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How to highlight the homelessness crisis in older adults
Homelessness among older adults is a growing, severe problem. In 2023 alone, an estimated 138,000 older adults experienced homelessness on a single night, according to a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report. Programs that help unhoused older adults face new challenges as the economy, cuts to safety net programs and the demise of federal jobs…
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Reporting on ‘sweeps’ and the criminalization of homelessness: How to handle the story
The Trump administration is making clear its intention to banish, arrest or imprison people who are homeless in the nation’s capital, as well as threatening forced treatment for those struggling with substance use disorders. But front-line workers, activists and experts are expressing skepticism about this old and failed approach to homelessness. So what is the…
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Telling the story of the pivot on homelessness policy
A new federal policy that reframes homelessness as a law-and-order issue rather than a public health concern could change the way journalists cover mental illness, addiction, housing and social policy in the months ahead. President Trump signed an executive order in July that pushes local governments to remove unhoused people from public spaces, expand the…
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Building empathy into addiction and homelessness coverage
Stigma-proofing coverage of homelessness and addiction Moderator: Katia Riddle, correspondent, National Public Radio Hannah Furfaro, mental health reporter, The Seattle Times Elizabeth Green, communications director, Big Cities Health Coalition Laath Martin, media relations specialist, City of Long Beach, Calif. By Drew Hawkins, American Cities Fellow Covering addiction and homelessness takes more than accuracy and good…
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Homelessness reduction efforts in jeopardy due to budget cuts
Reducing homelessness through Medicaid programs Moderator: Angela Hart, senior correspondent, KFF Health News Indu Subaiya, M.D., MBA, MFA, CEO, Healthcare in Action Anthony Iton, M.D., J.D., MPH, lecturer & social impact fellow, UC Berkeley School of Public Health Anna Gorman, MPH, M.S., COO, Community Programs at LA County Department of Health Services By Arren Kimbel-Sannit,…
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Governments, at all levels, are ‘going backwards,’ lead researcher on homelessness says
Solving homelessness: What will it take? Moderator: Katia Riddle, mental health correspondent, National Public Radio Margo Kushel, director, University of California San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative By Vivienne Aguilar/ California Health Journalism Fellow The lead researcher of California’s most inclusive study on homelessness in nearly three decades, advised journalists at HJ25 to focus…
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