Podcasts about end homelessness

Today we talk with Jennifer Chisholm, executive director of the NH Coalition to End Homelessness, about the  organization's recent report that shows the number of people unhoused in NH is spiking to record numbers and what is being done to help. Sponsored by the Business of the Year Awards.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson marked his first 100 days in office with an ambitious promise to end unsheltered homelessness within a year. But it remains an open question whether the city's $93 million budget deficit will get in the way.Just weeks after Wilson took office, city officials revealed that Portland is staring a down the barrel of major potential cuts to city services. City Administrator Michael Jordan released his proposal in February, and as deep as the cuts in that plan seemed, they only accounted for $35 million of the gap. The rest will be on the mayor and city council.

With so much attention on Donald Trump and the trade war, it's easy to forget about the other crisis facing Canada today: Housing affordability. All three major federal parties are pledging billions of dollars in their housing platforms. But are these plans ambitious enough to meet the moment? A group of industry associations and advocacy organizations have come together to form the Canada Housing Coalition. They have a blueprint for the next federal government's housing policy. For whoever ends up as Canada's next Prime Minister, solving the housing crisis will be a monumental task. Host David Smith speaks with Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, about what's at stake in this election for Canadians dreaming of an affordable place to call home.We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us: Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca  Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Assembly member Meg Zaletel has been Executive Director of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. On Friday, she announced she would be stepping down from that position this summer. Reporter Quinn White sat down with Ms Zaletel to talk about her time at the coalition.

Claudio Bono has an innovative solution to end Homelessness. He briefly shares his plan and introduces himself to America and the World on a recent telephone conversation with Creator and Host Rev. Renaldo McKenzie. Claudio Bono is a Hotelier who also serves as a City Manager in Cupertino with over 11 years of experience working in non profits and coordinating homeless programs. Claudio will sit with Renaldo Mckenzie, joined by David Fair, who was a city of Philadelphia Manager and currently serves on the board of several social services non profits aimed at providing Homeless shelters to children and Youths, to discuss the innovative solution to homelessness, given the planned cuts to social welfare including federal funds to homeless programs, on Thursday at 6:30pm and aired on Saturday/Sunday. Renaldo provides a preview of the discussions, then shared his insights and Claudio's statements via twitter. The discussions between Renaldo and Claudio follows after regarding some general ideas about his solution to ending homelessness and sharing some challenges to his solutions and plans to get buy-in.Claudio's statement is available here: via Twitter: https://x.com/Bonoclaudio/status/1901447618393215065Renaldo's initial response: https://x.com/RenaldoMcKenzie/status/1909011259456110857Subscribe ‪on any podcast stream. Find your stream at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberalVisit us at https://theneoliberal.comDonate to us at: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=USSJLFU2HRVAQ

Starting Monday, NJ Transit is offering 50% off roundtrip fares from five northern New Jersey stations to relieve traffic caused by a sinkhole that closed I-80. Meanwhile, a coalition of advocacy groups has released a detailed plan for how New York City's next mayor can end homelessness, focusing on targeted housing and mental health investments. Plus, the eastbound Grand Central Parkway ramp to the Long Island Expressway will close overnight through April for a $15 million construction project.

In this episode of the Construction Disruption podcast, co-hosts Todd Miller and Ryan Bell from Isaiah Industries sit down with Peter DeMaria, Chief Design Officer and co-founder of Mid-Rise Modular, LLC. Peter brings a wealth of experience in architectural design and academia, and he discusses his mission to address the global housing crisis through innovative and sustainable modular solutions. From his unique methods involving light gauge steel to the impact of policy and technology on construction, Peter's insights are invaluable for anyone interested in the future of housing and architecture. Don't miss out as he shares formative moments in his career and his vision for addressing homelessness both locally and globally.Timestamps00:00 Introduction and Co-Host Introduction00:13 A Bat in the House: Todd's Story01:42 Challenge Words Game02:19 Introducing Peter DeMaria03:37 Peter's Career Beginnings and Inspirations08:44 Mid-Rise Modular and Homelessness Solutions13:50 Challenges in Rebuilding After Fires18:41 The Benefits of Steel in Construction25:48 From Design to Manufacturing30:24 Addressing the Homeless Crisis34:12 A Heartfelt Encounter34:37 Reflections on Architectural Impact35:54 Insights from the International Builder Show36:48 Innovative Shower Solutions39:39 The Concept of Team Prefab41:24 Advice for Aspiring Professionals41:59 Embracing Technology and Change46:55 Rapid Fire Questions57:48 Final Thoughts and Contact InformationConnect with Peter OnlineLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-demaria-4b021b12/De Maria Design:https://demariadesign.com/Mid-Rise Modular: https://midrisemodular.com/TEAMprefab: https://www.teamprefab.com/For more Construction Disruption, listen on Apple Podcasts or YouTubeConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedInThis episode was produced by Isaiah Industries, Inc.Construction Disruption was recently featured in this 15 Best Podcasts for Contractors list!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

Today I'm really pleased to bring you an discussion with Kevin Nye, the author of "Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness." He wrote the book a few years ago, and I read it about a year ago, and I've been increasingly interested in what can be done about the problem of homelessness. A lot of the things I grew up believing about homelessness have been proven false, and more importantly, a lot of the things I grew up believing about the PEOPLE experiencing homelessness were also proven false. So when I crossed paths with Kevin on social media, he seemed like a person that was really worth having a conversation with. I hope this is useful to you.You can find Kevin's book here:https://amzn.to/49zX6tIThis is Kevin's website:https://kevinmnye.com/And his Substack:https://kevinmnye.substack.com/You can watch this on YouTube too:https://youtu.be/VHeMMmYdCUc

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Reboot Republic episode Rory is joined by guest co-host and Head of Social Justice and Policy at SVP, Louise Bayliss, for a discussion about the latest developments (or disappointments) in our politics, the widening poverty gap, the impact of the housing crisis on other parts of our society and then they answer some of our tortoise shack member questions. The Shed-Sits or Small Homes Reboot is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-123781939 SpiceBag - Dignity for Palestine Details here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/ramadan-mubarak-123298347

Lawrence Armstrong is the chairman of Ware Malcomb, a leading design firm that he helped grow from 3 offices to over 46 offices globally. He started at the company in 1984 and eventually purchased it from the founders in 1992. As an architect and artist, Lawrence has leveraged both his creative and strategic skills to drive the firm's success.Balancing Creativity and Business @ 3:28Lawrence believes it's important for architects and designers to develop both their creative and business skills. He advocates for "whole brain" thinking, drawing inspiration from Renaissance figures like Leonardo da Vinci who excelled in diverse domains. Lawrence's own background as an internationally exhibited artist has complemented his work as a business leader.Scaling and Integrating a Geographically Distributed Firm @ 7:00Under Lawrence's leadership, Ware Malcomb expanded from 3 offices to over 46 offices across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a "one team" culture and consistent service delivery across the distributed offices, leveraging centralized resources and collaborative processes.Developing Future Leaders @ 9:35Recognizing the need for strong leadership as the company scaled, Lawrence focused on building a leadership development program to identify, train, and mentor the next generation of leaders at Ware Malcomb. This included executive coaching, mentorship, and creating opportunities for emerging leaders to take on greater responsibility.Philanthropy and Community Engagement @ 43:34In addition to his work at Ware Malcomb, Lawrence has been actively involved in addressing homelessness in his local community of Orange County, California. He helped launch a program called "United to End Homelessness" that has housed over 1,100 people through innovative approaches like landlord incentives.Reflections on the Creative Process @ 48:55As Lawrence transitions from CEO to Chairman, he is spending more time pursuing his passion for art and creativity. He discusses the iterative, collaborative process of writing his new book "Layered Leadership" and is open to the possibility of future writing projects, though he is focused on the current book launch for now.

According to state statistics from 2024, 3,410 people were experiencing homelessness in Connecticut. That's up 13% from numbers recorded in January 2023. What are we doing to address homelessness in our state? In studio, we meet State Representative Kadeem Roberts from Norwalk, who serves as the co-chair of the End Homelessness Caucus, to find out what lawmakers are doing to combat homelessness. IMAGE CREDIT: Eric Urbanowicz

Deacon Jim Vargas, President and CEO of Father Joe's Villages, is joined by Paul Delessio, FJV's Director of Coordinated Services, to discuss its expanded services that are tailored to meet the needs of each individual that include adding Psychiatry and Harm Reduction outreach to the Street Health program and innovative housing solutions.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media"Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local. For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us.Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.  About Mission Fed Credit UnionA community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

In this episode of Security Heroes, host Lisa Falzone is joined by Aaron Quarles, Assistant Professor in Emergency Medicine at Northwestern Medicine. Since completing his M.D. at Harvard Medical School in 2015, Aaron has worked as an Emergency Medicine Physician working to advance Health Equity, particularly through his work as a Board Member at Facing Forward to End Homelessness.Join them as they:Explore what sparked Aaron's interest in emergency medicineDelve into an example of a concerning case Aaron has recently witnessedDiscuss the current landscape of violence in emergency departmentsExamine an instance where a patient pulled a gun on AaronTouch on trauma-informed approaches to violent situationsAnd much more!

Sarah Fox CEO, Coalition to end homelessness, Kerstin Augur, Communications Director, Community Renewal Team (CRT). Together they discuss the Coldest night of the year event on Saturday.

