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The Violent Streets of Homeless America
A couple of years ago I was slated to speak at a conference on homelessness in Las Vegas. After I flew into the airport I caught a taxi, where I sat in the backseat. The driver made the usual...
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Police Officers and Homeless Persons Both Risk Death
Despite boasting temperate weather that many in the world envy, Southern California has been anything but temperate this summer. Two acts of violence in a span of a month have raised a national uproar,...
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Bashing the Homeless: When Pinkberry Becomes Punkberry
What is this country coming to when a guy in a car chases down a homeless man and pounds him with a tire iron, just because they exchanged angry words? Sounds like the old Wild West where guns were the...
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Letter to the Orange County District Attorney Regarding the Arrest of the...
Editor’s note: The following is a letter that Dr. Mary McLaughlin sent to Orange County, California District Attorney Tony Rackauckas regarding the recent arrest of Marine Corps Veteran Itzcoatl...
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Shooting, Stabbing, Burning, and Beating: The Risks of Homelessness
The recent Aurora, Colorado massacre, and the senseless deaths and mayhem it caused, has placed a sobering cloud over our country. In the wake of this devastating tragedy, many may have missed the news...
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Could Ending Homelessness Reduce Crime?
He lived in his car tucked alongside a gentrified residential street just blocks from the Pacific Ocean. He was an unknown person, like most of the people living on the streets, until he was accused of...
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Is Today the Day that I Die?
I walk my daily patrol like a fearsome warrior, dressed in my combat helmet and protective gear. I point my rifle out for all to see, and the people around me cringe. But, inside, I’m just a kid from...
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Je Suis Homeless
I am homeless. I am an elderly man who has been living on your streets for more than 35 years. You walk by me—sometimes with a disdained face. You step over me, as if I am a stray dog. You walk around...
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Should They Be Grateful?
Photo by Alex O’Neal For a couple of decades now, I’ve been fortunate enough to lead a community-based organization that serves and houses people who are homeless. We have literally housed thousands...
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Homeless Lives Matter
Photo © Jim D’Aquilia/Momenta Workshops 2016. Alex has been sleeping on a sidewalk in San Diego for a handful of years. He used to worry about where his next meal would be, if he could find a shelter...
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