“Leonard ‘Pumpkin’ Ambrose lives just down the street from the house where he grew up. Derrick Soo lives 2 miles from his former family home, Delbra Taylor is a mile from hers and Gwyn Teninty can walk the distance in 15 minutes. All four grew up here, in Oakland. And they succeeded in their own […]
homelessness
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘The Mansion on Emerson Street’
“After more than a year of allowing most homeless camps to remain intact so as not to displace people during the pandemic, cities across the country are now beginning to confront another public health crisis unfolding on their streets.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The End of the Road
“Living in a van represented a new, glamorous ideal, unburdened from homeownership and a steady job — unmoored, even, from the physical world itself. If owning a home was no longer possible, there was endless space on Instagram.”
Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
The Man Who Lived in a Hole in Hampstead Heath
“He knew there were a lot of people just like him, irregularly employed, regulars in pubs, the owners of passports and phones and all the right charger leads, only with nowhere stable to live.”
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Rural California Feeds the Nation, But Too Many Rural Residents Can’t Feed and House Themselves
In a fertile valley that boats an $8 billion agricultural economy, the people who work the fields and in processing plants rarely enjoy the economic security that the fields’ corporate owners do.
Posted inCulture, Current Events, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Not Homeless Enough for Assistance, But Still Without a Home
The working homeless exist in a modern purgatory.
Posted inStory
Keeping the Focus on the People: An Interview with Joe Kloc
It took eight years to write the story of Richardson Bay’s boat community, known as the anchor-outs.
Posted inBusiness & Tech, Culture, Highlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Zuckerberg’s Trash Is a Subculture’s Treasure
An entire subculture of Bay Area residents survives by reselling wealthy residents’ trash.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women
The Indignities of Poverty, Compounded by the Requirement to Prove It
In an excerpt from her debut memoir, Stephanie Land recalls being poor, and moving with her young daughter from a homeless shelter to transitional housing.
Posted inBusiness, Current Events, Op-Ed, Story
Pay the Homeless
It’s time to end the pernicious myth that giving money directly to panhandlers won’t help them.