Today, we are diving into one of the most pressing issues facing our communities—homelessness. There's certainly a lot to be said about this issue, but the focus of our discussion today is one of the key groups that plays a central role in Sonoma County's effort to end homelessness in our community. That is the Sonoma County Homelessness Coalition.Joining us today is Andrew Akufo, Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst, for the Department of Health Services – Homelessness Services Division.

Chair of the Orange County Commissioners Jamezetta Bedford spoke with 97.9 The Hill's Andrew Stuckey on Wednesday, February 12, discussing county news and events. She shared an update from the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness, the upcoming opening of the Drakeford Library Complex, and more. The post Orange County: Partnership to End Homelessness, Honoring Lynching Victims, Drakeford Library Opening appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

Across the Treasure Valley there are hundreds of families without a place to call home, which is something that one nonprofit is trying to change. 

On this episode of the SeventySix Capital Sports Leadership Show, Wayne Kimmel interviewed the President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, Bill Miller. Miller is the President and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA), which represents the $329 billion U.S. casino industry. Since joining the AGA in 2019, Miller has elevated the association's influence in Washington, advanced key industry priorities, and deepened member engagement. In 2019, the American Gaming Association (AGA) launched the "Have A Game Plan" campaign to educate sports fans about the principles of responsible sports betting. This campaign emphasizes key guidelines, including setting a budget and adhering to it, keeping betting a social activity, understanding the odds, and placing bets with trusted, regulated operators. In 2021, SeventySix Capital became the first investment firm to join the initiative. Most notably, under Miller's leadership, the AGA navigated the gaming industry through the COVID-19 pandemic. He led the advocacy effort that united AGA members and the broader gaming industry, secured unprecedented federal relief and created a favorable policy landscape for gaming's remarkable recovery. He has advanced efforts to strengthen the gaming industry's commitment to responsibility, build a sustainable legal sports betting market, accelerate casino payments modernization, diminish the illegal gambling market, and initiate industry-wide efforts on workforce development and sustainability. Miller has also reinvigorated the Global Gaming Expo, the gaming industry's premier tradeshow. Miller has more than three decades of experience on Capitol Hill and representing business interests in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the AGA, Miller served as the top lobbyist at Business Roundtable, the association of chief executive officers of America's leading companies. During his tenure, he led consequential lobbying efforts to pass the landmark 2017 tax reform legislation and usher in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Miller also spent time as a partner at international corporate communications firm Brunswick, providing strategic counsel to several U.S. and international corporations. At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Miller served as senior vice president and national political director. Miller drove the Chamber's political affairs and federal lobbying efforts for more than a decade, where he created a favorable policy environment for the U.S. business community to thrive. Early in his career, Miller served as chief of staff and campaign manager for Representative Constance A. Morella (MD-8), overseeing the Congresswoman's legislative and political agenda. Miller is recognized as an influential leader in Washington, including being named to Washingtonian magazine's Most Influential People List (2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024) and The Hill's Top Lobbyists (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). Miller is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's C100, and he also sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of Global Gaming Business and iGB Executive. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for Ford's Theater, and he also sits on the Boards of Directors for the International Center for Responsible Gaming, Public Affairs Council, U.S. Travel Association, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, where he chairs its Finance Committee. Miller earned a B.A. degree from the University of Maryland and J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. He resides in Washington, D.C. with his two sons. Bill Miller: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamcmiller/ X: https://x.com/BillMillerAGA

This week, Barry and his guest, Robyn Miller of the Winchester Area Temporary Transitional Shelter, invite listeners to 'walk in the shoes of their homeless guests'.  'The Coldest Night Of The Year' is a fundraising walk on 2/22 through Winchester to raise money to support the shelter's mission of providing a warm place to sleep and spend the day, as well as nourishment for the area's homeless.  Also on this episode, Barry announces the good news that the Chain of Checks campaign raised more than anticipated, and was able to provide 6 grants to local nonprofits.  Since 1986, Chain of Checks has raised over $2 million!  

Kevin Nye joins the Amateur Activist to talk about his first book, Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness. Kevin is an author, advocate, father, and husband, passionate about using his experience with the unhoused to demystify and humanise an epidemic that often leaves us feeling overwhelmed and numb.  Kevin and Isabela talk through the book — focusing on the importance of language, the reality of homelessness in America, why we simply manage homelessness instead of ending it, and more.  As always, we are so grateful for everyone who listens and shares. When you get a moment, we'd be so grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcasts, rated us on Spotify, or tagged us in your stories on Instagram, @amateuractivistpod Connect with me on Instagram, @belagiirrll Connect with Kevin on Twitter @kevinmnye1 Purchase Kevin's first book here. A big thank you to David Andrew for producing the music for this season. Follow him ⁠here

This month, we are joined again by Ken Mueller, Operations Liaison for Business Intelligence in the VA Homeless Programs Office to talk about the 2024 Point-in-Time Count results.Mr. Mueller talks about recent trends in Veteran homelessness, how Veterans compare to other Americans experiencing homelessness, and the causes for the 7.6% decrease in Veteran homelessness since 2023.Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness are strongly encouraged to contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at (877) 4AID-VET (877-424-3838) for assistance.Closed Caption Transcript is available at:  https://www.sharedfedtraining.org/Podcasts/EVH_S1EP33.pdf    ===============================Find your nearest VA: https://www.va.gov/find-locationsLearn more about VA resources to help homeless Veterans: https://www.va.gov/homelessRead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's press release on the 2024 Point-in-Time Count: https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/hud_no_24_327Read the 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdfListen to our first episode with guest Ken Mueller: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/news-update-data-reveal-that-veteran-homelessness-decreased-by-11--51740464View our graphic “The Reduction in Veteran Homelessness from 2010 to 2024”: https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/PITReduction2010-2024.pdfRead All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness: https://www.usich.gov/federal-strategic-plan/overviewDownload our One Team Approach Implementation Toolkit: https://www.va.gov/homeless/oneteam-toolkit.aspListen to our episode on our One Team Approach: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/s1ep28-ending-veteran-homelessness-as-one-team--60665818Read our article on VA Homeless Programs' Fiscal Year 2025 Budget: https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/featuredarticles/Where-Does-the-Money-Go.aspRead our article on VA's implementation of Housing First: https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/featuredarticles/VAs-Implementation-of-Housing-First.aspRead our article on our 2023 Homelessness Goals results: https://news.va.gov/128260/va-exceeds-goal-to-house-homeless-veterans/

As is customary, HUD released its annual report on homelessness at the end of 2024. It revealed a startling year-over-year increase in homelessness among individuals and families in the United States. Among the devastating data, there were bright spots such as a decrease in homeless veterans. But the reporting and punditry surrounding the report was less than stellar, and the news was buried in a matter of days. Crucially, some of the worst reporting on HUD’s findings came from left wing media sources who pointed to immigration as one of the drivers of the increase, conveniently and uncritically parroting conservative talking points while ignoring the more pertinent narratives. Chapters Intro: 00:00:37 Chapter One: A Point in Time. 00:03:12 Chapter Two: Whether Building a Home or a Narrative, Framing Matters. 00:07:39 Chapter Three: Housing First: When Evidence Meets Ideology. 00:17:03 Bring it Home, Max. 00:26:20 Post Show Musings: 00:30:55 Outro: 00:58:21 Resources HUD: The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress Tsemberis, S., & Eisenberg, R. F. (2000). Pathways to Housing: Supported Housing for Street-Dwelling Homeless Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2000). A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. Washington, DC U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2010). *Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. Washington, DC Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2014). Housing First in Permanent Supportive Housing Brief Gillespie, S., et al. (2021). Denver Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond Initiative: Final Outcome Report. Urban Institute Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. (2019). Housing for Health Year Four Evaluation Report Wright, B. J., et al. (2016). Health in Housing: Exploring the Intersection between Housing and Health Care. Center for Outcomes Research and Education National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). Permanent Supportive Housing: Evaluating the Evidence for Improving Health Outcomes Among People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness Gubits, D., et al. (2016). Family Options Study: 3-Year Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions for Homeless Families. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Y-Foundation. (2020). A Home of Your Own: Housing First and Ending Homelessness in Finland National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2020). Rapid Re-Housing Works: What the Evidence Says Padgett, D. K., et al. (2016). Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing Lives. Oxford University Press UNFTR Episode Resources Over The Borderline Series: Introduction. Part One. Part Two. Part Three. -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, TikTok and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is hosted by Max and distributed by 99. Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic."Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unftrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the debate over homeless policy plays out across the country, Project HOME has offered resources to homeless people in Philadelphia for decades. We talk with the co-founder, who just retired after 35 years. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Chandler Esslinger, FM Coalition to End Homelessness and Board Chair of the ND Coalition for Homeless People and Katie Jo Armbrust, Grand Forks Housing Authority & with the ND Coalition for Homeless People, join Joel Heitkamp in studio for a longform conversation about homelessness in North Dakota. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Fox is the CEO of The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. With her is State Rep Eleni Kavros Degraw and together they have a plan to put forth to help end homelessness in the state of Connecticut.

