Homelessness

LOGAN, Ohio – Before dawn, in a cold, blustery drizzle, a line forms outside a small, squat building on an open stretch of road on the outskirts of town. “My heater quit working in my car,” Scott Skinner says good-naturedly to the next man in line. “Man, what kinda luck am I having.” The building is called “The Market” because it has a food pantry, but Skinner and the others are here to sign up for heating assistance. He’s been calling for a month to get an appointment with no luck, so he showed up an hour ago to snag […]

“In Atlanta, journalist Brian Goldstone introduces us to the intersection of Memorial Drive and Candler Road – the threshold of two neighborhoods. On one side: a liberal arts college and cafés. “And you cross over, and it’s dialysis centers, it’s liquor stores, it’s payday lenders,” he said. “Other areas of Atlanta are booming, but this area sort of stayed stuck in this period of decline. … The poor are out here on these peripheral areas.”

“In pushing deep Medicaid cuts through Congress this year, President Trump and his Republican allies did not just squeeze a program that pays doctors and hospitals to provide poor people health care.

"Proposed federal budget cuts to health and social programs would affect about 8 million seniors living in poverty. Many rely on state and federal support that the Trump Administration wants to cut."

“We used to be trapped. And by “we,” I really do mean all of us. A few hundred years ago, the majority of the world lived in extreme poverty, and even in recent decades, people lucky enough to clear the $2.15-per-day threshold were living lives that others in the developed world would find unrecognizable.

“Congressional Republicans agree that the federal government has a spending problem. Now top GOP leaders want to make it someone else’s problem — by shifting some safety-net programs onto state budgets.

“Democrats have long looked to the government to support their families through public programs and spending. Increasingly, Republicans want the same.

“For nonprofits, the freeze is mostly over. The worry is just beginning.

“COLUMBIA FALLS, Mont. — Over two years ago, Kim Hilton and his partner walked out of their home for the final time. The house had sold, and the new landlord raised the rent.