The Daily Reviewer | Change.org's End Homelessness Blog

Faulty Definition Leaves Millions "Out of the Homeless Force"

Mar 14, 2010 8:00am

Statistics, when accurate, are both telling and powerful. We cannot help a population of people whose needs and crises we do not understand. However, statistics are open to manipulation. For example, the federal unemployment rate is not an enumeration of all people who are out of work....

The Need to Modernize Data Collection in Homeless Services

Mar 13, 2010 8:00am

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is taking public comment on what the federal government should do to improve homeless services. While I applaud the USICH's effort to get the public's input, in the past the federal government has ignored the complaints of homeless service agencies forced to implement...

The Media Loves Business Class Homelessness

Mar 12, 2010 1:42pm

Whether or not you believe that homeless can happen to anybody, it does occasionally strike someone who had previously been raking in six figures. The media loves this. A person may not be able to find a new job or keep his home, but he can become a minor celebrity. The...

A Homeless Shelter Is a Home, In Legal Terms

Mar 12, 2010 8:01am

A homeless shelter is a person's home, and homeless citizens are entitled to the same privacy protection as those in our country who have housing, a Massachusetts court has ruled. The case resulted from the prosecution of a 16-year-old boy based on evidence obtained by police during a search of the...

City Arrests Homeless Man and Locks Up His Dog

Mar 11, 2010 6:18am

Police in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania seem to think that arresting a homeless man and then kidnapping his dog is the appropriate response to homelessness. After arresting disabled veteran Timothy Thomas for public intoxication, they also incarcerated his dog and companion of 10 years, B.C. (short for "Blue Chip"), in the Harrisburg...

State of the Homeless: More Need, Less Funding

Mar 10, 2010 3:19pm

This past week Coalition for the Homeless released its State of the Homeless 2010 report and Rich attended the press conference. Coalition, for short, is an advocacy and direct service nonprofit serving homeless men, women and children in New York City. (Disclosure: Rich has worked at Coalition since 2004). Together...

Why Are Cops Pretending to Be Homeless?

Mar 10, 2010 10:11am

Think of every reason you can for why someone would dress up and pretend to be homeless on the side of the road. To make money? To get attention? To test a community's level of compassion? I bet you could try all day and never guess why police officers in...

The Homeless Need Steak Knives Too

Mar 9, 2010 9:04am

Remember when you set up you first home and had to buy all the bits and bobs that go with that? Over time it cost me thousands of dollars. Furniture, white goods, kitchen stuff especially. If I had to do it again today I don't know that I could afford...

One Million Acts of Compassion for Homeless Youth

Mar 9, 2010 6:20am

Residents of Springfield, Missouri were flabbergasted when they learned that their most recent homeless count turned up over 450 homeless youth between the ages of 11 and 22, half of whom were thrown out of their homes. Who are these kids?, they wondered. And more important since teens have...

Homeless Girl Needs a New Home to Get New Organs

Mar 8, 2010 12:36pm

There's a young girl in Chicago who can't get the lung transplant she desperately needs because she doesn't have a home. At just 14 years old, Ronnie Walker is acutely aware that without two new lungs, she will die. She's currently being kept alive with medication. The major barrier to...

Giving Voice to Alaska's "Chronic Public Inebriates"

Mar 8, 2010 10:10am

Blogger Mark Horvath is reporting from his trip to Alaska, where the homeless are subjected to the elements and die at alarming rates. Read his previous posts here and here. Until my recent trip to Anchorage, Alaska, I had never heard the term "chronic public inebriate," yet in Alaska the word...

It's Time to Change the Definition of "Homeless"

Mar 8, 2010 8:08am

Poverty advocates have long doubted the relevance of the antiquated federal definition of poverty, which is based on the cost of food in the mid-1950s rather than the cost of living in the 21st century. The federal government recently took an initial step toward redefining the federal definition of poverty...

Talking Homelessness with the Mayor of Anchorage

Mar 7, 2010 11:32am

Blogger Mark Horvath is reporting from his trip to Alaska, where the homeless are subjected to the elements and die at alarming rates. Read his previous post here. I was really honored that Mayor Dan Sullivan took the time out of his busy schedule to speak with me this week. Anchorage,...

In Defense of Social Workers

Mar 6, 2010 12:34pm

Since 1984, the White House has officially recognized March as Social Work Month. Each year, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) uses it to promote the profession in general and the specific vulnerable populations that we work with. The National Social Work Public Education Campaign was enacted during the...

Even the Homeless Get Evicted...From Under Bridges

Mar 5, 2010 2:04pm

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has evicted a group known as the "bridge people" from their homeless encampment underneath an overpass. Not only has he evicted them, he hired contractors to put up a wall to ensure that they do not return. A wall has been built for sure -- between...

The Power of the Pen: Campaign for Funding a Success!

Mar 5, 2010 8:04am

The advocacy world can be such a drag sometimes, with a focus on what's wrong with society, and less with what's right. But I have some wonderful and encouraging news to share. The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) has shared that their recent McKinney-Vento Appropriations letter-writing campaign was a...

That Good Deed Might Cost You $300 in Miami

Mar 4, 2010 2:02pm

The doggie bag from your restaurant dinner could be tomorrow's lunch. But then you see someone on the street who needs that meal more than you do. So you hand it over (with a smile) and continue on your way, maybe feeling a little better about yourself. Then a police officer...

Visiting the Homeless in Alaska

Mar 4, 2010 8:47am

Blogger Mark Horvath is reporting from his trip to Alaska, where the homeless are subjected to the elements and die at alarming rates. Read his first post here. It is days like this I really wish I had paid more attention in English class. So much happened I want to share...

Which Comes First: the Housing or the Services?

Mar 3, 2010 9:24am

A research team in Canada has been awarded a three-year grant to study whether "Housing First" is a model that works for mentally ill homeless youth. Housing First is the idea that it is cheaper, and more effective, to place homeless persons directly into supportive housing rather than trying to...

What Needs to Be Done to End Youth Homelessness

Mar 2, 2010 12:55pm

On any given night, between 300,000 and 400,000 teens sleep on the streets and in parks, in abandoned buildings, on the couches of strangers, and if they're lucky, on the couches of friends or in shelters. These are not rambunctious brats looking for adventure. They run from severe abuse or...