In Illinois, Black residents are eight times more likely to be homeless than white residents. The lack of affordable housing, the racial wealth gap, the legacy of redlining all drive these high rates. This is outlined in a report from the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, commissioned by the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. Reset hears more about these structural factors and what can be done to alleviate these disparities from Illinois State Homelessness Chief Christine Haley. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

In this special episode of Natural Collisions, we celebrate Co.act Detroit's five-year anniversary, recorded live at the historic Jam Handy in Detroit. Join us as we highlight the incredible work of nonprofit organizations from across Southeast Michigan.We explore how Co.act Detroit has supported collaboration, innovation, and impact in our communities through speeches and interviews with leaders and changemakers. This milestone is not just about the past five years—it's about inspiring a shared vision for the future. Don't miss this inspiring reflection on what's possible when nonprofits unite for a greater cause.Speakers:Kelly Brittain, Vice President of Impact at the Children's Foundation - https://yourchildrensfoundation.org/Rashard Dobbins, Executive Director at Class Act Detroit - https://www.classactdetroit.org/Amanda Andere, CEO at Funders Together to End Homelessness - https://www.funderstogether.org/ Interviews:Kourtney Neloms - Catalyst Consulting 313Tony Russell - Detroit Community SolutionsShadora Ford - Destined For GreatnessDavid Silver - Detroit Horse PowerAdriene BulgerAmanda Holiday - Congress of CommunitiesGeorge Cole - Act Now ServicesJackie Dunlap - Teachers Supporting TeachersT. Yarnell Ball - Read Art Loud To find out more about Co.act Detroit visit - https://coactdetroit.org/ Timestamps:00:00 - Welcome01:38 - Welcome from Allandra Bulger03:15 - Kelly Brittain07:47 - Rashard Dobbins13:08 - Amanda Andere21:37 - Allandra's Thank You23:29 - Celebration Interviews

Ri Coalition to End Homelessness Executive Director Kim Simmons talks challenges with the state's Coordinated Entry System. the phone portal for people experiencing homelessness to secure shelter, as well as other issues pertaining to the unhoused crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

01/03/25: Joel Heitkamp is joined in the KFGO studio on this cold winter day by Chandler Esslinger and Taylor Syvertson to talk about addressing homelessness in Fargo and Moorhead. Taylor Syvertson is the Director of Community Impact at the United Way in Fargo and Chandler is the Executive Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Coalition to End Homelessness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12/23/24: Ahead of Christmas, Joel is off and Jamie Selzler is in the hosting chair of “News and Views.” He’s first joined by Chandler Esslinger, the Executive Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Coalition to End Homelessness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2025 legislative session is only weeks away in the state of Utah. One of the issues they will focus on right off the bat is homelessness. What will finally work to end homelessness in Utah? What should we spend money on that will actually work? KSL Newsradio's Amanda Dickson asked her guests on A Woman's View. Her guests this week include Luz Lewis-Perez, Director of Development and Programs for the Kidney Foundation for Utah and Idaho and singer and songwriter Cherie Call. 

In this special and final episode of The Market Pulse for 2024, host Aaron Fichera welcomes Lynne Williams, Executive Director of HomeAid Austin, and Kim McCorkle, the organization's Development & Outreach Director, to discuss the critical issue of homelessness and how the construction and real estate industries can be a force for positive change. Lynne and Kim share the inspiring history of HomeAid Austin's mission, the success stories behind their projects, and the innovative partnerships that have helped expand their reach. They'll also shed light on current housing initiatives designed to provide safe, stable environments for Austin's most vulnerable populations, and highlight upcoming events and community engagement opportunities. Builders, developers, and tradespeople won't want to miss this chance to learn how they can get involved, lend their expertise, and help shape a better, more inclusive Austin. Join us for an insightful and actionable conversation on creating lasting solutions to homelessness through compassionate collaboration and industry leadership.

Over the past few years, homeless encampments have become a fixture in every major city across Canada. Governments of all stripes have been grappling with the best approach to dealing with them. Is it best to clear out encampments, and push the people living there into the shelter system? Or is it better to take a hands off approach, and accommodate encampments as best as possible? In the province of Ontario, the Ford Government has taken the drastic step of tabling legislation to give municipalities more power to evict people living on public land, and shield authorities from lawsuits afterwards. Is that a step in the wrong direction? Host David Smith speaks with Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, about why governments are struggling to effectively deal with chronic homelessness.Over the past few years, homeless encampments have become a fixture in every major city across Canada. Governments of all stripes have been grappling with the best approach to dealing with them. Is it best to clear out encampments, and push the people living there into the shelter system? Or is it better to take a hands off approach, and accommodate encampments as best as possible? In the province of Ontario, the Ford Government has taken the drastic step of tabling legislation to give municipalities more power to evict people living on public land, and shield authorities from lawsuits afterwards. Is that a step in the wrong direction? Host David Smith speaks with Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, about why governments are struggling to effectively deal with chronic homelessness. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Grainia Long, CEO of the Northing Ireland Housing Executive and Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy, Development, Communication and Research

In This Episode Jeff Shore interviews Scott Larson, CEO of HomeAid, discussing the organization's mission to combat homelessness through the building industry. Scott shares transformative projects, personal stories, and the challenges faced in community resistance. They delve into the complexities of homelessness, Scott's personal journey with cancer, and the importance of living with purpose and community involvement.   Timestamps 00:00 Understanding Homelessness: A Complex Issue 12:40 The Role of HomeAid in Addressing Homelessness 18:49 Community Resistance and Overcoming Challenges 23:51 Personal Journeys: Cancer and Compassion 29:50 Getting Involved: How to Support the Cause   About Scott Scott Larson joined HomeAid America as the CEO in October of 2019. Larson brings more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership, strategic planning, project management, program implementation, and community development to HomeAid America. For the past 21 years, Larson served as the Executive Director of HomeAid Orange County, the founding chapter of HomeAid. Larson united builders, community leaders, service providers, and government officials to lead the development of 33 housing projects, valued at $64 million that added more than 975 beds, allowing thousands of previously homeless individuals and families access to safe, dignified housing.   Acknowledgement: Builder365 is powered by Opendoor for Builders. For easy sales and smooth moves, visit www.opendoor.com/builder365   

The ACLU and a Chicago-based group have blasted the city of Peoria days after it enacted a ban on camping in public spaces. In an email, the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, the Peoria Chapter of the ACLU of Illinois, and the ACLU of Illinois ripped on the Peoria City Council, which voted 6-5 to implement the ban to regulate and curb homeless encampments.

Segment 1: Tom Gimbel, job expert and founder of LaSalle Network, joins John to talk about how a company should best handle a situation when their needs to be a change in leadership. Segment 2: Philippe Weiss, President, Seyfarth at Work, joins John to talk about what companies need to know about using AI in the workplace. Segment 3: […]

President-elect Donald Trump has a strategy to tackle the homeless crisis at the national level. He pitched his plan during his campaign, but the question now is: will it happen? And if it does, how will it affect communities here in the Northwest? Trump outlined his vision last year on his "Agenda 47" website. "Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares surrendered to the homeless, the drug-addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged," Trump said. "The homeless have no right to turn every park and sidewalk into a place for them to squat and do drugs. Americans should not have to step over piles of needles and waste as they walk down the street."

This week are joined by Nate French, Director of Community Impact at Community Solutions, an organization that works to create a lasting end to homelessness that leaves no one behind.  Learn more about Community Solutions here. https://community.solutions/ Email or DM Hear Our Voices to share your story or resources related to homelessness and housing instability: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠NYCHearOurVoices@gmail.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Hear Our Voices' ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ account links can be found on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linktr.ee/nyc_hov⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. RESOURCES ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠NYC311⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://portal.311.nyc.gov/  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DHS' Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) intake center ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠- apply for shelter   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/site/dhs/shelter/families/families-with-children-applying.page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brochure⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dhs/downloads/pdf/path-brochure.pdf ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠HRA Guide for Housing Instability⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/assets/hra/downloads/pdf/BK-9-SOI-NewGuideForRenters.pdf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠      Housing Vouchers ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Section 8⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/site/nycha/section-8/about-section-8.page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CityFHEPS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/cityfheps.page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FHEPS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/fheps.page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Special One-Time Assistance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (SOTA) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/sota.page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   Check out other resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bit.ly/40pB4p8

