENTAL Act Speeds Up Evictions, Weakens Renter Safeguards, and Is Pushing More Households Toward Homelessness Homelessness driven by eviction has long been a problem in DC. In 2020, Invisible People reporters met up with Helimah, a woman enduring vehicular homelessness with a story as tragic as it was familiar. Helimah ended up living outside because

From Ending Sweeps to Freezing Rents, the New Mayor’s Platform Centers Housing Over Enforcement Newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made clear his intention to stop encampment sweeps, which advocates and several studies have criticized as traumatic and ineffective at connecting people with suitable shelter. He has also pledged to create a

Proposed Ordinance Mirrors a Growing National Trend of Punishing Unhoused People Rather Than Investing in Housing Solutions Advocates are speaking out against a proposed ordinance in East Lansing, Michigan, that would criminalize certain acts associated with homelessness. In December, East Lansing’s city council introduced an ordinance that would prohibit people experiencing homelessness from setting up

Assembly Bill 1240 Targets Single-Family Houses While Corporate Investors Continue Clearing Out Rent-Stabilized Apartments Carmen, who has lived in her Mar Vista apartment in West Side LA for over 30 years, was served an eviction notice—and there’s nothing she can do about it. “It can’t be right that we’ve been here so many years and