Tide Starts to Turn Against the ‘Crime’ of Being Homeless Posted on November 3, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Now Work crews in Honolulu recently dismantled wooden shacks and tents that lined city streets and housed almost 300 people. It was the latest example of a city trying to deal with a growing homeless population, and responding to complaints that these encampments ..Read More
Bassett: Poverty, Not Lifestyles, to Blame for Poor Health Posted on November 2, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in Politico New York New York City health commissioner Mary Bassett pushed back on the idea that lifestyle choices are the cause of poor health in minority communities. Bassett told bigthink.com that the problem is low-income New Yorkers have no choice, and suggestions that lifest ..Read More
Yet Another Place the Homeless Aren’t Welcome Posted on November 2, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Washington Post Did you know that it’s against the law in more than 50 U.S. cities to give food to a homeless person? That nearly half of our cities prohibit people from sleeping in cars (according to a report by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty)? And tha ..Read More
Advocates are Embracing a New First Step to Help the Homeless: Permanent Housing Posted on November 1, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in PRI Becky Kanis Margiotta was trying to help the homeless in Times Square, working for Breaking Ground. She was surrounded by dozens of other organizations within just a few blocks, all trying to solve the same problem. “Our original theory was, ‘Could you kni ..Read More
Supreme Court Free Speech Ruling Challenges Anti-Panhandling Laws Posted on November 2, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Huffington Post Cities trying to limit panhandling in downtowns and tourist areas are facing a new legal hurdle because of a recent Supreme Court ruling that seemingly has nothing to do with asking for money. Federal judges in at least three states have cited a June ruling by ..Read More
Why Richard Gere’s “Homeless” Photo Went Viral: It’s More Common — and Closer to Home — Than We Like to Think Posted on October 28, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in Salon A photograph of actor Richard Gere, homeless man, has gone viral. He’s not actually homeless: he was in character for a recently-released film called “Time out of Mind“. In it, Gere plays a mentally ill homeless man trying to reconnect with his daughter, ..Read More
Fixing Homeless Issue Helps All of Us Posted on October 23, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in Democrat & Chronicle When I say that fixing homelessness is good for business, many skeptics may raise an eyebrow. The assumption is that caring for homeless individuals costs money, and those individuals don’t have the financial means to participate in the local economy. But, a ..Read More
There’s a Good Reason New York’s Homeless Often Sleep in the Subway Posted on October 23, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Huffington Post Ten years ago, William Burnett often spent his nights sleeping on the New York City subway. It was better than his other option: a shelter on Wards Island where he said two rival gangs, the Bloods and the Latin Kings, were “trying to outdo each other ove ..Read More
‘No Camping,’ and Other Laws That Sneakily Push the Homeless Away Posted on October 25, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Atlantic Early in August, the Department of Justice weighed in on a legal dispute over ordinances in the city of Boise, Idaho, that make it a crime to sleep in public. The plaintiffs, who first filed the lawsuit in 2009, were themselves homeless people convicted of dis ..Read More