In this episode of Inspired Nonprofit Leadership, host Sarah Olivieri interviews Susan Parks, President and CEO of Orange County United Way. Susan shares her journey from being a donor to becoming a leading figure in the organization, and discusses the strategic planning processes that have driven significant impact in the community. The conversation touches on setting measurable goals, the importance of collaborative research, and innovative programs addressing homelessness, financial security, and student success. Learn valuable tips for effective nonprofit leadership and strategic planning, and get inspired by the success stories from Orange County United Way.   Episode Highlights Meet Susan Parks: CEO of Orange County United Way Strategic Planning: Past and Present Measurable Goals and Community Impact The Importance of Research and Data Strategic Planning Models and Capacity Building Leadership Lessons and Team Building Meet the Guest As President and CEO of Orange County United Way, Susan B. Parks leads the nonprofit organization's mission to improve lives and strengthen the Orange County community. Parks has a long history with the organization as a former board member and one of the founding members of Orange County United Way's Women's Philanthropy Fund. She was also an active player in the development of the nonprofit's 10-year strategic plan to achieve substantial and sustainable social change in our county. Under Parks' leadership, the organization launched three key initiatives (United to End HomelessnessSM, United for Financial SecuritySM and United for Student SuccessSM), which tackle the Orange County community's most critical issues and seek to provide long-term solutions that break the cycle. She also spearheaded the organization's acquisition of 2-1-1 Orange County (211OC), a key service that connects thousands of the community's most vulnerable residents with health and human service resources via a free, 24-hour emergency contact center. Prior to joining United Way, she held executive roles in several Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, in addition to being an entrepreneur. Parks has received numerous accolades including the 2023 LA Times Inspirational Women in Leadership Award, 2021 Excellence in Executive Leadership Honoree Award by the CSU Fullerton's Center for Leadership, the 2020 Woman of the Year Award from Congressman Lou Correa, the Impact 2020 CEO of the Year Award, and many others. Parks currently serves on the Commission to End Homelessness and is a member of the University of California,Irvine (UCI) Chief Executive Roundtable. Connect with Susan: >>Website: https://www.unitedwayoc.org >>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-parks-92a5185/ >>Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/unitedwayoc?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw   Sponsored Resource Join the Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter for weekly tips and inspiration for leading your nonprofit! Access it here >> Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn. Connect with Sarah: On LinkedIn>> On Facebook>> Subscribe on YouTube>>

Kevin Adler grew up with a beloved uncle, Mark, who never forgot to send him a Hallmark card on his birthday.  Over time, Kevin learned that his uncle was unhoused and suffering from schizophrenia.  When Mark died at the age of 50, Kevin decided that working to solve the crisis of homelessness would be his life's work.  The experience of having a close relative in this predicament made him realize that “everybody is somebody's somebody,” and deserving of our compassion.  He founded Miracle Messages, a nonprofit working to tell the stories of individuals who are unhoused, in hopes of connecting and reuniting them with estranged friends and family.  To date, they have facilitated more than 800 people and have created a phone buddy system where volunteers communicate weekly with their assigned partner, building relationships where none existed before. Kevin Adler tells this story in his new book, When We Walk By, and shares many of these stories in this episode, while also describing his optimistic views on basic income and affordable housing programs.    Chapters: 03:09 The Personal Journey Begins Kevin recounts his personal connection to homelessness through his Uncle Mark, whose struggles profoundly influenced his life's work. This emotional story sets the stage for Kevin's mission to humanize those experiencing homelessness.  05:19 The Crisis of Shared Humanity Kevin discusses the dual crises of inadequate service systems and a lack of shared humanity in addressing homelessness.   08:12 The Jeffrey Story Kevin shares the poignant story of Jeffrey, a man he helped reconnect with his family after years of separation.   12:00 Understanding Relational Poverty The conversation shifts to the concept of relational poverty, emphasizing the importance of social connections in preventing homelessness.   16:39 Challenging Stereotypes Kevin discusses the harmful stereotypes surrounding homelessness and the diverse experiences of those affected.   19:54 Miracle Messages Programs Kevin elaborates on the various programs of Miracle Messages, including family reunification and the Miracle Friends Phone Buddy program.   25:00 The Impact of Basic Income The discussion turns to the controversial topic of basic income, with Kevin sharing insights from his organization's pilot program.   30:01 Rethinking Assistance: The Impact of Basic Income In this chapter, Kevin Adler discusses the misconceptions surrounding financial assistance for the homeless, emphasizing that many recipients prioritize housing and basic needs over substance use.   32:01 Success Metrics: Measuring Impact Adler shares the positive outcomes of Miracle Messages' programs, revealing that 80% of reunions lead to improved health and social conditions.   34:17 The Cost of Homelessness: A Financial Perspective This chapter dives into the financial implications of homelessness, comparing the costs of emergency services for unhoused individuals to the potential savings of providing basic income.   36:47 The Affordable Housing Crisis Adler tackles the pressing issue of affordable housing, discussing the systemic underinvestment and barriers faced by those in need.   39:13 Lessons from History: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Drawing parallels between the 1906 earthquake and today's homelessness crisis, Adler illustrates how collective trauma can lead to community resilience and action.   46:15 Taking Action: How You Can Help In this chapter, Adler encourages listeners to engage with their communities and challenge misconceptions about homelessness.  

This is Talking Royals - our weekly podcast about the royal family - with presenter, Charlene White and ITV News' Royal Editor Chris Ship and Royal Producer Lizzie Robinson.This week, Chris and Lizzie join Charlene to discuss the Diplomatic Corps Reception and why Paul Mescal met King Charles.Plus, Prince Harry gets a tattoo in the name of the Invictus Games.

"Shelter is just that-- shelter. It is not long term." Ryan Gates, Executive Producer Homelessness is a challenge, a problem, a fear, a sadness, a human condition that requires humanity to solve.  Wichita, Kansas and communities all over the Unites States want a solution. It is Wichita, Kansas that is putting poeple together to "triage" resources to end homelessness.  Ryan Gates documentary Hope In The Heartland, Wichita's Quest to End Homelessness is a call to action.  We are all responsible for the solution.  

"Prince William: We Can End Homelessness" Coming Soon To Disney+ https://whatsondisneyplus.com/we-can-end-homelessness-coming-soon-to-disney/    #DisneyPlus  If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting it via our Patreon or as a YouTube Channel Membership from as little as $2 a month and get access to exclusive content and much more.

"Prince William: We Can End Homelessness" Coming Soon To Disney+ https://whatsondisneyplus.com/we-can-end-homelessness-coming-soon-to-disney/    #DisneyPlus  If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting it via our Patreon or as a YouTube Channel Membership from as little as $2 a month and get access to exclusive content and much more.

