Ending Poverty Requires Serious Policy, Not Political Platitudes
Another exercise in nonsense by state lawmakers in California.
Homelessness
Homeless Veteran Sues Police After Service Dog Tased During Panhandling Arrest
Joshua Rohrer not only seeks damages for his violent arrest but also wants the city's anti-panhandling ordinance overturned on First Amendment grounds.
Declaring a 'Right' to Housing Won't Solve Homelessness
Instead, try making it easier to build more housing!
Zoning Police Criminalize Kindness in Oregon
A town clamps down on distributing clothes, personal care items, and food to the homeless.
Fearmongering Won't Solve Climate Change
Global warming is an issue. But there are other pressing problems that deserve the world's attention.
City Council Indictment Shows How L.A.'s Overregulated Housing Market Breeds Corruption
City Councilmember Curren Price is indicted for steering favors to affordable housing developers who were bribing his wife.
Homelessness Isn't an Unfixable Problem
Start by looking at the government policies that have made it worse.
City Threatens Christian Group With Fines, Prosecution for Giving the Homeless Muffins, Coffee
The Department of Justice is now intervening on behalf of the Orange County, California, group's right to distribute food at its resource center in Santa Ana.
Jordan Neely Wasn't Killed by the System
Opposing sides of the debate around a New York City subway homicide have found unlikely common ground.
San Francisco's Got Problems. There's No Need To Exaggerate Them for Political Reasons.
If you don't like San Francisco, that's fine, but don't tell tall tales about it.
Lawsuit: Police Officer Broke a 61-Year-Old Woman's Leg, Then Bragged He 'Man-Dropped' Her
Before assaulting her, the cops taunted her for being homeless, she claims.
Trump Advocates Mass Incarceration, 'Tent Cities' To Address Homelessness
The plan is unlikely to work, and the government already has a sordid recent history of funneling people into tent cities anyway.
Why Homelessness Is Worse in California Than in Texas
Today, the Lone Star state counts 90 homeless people per every 100,000 residents. In California, the problem is almost five times as bad.
Lawsuit Claims Portland Police Shot Unarmed Homeless Man, Then Ate Pizza While His Body Lay on the Ground
Robert Delgado's family is now seeking damages.
Debate: Mentally Ill Homeless People Must Be Locked Up for Public Safety
Have we forgotten the era of mass institutionalization?
Disability Rights Group Challenges California Law That Forces the Mentally Ill Into Court-Ordered Treatment
"On its face, the CARE Act violates essential constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection while needlessly burdening fundamental rights to privacy, autonomy and liberty," the petition states.
Police Harassed a Man Holding a 'God Bless the Homeless Vets' Sign. He's Suing.
"My intention is to ensure that all Americans from the wealthiest millionaire to the poorest homeless person can exercise these rights without fear of consequence from our government," said Jeff Gray.
They Fell Behind on Their Property Taxes. So the Government Sold Their Homes—and Kept the Profits.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler's case challenging home equity theft.
Redding, California, Uses Public Health Red Tape to Ban Sharing Food with Homeless
Is it good public health policy to deny charity to people experiencing homelessness?
Zoning Police Continue To Find New Ways To Punish the Poor
Multiple factors contribute to housing shortages, but zoning constraints are mostly to blame.
New HUD Report Shows Steady Pandemic-Era Increase in Unsheltered Homeless Population
The overall homeless population stayed basically flat from 2020 to 2022. But the number of people sleeping on the streets increased 3.4 percent.
Politics Is Getting in the Way of What Makes Cities Great
Healthy cities are a boon not just for those who live in them, but for our entire society.
What Twitter's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media
Plus: The editors consider a listener question on the involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill.
Eric Adams' Plan To Involuntarily Hospitalize Mentally Ill Homeless People Will Face Legal Challenges
Civil liberties groups say Adams' plan violates constitutional rights protecting people with mental illness from being confined against their will simply for existing.
Federal Court Upholds Cruel, Unconstitutional St. Louis Ban on Sharing Food with Homeless
The ordinance governing how food can be shared is designed to make it next to impossible to share food.
This 78-Year-Old Woman Was Arrested for Feeding the Poor
Norma Thornton of Bullhead City, Arizona, is suing for the right to help people in need.
Decriminalizing Jaywalking in California Will Help Reduce Police Harassment
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September that will chip away at a policy that has long been criticized as enabling racially-motivated policing.
California A.G. Says Anaheim NIMBYs Can't Block Women's Group Home
State officials have been warning Anaheim for decades that their regulations on transitional housing were illegal. The city's rejection of nonprofit Grandma's House of Hope's group home was the last straw.
California's 'CARE Court' Won't Help the Homeless
It will just give the state more power to control those deemed mentally ill.
Tiny Homes for Las Vegas Homeless Demolished Over Code Violations
Plus: Trump sues over Mar-a-Lago raid, why people vote to "dismantle democracy," how Ireland ruined its rental market, and more...
Labyrinthine Zoning Rules Restricted Homeless Shelters During the Pandemic
As COVID-19 spread across the country, complex rules around land use and building permits made housing the poor and vulnerable effectively impossible.
What the Chesa Boudin Recall Means for America
Journalist Nancy Rommelmann reports from San Francisco on the ouster of a leading progressive district attorney.
Fresno Bans Journalists—and Everyone Else—From Filming Cops Clearing Out Homeless Camps
The ACLU of Northern California is suing to overturn the ordinance.
Georgia State Senator Introduces Bill To Cut Homeless Funds From Cities With Too Many Homeless
Perplexingly, the bill would also forbid grants from going to nonprofits, unless the local government meets the state's demands.
Can We Fix San Francisco?
San Fransicko author Michael Shellenberger on homelessness, crime, addiction, and his differences with progressives and libertarians.
Audit: L.A. Spending as Much as $837,000 per Unit of Housing for Homeless
Despite apportioning over $1 billion for homeless housing, cost overruns and sluggish pacing threaten to jeopardize the city project.
Clueless Newsom Shocked at California's 'Third World' Conditions
The governor needs to leave his fancy Sacramento-area compound more often to see what's going on throughout the state.
How Progressives Ruined San Francisco: Michael Shellenberger
The author of the new book "San Fransicko", says the homelessness crisis is an addiction and mental health crisis enabled by policies that permit open-air drug scenes on public property and prevent police from enforcing laws
You Can't Solve Homelessness by Making It a Crime
In an August ruling, Washington's Supreme Court found that a homeless plaintiff's truck qualified as his homestead.
Zoning Officials Stop Church From Opening 40-Bed Shelter in Sub-Zero Temperatures
Gloversville's Free Methodist Church has 40 beds ready and waiting at its downtown shelter. City officials say the zoning code doesn't allow people to sleep in them.
Michael Shellenberger: How Progressives Ruined American Cities
The San Fransicko author on fighting homelessness and mental illnesses without shredding civil liberties.
Cities Undermine the Holiday Spirit with Unconstitutional Bans on Sharing Food with the Homeless
Do you, like many Americans, feel especially charitable this time of year? Enjoy helping those in need? Better buy a permit.
Newark's Scrooges Want To Ban Giving Food to Homeless People
Donating to the needy, in addition to being a generally nice thing to do, is a protected First Amendment activity.
234 Million Reason TV Fans Can't Be Wrong! Support Our Video Journalism!
Our videos make the case for "Free Minds and Free Markets" to millions of people a year.
When Lawyers Make Things Worse—Housing Edition
A study suggests that "right-to-counsel" in eviction cases actually leads to greater homelessness.