Today, Jonathan and Sy speak with author and housing advocate Kevin Nye about the Church and homelessness. We get into:-        The ineffective housing policies Christians often promote-        The bad theology behind those policies-        A run-in Kevin had with institutional resistance to his view that governments shouldn't criminalize homelessness-        How churches can get things right in ministries to unhoused people-        Plus, hear our thoughts on the interview,-        A discussion of how we are resisting the negative ways the election is trying to shape us mentally and spiritually-        And our thoughts on all the discourse around Ta-Nehisi Coates' controversial new bookMentioned in the episode:-        Kevin's article on Christians mistakenly rejecting housing-first policies-        Josiah Haken's book, Neighbors with No Doors-        Kevin's article on Christianity Today's coverage of homelessness-        His article in RNS about a Supreme Court case on unhoused people's constitutional rights-        His book, Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness-        His Substack, Who Is My Neighbor?-        Ta-Nehisi Coates' new book, The Message-        Our newsletter with links to a couple of Coates' interviewsCredits-            Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.-        Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.-        Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.-        Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.-        Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.-        Editing by Multitude Productions-        Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy Hoekstra.-        Production by Sy Hoekstra and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes in a major scale, the first three ascending and the last three descending, with a keyboard pad playing the tonic in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Kevin Nye: If you're an average middle class American Christian and you want to become wealthy, have a private jet, a mansion, here's your spiritual steps. Get closer to Jesus, you'll be rewarded with physical wealth. Well, if that's true, the opposite of that would be true, which is that if you are in deep dire poverty, it must mean that you're that much farther from Jesus.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Intro and HousekeepingJonathan Walton: Welcome to Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. I'm Jonathan Walton.Sy Hoekstra: And I am Sy Hoekstra, today is gonna be a great one for you. We have a conversation that we're gonna have before we get into our interview, kind of about the election. A little bit of a catch up, since this is actually going to be our last show before the presidential election, which now that I say it into a microphone, is a little bit scary [laughter]. We're gonna be having a conversation today with author, theologian and housing activist Kevin Nye. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. Basically, the church is extremely involved in housing policy in America, and we are often going about it the wrong way, and that's often because of a lot of bad theology and some falsehoods that we believe about unhoused people, and so Kevin will help us get deep into that.He's a great resource and a great person to talk about it with, as well as some of the more systemic issues of why we have such an entrenched way of thinking about unhoused people. You'll be able to hear Jonathan and my thoughts about the interview afterwards, and we will get into our segment Which Tab Is Still Open, where we go a little bit deeper into one of the recommendations from our newsletter. This week we're talking all about Ta-Nehisi Coates and his new book, The Message and some of the discussions that have been happening around it. Also, one quick note. My voice might sound a little groggy, because about 12 hours ago, I was at game one of the American League Championship Series [laughter] and I screamed my face off.Is that a wise thing for a podcaster to do before recording? Maybe not, but I trust that you all will forgive me [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes, and for the uninitiated, we're talking about baseball [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Yes, that's a good point. American League Championship Series, that's a baseball series [laughter].Jonathan Walton: But before we get into all that, please friends, remember to go to KTFPress.com and become a paid subscriber to support this show and everything we do here at KTF Press. We've been creating media that centers personal and informed discussions on faith, politics and culture, and that helps you seek Jesus and confront injustice. You've been listening for a while or the first time, you need to know we're resisting the idols of the American church by elevating marginalized voices and taking the entirety of Jesus' gospel more seriously than those who narrow it to sin and salvation. The two of us have [laughs] a lot of experience doing this, have been practicing this in community for a while, and as Maya Angelou would say, we're always practicing Christianity.So if you wanna do that, you could do that with us. We'd love for you to become a paid subscriber. You get all the bonus episodes of this show, access to our monthly subscriber Zoom chats, and you can comment on posts and more. So again, go to KTFPress.com to join us and become a paid subscriber.Sy Hoekstra: A couple of quick announcements before we get into everything. In two weeks there will not be an episode. That's just a couple days after the election. We're gonna let things settle a little bit.Jonathan Walton: Hopefully so.Sy Hoekstra: I mean, hopefully settle a little bit before [laughter] we have our sort of clean, edited podcast discussion about the election. However, we are going to do something a little bit different the day after the election. So that'll be Wednesday, November 6th at 1 pm. We are going to be having a Substack live conversation. So that means basically, if you have the Substack app, you will be able to watch us just have a live conversation about the election, what happened the night before, what we're thinking, how we can move forward faithfully now that the voting is done, and all of the potential chaos that comes after that. If you don't have the app, you can download it on the App Store or the Google Play Store. Anybody who's on our email list will get an email notification or a push notification from the app when we start.So if you're not on our email list, go to KTFPress.com and sign up. Even just the free email list, you'll get that notification. The email will have a link to download the app if you don't have it. So Substack live Wednesday, November 6th, at 1 pm to talk about the election. A little bit more raw, unfiltered, that sort of thing [laughter]. And then we'll have a finale episode, we'll announce the date later once we have that set. You'll be able to comment in the chat of the Substack live, so you can put your comments and your questions there. So come prepared to dialog a little bit. We're excited to try this new feature that Substack has rolled out. Also our next Zoom chat for subscribers will be this upcoming Tuesday, October 29th at 1 pm.So if you want to join in on that, please become a paid subscriber. If you already are a paid subscriber, then the link to register for that is in your email already. Go back to your emails from us and check for it, submit your questions. We have had some really great conversations at the four or five of these that we've done so far, and we look forward to another one this Tuesday.How Has the Election Been Shaping Us? And How Are We Resisting?Sy Hoekstra: Alright Jonathan, before the interview, we're gonna start off with an election question that will kind of let us give some of our final thoughts going into actual voting day. This is a question that you came up with, and I like it a lot, actually. Jonathan, how has this election been trying to shape you and how have you been resisting it?Jonathan Walton: Yeah. I think just hanging out in this space of formation, like we're impacted by things around us, and it's literally making us into new people or different kinds of people. I have an injury in my hip, and it's like, I ran marathons and did lots of sports and work, and so my hip is shaped differently because of the pressure that I put on it.Our Political Culture Tries to Instill Fear, but Jesus Doesn'tJonathan Walton: And so I think that culture is trying to shape me into an anxious, fearful person, because violent crime can be down in the United States, but my fears about my daughter getting older and going to the train, I'm terrified.Sy Hoekstra: Really?Jonathan Walton: Oh yeah. It's terrible. It's terrible.Sy Hoekstra: Interesting.Jonathan Walton: People are like, “Oh yeah, my kid walked to the train,” I'm like, clutch my pearls.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs] Oh, you're one of those New York City parents.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. And some of its familiarity, I never did that. That just wasn't my reality. I think it's more that than all of the fears that people have. It's just unfamiliar to me. And so I think that the Democrats would love for me to fear the apocalypse, and the Republicans would love for me to fear the apocalypse [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: Different apocalypses.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, different apocalyptic visions for the state of this country and the world. And that is a very effective fundraising tactic. It's a very effective way to get people out to vote, because having people be motivated by fear rather than love is better for the prince of the power of the air. It's better for the wills within us that are not submitted to God and trusting him for our well being and the well being of those around us, and leaning into that. And so I think that I want to reject the gospel of self reliance. I want to reject the gospel that I have to control everything and hold it all close and accumulate more and protect that which I accumulate, like all that I got. I just have to say no to that, because I don't wanna be afraid all the time and then make all the people around me more afraid. I don't think Jesus made people afraid.He made demons afraid, but off the top of my head, I cannot… like Judas wasn't even afraid of Jesus. The fear and reverence of the Lord and all of those kinds of things where the angels and the Father say, “Don't be afraid,” Jesus speaking to people did not instill fear in them. I don't think I need to be motivated or driven or attracted or tempted towards fear about anything.Sy Hoekstra: I mean, there are people who seemed kind of afraid of him, but they were all powerful and largely oppressive people.Jonathan Walton: [laughs] That's true.Sy Hoekstra: Herod seemed pretty afraid of Jesus [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Herod was terrified. Yeah, that's true. I don't think that Jesus' goal in conversation dialog was for someone to be afraid.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, that's correct.Jonathan Walton: And then for them to be compelled to follow him because they were scared. Like that… it is literally the opposite of a fire and brimstone call to faith. It's not congruent with the Christ of scripture.Resisting Cynicism by Choosing Where to Place Our HopeJonathan Walton: So what about you? How do you think our current political [laughs] realities, would love for you to be in the world?Sy Hoekstra: It feels like they would love for me to be a cynic. I don't know, someone who's just a real downer. Because I would say, if you'd asked this eight years ago, I would have said they would want me to be depressed. Because at that time, Trump just felt so dark and foreboding in a way that was deeply sad to me. Not exactly scary, but just really, really depressing. I think now I'm actually thinking more about the Democrats when I say that, because as we are recording, the Biden administration has said some very tentative things about a maybe possible weapons embargo if some undefined humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not vetted in the next month. So we'll see how that works out over the next week and a half until this publishes.But basically, up until now, it's kind of been you've got to toe the party line. You got to be effectively totally pro Israel to be in line with the Biden administration and also with the Harris campaign. That could lose them Michigan maybe or whatever, but ultimately coming out for a ceasefire or something else they must have done the calculus is gonna lose them more.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: The reason that that makes me cynical is just so much in politics, it's just about that. It's just about, are you gonna get elected or not? I think Jonathan, and I've been convinced for a long time, it is pretty impossible to be a politician and follow Jesus, because if you follow Jesus you're not gonna be a politician anymore [laughter]. Because the whole point is you got to get reelected, and you got to do whatever it takes to do that. You've got to change your mind on issues, you've got to spend money, you've got to be a hypocrite. Doesn't matter, you've just got to get reelected. There are probably certain scenarios, like certain places that you could be elected and have integrity for smaller offices than the President [laughs], that would lead me to some amount of cynicism about the whole system and despair if my faith was in the system. If I was looking to who the next president is to determine my hope for the world.And it's kind of a cheesy Christian thing maybe to say, but my hope is in Jesus. But I think it's actually, even honestly, if your hope was not in Jesus, if it was just in something other than what's happening in our current politics, that's a very powerful thing. You know what I mean? It is a very powerful thing to genuinely have your emotional steadiness in something other than whatever's happening in politics. And for me, that's Jesus. But you know, so that's where I'm trying to sit, and that's why I'm trying to resist the way that the election is trying to make me a cynic.Can Christians Be Politicians Faithfully?Sy Hoekstra: You keep taking breaths like you have something that you wanna say immediately [laughs] [unclear 00:11:14].Jonathan Walton: I'm thinking, if I heard you right you were like, you believe it may be impossible to follow Jesus and be a politician?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And I was thinking about that because I think it's like, we would have to define follower of Jesus and define politician.Sy Hoekstra: Sure.Jonathan Walton: But it's interesting to me that it is impossible to be a servant of empire and follow Jesus. Like it's possible, because Jesus calls them out to be a non-Christian religious person. It is possible for Cornelius to be in the military and be faithful to God.Sy Hoekstra: I see what you're saying.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, but what you're getting at is the incoherence of that reality that we try to assert. So for example, I think it's possible to be a Christian politician. It is impossible to make politics Christian.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. And if you want to be a Christian politician, you're gonna have to recognize that your job is going to be constantly, ceaselessly trying to pull you away from Jesus [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. It is impossible to follow Jesus and be a politician, if a politician is what you are trying to be.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. I got you.Jonathan Walton: It is possible to follow Jesus and hold elected office, you know what I mean? But there are some people whose complete identity, which is what you're talking about, “I'm only here to get reelected. I wanna accumulate power, I wanna do that,” like it is impossible to be a politician.Sy Hoekstra: I think it's a little bit harder than that though, because it's not just about your identity if you're a politician, your job is to get reelected. That's what everyone is looking for you to do. That's what your party's looking for you to do, all people who work for you, obviously, that's what they're looking for you to do [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: Literally, if you don't get reelected, you can't do the job anymore. So it's like it is an integral part of the job description itself. It's not even just an issue of where your identity lies. You know what I mean?Jonathan Walton: That's true. Listen, if you're listening to this, I would love to hear what you think.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Love to hear what you think. Unfortunately, the philosophical argument, the dominoes could start to fall around lots of professions. It's interesting. We're probably gonna talk about this as a subscriber chat now. So there we go [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: There we go.Jonathan Walton: Cool.Sy Hoekstra: Cool. Thanks for that little brief discussion as we go into the voting booths, which is in like a week and a half from when you're listening to this, if it's the day it comes out. And as we continue to behave politically after the voting happens, which I hope everyone listening to this show is doing [laughs], let's try and be shrewd. Innocent and shrewd, right?Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: That's what Jesus wants us to be.Jonathan Walton: [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: And let's continue to think hard about that. I appreciate that discussion. Let's try to find a way to continue it. We are gonna get into our interview now before we come back and talk about our thoughts on the interview and some stuff about Ta-Nehisi Coates [laughter] in Which Tab Is Still Open.Interview with Kevin NyeOur guest today, as I said, is Kevin Nye. He is a writer and advocate working to end homelessness through engaging best practices. He has written on the intersections of homelessness and faith for Religion News Service, Sojourners, Red Letter Christians and more. He has presented at national conferences on the topic of homelessness. His first book released in August of 2022 and it was called Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness. Kevin currently lives with his wife and son in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he works as the housing director for an organization addressing youth homelessness.Jonathan Walton: Let's get into our interview.[The intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Kevin Nye, thank you so much for joining us on Shake the Dust today.Kevin Nye: Absolutely. It's a pleasure to be here.The Effective ‘Housing-First' Policies Evangelicals Often RejectSy Hoekstra: You and I met about a year ago at the Evolving Faith conference, just after you had published what I thought was a really great article for Sojourners about kind of the difference between treatment-first housing policy and housing-first housing policy, which can, they can sound a bit wonky to people. But you talked about how it's a really important distinction, and how a lot of times Christians are making the wrong choice in choosing the treatment-first policy and favoring those types of policies. And so because I think this distinction will actually help us get at a lot of underlying kind of spiritual and theological issues when it comes to housing policy, can you tell us what these two different approaches are and why you think a lot of conservative Christians are picking the wrong one?Kevin Nye: Absolutely. So the treatment-first methodology, it's kind of the one that we've been using for almost 100 years in response to homelessness, but it also sort of infects a lot of our thinking about many different things. And it essentially says that if you are in poverty, if you are in homelessness, that you have to sort of prove your worthiness of getting out of that. So if you are experiencing homelessness, we know that ultimately the destination that you're hoping for is to be in housing of some kind, an apartment, a house, what have you. But that in order to get there under the treatment-first model, it suggests that you have to sort of check a bunch of boxes. And those boxes have looked different, according to the program, and according to the time that it's been implemented, but they usually include some level of sobriety.So if drugs or alcohol are part of your life, they have to stop. If you struggle with your mental health or even your physical health, that you have to ascribe to a particular treatment plan, and demonstrate your willingness to do that and to stay on it to then achieve whatever objective is set for you by some institution, which often is a shelter or a government program or a Christian institution, like a Rescue Mission. And then depending on which avenue you're going or which institution is involved, that can include a lot of other more arbitrary types of rules, like that if you demonstrate your worthiness or your dedication by applying for a certain number of jobs per week, or attaining employment first, or attending Bible study every day at the Rescue Mission. There's sort of all of these expectations to demonstrate that you are sort of good enough, worthy enough to invest in with this long-term opportunity.That is opposed to the housing-first idea, which we've known and understood for closer to like 30 years and have been studying and practicing ever since, which suggests that rather than do or accomplish all of these things to prove that you deserve housing, housing being sort of the end destination, we lead with the housing because we recognize that housing is the stabilizing force that makes so many of those other things possible. And then we don't just plop you in housing and say, “Good luck,” but we put you in housing and then ask you, “Okay, now, what do you wanna work on?” Now that you have this baseline of stability, of safety, a literal home base, what's next? Let's tackle it together. Now that you can get a good night's sleep. Now that you can charge your phone in an outlet overnight.Now that your documents and your medications are safe. Now that you can buy food to store it in a fridge, rather than go to whatever dinner is available for free for you across the community, or save up enough to get fast food just to fill your belly. All these things that we sort of take for granted that a home with four walls, a roof and a door provide for us are those things that we actually need to be successful. One's ability to stabilize a physical or mental health condition is really difficult if you don't have a safe place to go every night, like where you can store your medication safely, where you can eat a healthy diet, where you can have a normal routine. And even something like drug use and alcohol use, we understand are things that are responsive to a chaotic situation.That if you are living on the streets every day, you are more likely to seek out the soothing effects [laughs] of alcohol, the numbing effects of substances, or the energizing effects of other types of substances, in order to try to get things done that you need to get done. But that even folks who are deep in the throes of those kind of problematic relationships with drugs and alcohol do so much better with housing-first, rather than saying, “Hey, you need to fix all of these things before we even help you feel safe and stable.”Sy Hoekstra: It also strikes me all three of our mutual friend, Josiah Haken, wrote a book where he talked about kind of myths about homelessness. And one of them was the myth that, basically, homeless people are dangerous.Kevin Nye: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And he was like, the real reality of being homeless is that you're actually in more danger than everybody else constantly. You are the one who's the most likely to be the victim who's most likely gonna be robbed, have your stuff taken. And that stuff that's on you, like you said, is all your documents [laughs], it's all of your medicines that you need to remain in your sound mind or whatever. And just having a place to not be worried about that as much feels like an enormous burden lifted off people too, in addition to all the other enormous burdens lifted off people that you just mentioned.Kevin Nye: Absolutely. Yeah, Josiah is great, and his book is really good, too. Neighbors with No Doors, for your listeners to go check that one out.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, yeah for sure.Christianity Today, and Why the Church Doesn't Address Homelessness WellJonathan Walton: This is something that I'm very passionate about. Like Sy said, I've known Josiah for years. I spent a good part of my formative young adult years on the streets with friends. And so a few months ago, you wrote a post on your Substack about an article of yours that Christianity Today was like, “Yep,” and then said, “No.”Kevin Nye: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: [laughs] So can you tell us about that story, why you decided to go public, and the difference between knowledge and opposition. Because I think some people that are listening to this might think, “Oh, well, if we just know better, then we'll do better.” And I don't think that's true. So could you tell us about your journey writing, then having it get rejected, and then that difference between knowledge about something and opposition. Could you break that down?Kevin Nye: Sure. Yeah, the Christianity Today thing was interesting. When you're a writer on a particular topic and that topic sort of starts to get national attention, which is what was happening, at the time there was a Supreme Court case that was gonna be heard, since then has been heard, Johnson versus Grants Pass, Oregon.Sy Hoekstra: Right.Kevin Nye: We could talk forever about that, but essentially, whether or not municipalities have the right to criminalize homelessness was sort of being decided at the national level. And I wanted to write something about the faith perspective of that. And I have my own Substack and outlets where I can do that, but I thought that this being such a national issue, and my take on it wasn't particularly edgy or controversial. It was just, “Hey, maybe we shouldn't criminalize poor people for being poor.” [laughter]Jonathan Walton: Maybe. Let's try that.Kevin Nye: I thought that that was something… and actually part of what I was writing was not, “Hey, this is what I think.” It was, “Hey, this is what a bunch of churches and faith groups are thinking.” And part of my article was actually about how churches were rallying to support unhoused people in this case and writing into the Supreme Court. So it was almost like, it's kind of pro-church [laughs]. And so I thought given all of that, this would be a pretty good pitch for Christianity Today who is a more conservative publication who I hadn't published with before. I'm more likely to publish with Sojourners, which is less obviously conservative or Religious News Service, which is a little bit more like they're reporting news about religion, not religious news.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Kevin Nye: But I thought this was the right pitch for CT. They had expressed interest in me writing for them before, and it was just about finding the right thing, and I thought this one was it. So I sent it in, and I got a really good response. They agreed. They said, “Hey, this seems like the one. We definitely wanna work with you on it.” And I was pretty upfront from the beginning about what my stance on it was. And they seemed willing along the way, and even a couple times in the process, I just said, “Hey, I just wanna be super clear, this is where I'm going with it. It may be a little different than what you guys are used to publishing on homelessness,” and I just kept getting thumbs up along the way until it was time, essentially to publish it.I had sent it in, it had gotten the final edit, and they had said, “Hey, we're probably gonna publish this on Friday.” And then two hours later, I got an email that just said, “Hey, hold that thought. Just came from a meeting. We might be going in a different direction.” And then I didn't hear anything for 24 hours, and then it was, “Yeah, we are going in a different direction for our coverage.”Jonathan Walton: But did they pay you for it?Kevin Nye: They did. They paid me a kill fee, which…Sy Hoekstra: Which is not the whole thing.Kevin Nye: Yeah. And part of me was like, I wanna be like, “I don't want your money,” [laughter] but then I was like, “I'll take your money and I'll use it for something good.”Jonathan Walton: I can deposit this. Yeah. Right [laughs].Kevin Nye: Yeah. And so I ended up just then sending it to Religion News Service, and said, “Hey, sorry that this is coming late.” Because the deadline was that the Supreme Court was hearing it that week, and so it was sort of a timely piece. And I sent it over there, said, “Hey, I'm sorry this is such short notice, but do you guys want this because another publication didn't want it?” And they ran it. I sat on that for a while deciding whether or not I wanted to say anything about it, because I never want to, I don't wanna stir up trouble just for the sake of trouble. And I don't wanna trash this publication for no reason, even though they've given us some pretty good reasons over the years.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Kevin Nye: But I was like, I don't wanna pick a fight just to pick a fight. And part of that is a professional consideration. As a writer I have the potential to burn a bridge there. So I just sort of said, I'm gonna wait to see what they meant by our coverage is going in a different direction, because it does imply they're gonna publish something, right?Sy Hoekstra: Right.Kevin Nye: And for all I know it could have meant, “Hey, we actually got someone really, super, more qualified than you to write this.” Or, “One of the lawyers who's on the case wanted to write something for us.” And I'd be like, “Well, yeah, of course.” I suspected that wasn't what it meant, [laughs] but I'm gonna withhold judgment, at least publicly for a bit [laughter]. And so I sat on it, and then a couple months later, the Supreme Court ruling came out. So it was supposed to publish when they heard it, and then they had a couple months to deliver a ruling. They delivered a ruling, and Christianity Today had still not published anything, not even about homelessness, period. And so then I thought, “Okay, the ruling just happened.” It also came out the same day that they ruled on presidential immunity.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Kevin Nye: So it was like, okay, there's a lot of competing things to talk about right now so I'm gonna give them a week, two weeks, to see if they put out anything. And then when they didn't, that's when I sort of decided that I wanted to write about not being published, and again, not personal, but write about the fact that nothing was being published about this when it is such a significant ruling about what I would argue is one of the top five most significant issues on everybody's mind, which is housing and homelessness. And sort of how that feeds an ignorance and a lack of Christian conversation about this topic. And again, it wasn't, “How dare they not publish me.” It was sort of like, “How could they not publish anything, especially when they had something to publish, and they chose not to?”Jonathan Walton: Why do you think they killed it and didn't write about it?Kevin Nye: My guess is that ultimately, there is a pretty powerful voice that is Christian and institutionalized in the form of the Gospel Rescue Mission. And those who have supported it have worked in it, worked around it, worked adjacent to it, that does genuinely believe that we should make homelessness harder so that A, either people stop choosing it, which is ludicrous, but more so B, will drive people into institutional settings, like shelters, like Christian shelters, where evangelism can happen, sort of Christian teaching can happen. And the reason I believe that is because there was only one faith perspective that wrote into the Supreme Court in favor of criminalizing, and it was the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission.Criminalizing Homelessness to Force People into Religious SheltersAnd they actually wrote in that publicly available letter that they felt that since it had been ruled at a lower court that they couldn't criminalize, the numbers at their shelter had been declining. Now they failed to mention that this happened at the same time as COVID, and might be another reason that people didn't wanna come into a public shared space type of shelter setting, but that because the city could not use criminalization to compel people into the Rescue Mission, that people were not getting services that they needed. But if you dig into the Gospel Rescue Mission over there, which I did extensively, you learn that they have some of the most egregious rules and expectations of people, and have a very poor reputation among the unhoused community there for how they treat people.And so what then truly is at stake here is in a town like Grants Pass where the only shelter is a Gospel Rescue Mission, can the government criminalize homelessness and force people into a religious setting where they are being taught against their will Christianity in the form of chapel and required Bible studies on a daily basis? And now I don't think Christianity Today thinks that we should institutionalize all unhoused people and scream the Bible at them, but I think that Christianity Today is reluctant to anger the voices who are pretty large and hold a lot of power that defend that institution.The theology behind Misguided Christian Housing ProgramsSy Hoekstra: Can we get a little bit at what some of the reasons are underneath all this stuff? I mean, aside from the [laughs] opportunity to evangelize, forcing people into your program to evangelize them, because that's just your whole end goal as a Christian or whatever, is to convert people, and so the means by which you convert them doesn't matter. Which is, I'm putting it that way because I'm just kind of processing that, because it's gross. It's in line with manipulating people into Christianity by scaring them about hell.Kevin Nye: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: Like why not just scare them about prison or anything else?Jonathan Walton: Yeah, right. I'll put you outside.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, exactly [laughs]. But I wonder what other… you've dug into the theology of this, you've dug into people's reasoning for supporting this kind of programming and the powers that be supporting this kind of programming. What are the other motivations, theological reasons that you see behind treating vulnerable people this way?Kevin Nye: Yeah. Well, I mean, the way I framed it obviously, is sort of the most insidious version of it, but I think that most folks who… I mean, especially your frontline workers in a place that, genuinely believe that Jesus is the solution to homelessness. That people who are experiencing homelessness are doing so because of a personal failure, a moral failure, and that if they commit their lives to Jesus, that that will allow them to leave behind the life that led them into the situation that they're in and propel them towards a new life. That's the nice way of understanding what's happening, which I genuinely believe a lot of folks in these settings are operating it from that more positive version.Even what you described as scaring people with hell to get people to accept Jesus, I know people that are in my family who they genuinely believe that the people that they love and care about are gonna go to hell if they don't. And there is this motivation that, again, because they have this belief that is toxic, that the way… if you are committed to that belief, to then address this problem can be very problematic. My experience by and large, has not been that people who experience homelessness are not religious or are not even committed Christians.Sy Hoekstra: Seriously.Jonathan Walton: Exactly.Sy Hoekstra: Right.Kevin Nye: And on top of that, an informed understanding of what causes homelessness is not moral personal failure, but very measurable and understandable social issues like the cost of housing, like our mental health systems, like the stagnation of wages, so that housing is more expensive and people aren't making any more money. So one plus one equals two, fewer people can access housing.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, there's so much to say there, but things I wanna highlight, you're basically saying that Jesus is the answer to homelessness, allows you to avoid asking systemic questions, allows you to avoid talking about systems that need to change. It also kind of turns Jesus into something that he never said that he was. He never said he was the answer to homelessness. He also never even said, “If you state a belief in me and read the Bible and pray and x, y and z, then you will automatically start making significantly better moral decisions.”Kevin Nye: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: That's not even true about Jesus. He also didn't say, “If you believe in me, all of a sudden you won't be addicted to meth,” or whatever. You know what I mean?Kevin Nye: Right.Sy Hoekstra: None of this is true. There's a real powerful underlying fundamentalist current in that perspective. In a just don't worry about the politics, don't worry about basically any real earthly concerns, just Jesus, everything else will fall in line after that.Kevin Nye: Yeah, and it's, I think a lot about how it's just an extension of prosperity gospel. That it's the same idea that says if you're an average middle-class American Christian, and you want to become wealthy, have a private jet, a mansion, here's your spiritual steps. Get closer to Jesus, you'll be rewarded with physical wealth. Well, if that's true, the opposite of that would be true, which is that if you are in deep, dire poverty, it must mean that you're that much farther from Jesus.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Right.Kevin Nye: And I think even people who would reject the Joel Osteen prosperity rich end of that gospel, still believe a lot of that same stuff, but on the poverty end.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. That's so true.Jonathan Walton: The connection for me happens, is yes, the prosperity gospel, but then also the plantation spirituality.Kevin Nye: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: The people who are rich are obedient, the people who are poor are disobedient. And what disobedient people actually need is supervision and discipline.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Kevin Nye: Yes.Jonathan Walton: And so the housing-first, the entire mentality that you are flipping over is saying you don't actually have to be good or better or on the right side of things to receive, which is the opposite of the plantation, which is the opposite of Capitalism, which is the opposite…Sy Hoekstra: You might even call it grace, Jonathan [laughter].Jonathan Walton: I mean, I was gonna get to the title of the book at the end, but like…[laughs].Kevin Nye: And not even just to receive, but to receive in a way that allows freedom and choice. Because that is one of the biggest differences between these two models. And I think, a lot of why it's we need to hold housing back until we've programmed into a person what they should be acting like and being like then we give them housing, because once they have housing, they're free to make their own decisions, and we're afraid of what that looks like. Versus that housing-first model that, baked into housing-first is choice and options and autonomy. And even in the process of getting into housing, it's not just, “Hey, here's the apartment that you get,” although that is how a lot of systems end up working, just because of scarcity of housing.But in a good housing-first model it's, “Here's all the types of housing that are accessible to you. These ones are subsidized this way, these ones are this way. This is in this part of town, this one is connected to these types of services. What works for you?” And then after that choice comes more choices like, “Hey, what's the thing that you wanna work on first?” Which is the treatment-first model says, you got to get sober before you do anything else. And that is just not true. I think that's a big piece of it too, is how much the treatment-first system allows us, whether we're government or religious, to exert social control over people.Jonathan Walton: All that to say, there are people and systems and structures, institutions in place that keep this ideology enforced.Kevin Nye: Yes.Jonathan Walton: It is moving forward. Something, harking back, we had an interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, who I believe you know.Kevin Nye: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And one of the things she said was, the hope is in the work. As we do the work, we will find hope, because we're close and we see progress, we build relationships, that's the fruit of being in the work. And so as people are, what we were just talking about, these institutions, these individuals are reluctant to this evidence-based policy actually being rolled out in the church, where do you see good work being done inside and outside of the church, where you can find that intersection of hope and work?Kevin Nye: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: As people do start to say yes to Matthew 25.Kevin Nye: I mean, I think that my… so my book came out two years ago now, and when I wrote it, I sort of hoped that it would be revelatory for people. That a lot of Christians would be like, “Oh, this is new information. This is a new way of looking at it.” And there was a good amount of that. But what really surprised me, and gave me a lot of hope, was how much response I got that said, “Yes, this is what we over here already believe, and we've been doing.”Sy Hoekstra: Oh.Kevin Nye: Sometimes like, “We didn't know it had a name. We didn't know there were other people thinking and talking about this.” And so in those two years, as I've gotten to travel around and do some speaking and stuff like that, I've gotten to see and hear about a bunch of programs, churches that are merging this sort of faith-based and evidence-based. And, yeah, it's just been, it's filled me with a ton of hope. And where they're, I think the next growth is for them to get organized together, because right now the Rescue Missions are organized. They have a centralized network, and so they can speak together with one voice in opposition to these best practices.But there's not sort of a focal point or a voice box for all these other ones that are doing, like you said, the hope is in the work, they're doing it in their small, local ways, but don't have a collective together to speak to each other and on behalf of one another and on behalf of the things that they believe in. And so that's part of the project I'm working on right now. My next book project is to sort of give voice and awareness to a lot of these ideas that are being implemented in different places that people don't really know about outside of those local communities, and sort of name what is working and why, and hopefully inspire responses from faith communities and individuals that align with best practices and align with their faith.Jonathan Walton: One, I wanna dive into your book, because I actually haven't read it yet, so I'm looking forward to grabbing it. And I'm glad to hear that you have another one. What would you say is the bridge from the one you wrote to this one?Kevin Nye: A lot of different things, but to make it very black and white, it's the first book is about how to think differently about homelessness, and this book is about how you actually go and do that, and how those change beliefs get worked out in things as nitty gritty as program design.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Totally.Kevin Nye: Without being boring, hopefully.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs] That's great. Where can people find you or your work?Kevin Nye: So I'm on most social media. I'm not too hard to find there, but my handle is a little different everywhere you go. The best sort of landing spot is my Substack. So that's Kevinmnye.substack.com. And so any new thing that I'm writing, whether it's there or I publish with Sojourners, or I'm speaking somewhere, I always put that out in my newsletter there. And hopefully as some more news comes out about this new book project, I'll be able to make announcements about that there.Sy Hoekstra: That's awesome. We will definitely link to that. Kevin Nye, we so much appreciate having you on the show today. Thank you so much for being here.Kevin Nye: Yeah, absolutely. It was a blast.[The intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Our Thoughts after the InterviewSy Hoekstra: Jonathan, I loved that conversation. Tell me what you are thinking about coming out of it.The Church Is Actively Contributing to the Problem of HomelessnessJonathan Walton: There's a lot. I think that the thing that frustrates me the most, and I think this is true about a lot of just injustices that I'm thinking about right now, is that the church is actively contributing to the continuing…Sy Hoekstra: To the problem.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. When we're literally supposed to not do that. Like, the whole Grants Pass amicus brief, I'm just like, “Really guys?” That takes energy. That takes effort, that takes meetings, that takes emails, takes drafts. It takes time to do that. You can't just like, “Hey, I'm gonna write an amicus brief,” and just submit it. There's an effort that goes into sustaining injustice, and that to me I think is concerning and exhausting.Societies with Colonial Roots Won't Provide “Unearned” BenefitsJonathan Walton: The other thing I think about is, I mean, I would say White American folk religion, talk about a plantation mentality, but it even stretches into addressing injustice. I was having a conversation with Maya yesterday.Sy Hoekstra: Your seven-year-old.Jonathan Walton: Yes. No, she's eight. She's eight.Sy Hoekstra: Oh. I forgot.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. But we were talking about the difference between fairness and justice. And she said, “Baba, is it better to give someone what they need or give someone what they ask for?”Sy Hoekstra: You have the deepest child [laughter].Jonathan Walton: She literally asked me that. And I was like, “Ooh.”Sy Hoekstra: Does Maya wanna be on this podcast [laughter]?Jonathan Walton: No, but she was reading a book. I have a discussion or something at school, and this is what she asked me. So I started talking about the vineyard. I said, “Maya, who gets to decide what is needed? Who are the different people?” And she goes, “Well, someone outside is deciding.” And I was like, “Oh, okay, well, then let's go read the story about Jesus in the vineyard.” Like the kingdom of God is like a vineyard.Sy Hoekstra: You're talking about the parable where he pays all the workers the same, no matter how long they worked, and the ones who worked the longest get angry [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Exactly. And then we went and read… she had only read the first half of the parable about the two sons. She hadn't read the second half. So then we talked about the similarities between the father who runs out to meet the prodigal son, and then how the person in charge gets to decide how grace or resources or whatever are distributed. And I was like, it would seem to me that that person gets to define what is just and what is fair, and what is equitable. And we didn't get to talk about power, but that was ultimately what I was thinking about.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And I don't know how to explain it to an eight year old. But she said everybody should get what they need. But she's like, “How can we do that?” And I said, “Maya, that right there is the fundamental question that we try to put together.” There are people who think and believe and will work tooth and nail for people not to get what they don't think they deserve. “I don't think that person deserves a home. I don't think that person deserves to live where I live. I think they should, quote- unquote, wait in line,” if we're talking about immigration. “I played by the rules. Don't pay off that debt. I worked at a job…” We're constantly doing that. There's a Hawaiian activist, her name escapes me right now, but she said, “You got to remember you live in a colony.”Like the United States is a colony. That's what it is. Another Peruvian scholar is like, coloniality is a real thing. And so in a colony, you cannot have people get things that they quote- unquote, didn't work for. The kingdom of God should literally break the brains of imperialists, which it does [laughs], because it just, it blows up everything. So all that to say, I hope, and we'll pray and will work in the influence that I have to say, “Hey, can we do what Kevin was talking about, like housing-first, resources first, hugs first, communication first?” All that.For Evangelicals, Grace Is Not TangibleSy Hoekstra: Yeah, totally. I had kind of similar thoughts. I was gonna talk about how the moralism underlying all of the policy, like the treatment-first policy like, “You have to earn this, and we are suspicious of you, and we have all these stereotypes going in that we're just not going to question and we're gonna follow. And until you prove yourself worthy of our generosity, we're not gonna give it to you.” And so it's sort of like, we can talk about grace and generosity and all of that all day long, but we're not gonna put our money where our mouth is, especially not government money [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Right, exactly.Sy Hoekstra: That's kind of the other side of the coin of the coin of what you were talking about, which is so there's this lack of grace generosity, but I think yours is actually a step further, which is if you're denying grace and generosity, you're going to have to take active steps to reinforce the frankly, evil way of doing things [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And that's the amicus briefs and everything else. What I was just saying, that kind of moralism, it really is connected to the more fundamentalist side of evangelicalism about how, basically, grace is a spiritual thing. It's not a tangible thing. It's not a material thing. It's not something you practice outside of forgiving someone for wronging you. It's not something you do with your money and your resources. It just doesn't really have any business in the public square, or in public policy, which is not a distinction the Bible draws.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: The best you can argue is maybe it's a distinction that under your theology you think the Bible implies. It's definitely not explicit [laughter]. You can look at Leviticus, where there are so so many different provisions where God is requiring people to use the fruits of their own labor to provide for the poor in their neighborhood, and not in particularly efficient ways [laughter]. And Jesus is obviously, or John the Baptist is telling people, “If you have two coats, give one away.” There's the spirit, the direction where everything's going with the kingdom of God is so opposed to that way of thinking, in my view, that it's incredibly frustrating that we have to… Kevin, in particular. I'm frustrated for him, for advocates, and then for most of all, for the actual people who aren't getting housing, who are literally out on the streets. Some of them are freezing to death or starving to death because of our insistence on this moralism.Jonathan Walton: Right. The fundamental thing is at the end of the day, moralism is an argument that you need to earn the stuff, like you were just saying. And then it's like, I'm gonna create an entire ecosystem that justifies your poverty and my comfort.Christians Should Actively Invite Unhoused People into Our NeighborhoodsSy Hoekstra: My other thought was around markets, and a lot of how some of the intractability of housing policy is that so many people just have decided that when you put out public housing or low income housing somewhere, that that lowers the value of the property around it.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Which is by economists, the way they speak, it's an inevitability. It's just the way things are, and it can't be changed. But that is ultimately because the potential buyers of that property are bigots toward poor people [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. No, it's true. Right.Sy Hoekstra: It's such widespread, systemic bigotry that it changes the value of homes and buildings and land. And that's a choice. It is a choice that I will grant you most societies have made [laughs]. Like most societies, rich people want to cordon themselves off from everybody else and to use their money to try and escape the things about this world that are difficult and make us sad and uncomfortable and hurt. But that doesn't mean that it's not still a choice for which God absolutely holds us accountable. Go and read Amos, or whatever [laughter]. There's no question, it does not make God happy, and that we have a different way to go. But what we would need is something that seems kind of impossible at the moment, which is a… you've heard of a NIMBY?Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: NIMBY people, like Not In My Back Yard. So that means, “Don't put that new methadone clinic, don't put that new housing project anywhere near me.” We would need a YIMBY movement.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: You actually have to have people who say, “Yes. I want poor people around. I want people who are trying to recover from drugs around. I want people who have mental health issues around. Because of my positive value for human life and communal flourishing.” And that truly feels impossible to me. I don't think it is, again, I think it's a choice. And one thing that I'm trying to do, I have narrow influence in the world. One person over whom I have a lot of influence is my two year old. I walk around New York City with her all the time. I take her to daycare, other places. And I'm trying to make a point that, we're not going to be afraid of the person who's having the mental health crisis, because the actual reality is, in that mental health crisis, they are in more danger than we are. They are the ones at risk, we are not.Most of them are not violent. A lot of us want to be violent towards them. Aka Jordan Neely, who was killed on the subway because he was having a mental health crisis, and people were sufficiently afraid of him. And so if I'm on the subway platform with my daughter and someone's having a mental health crisis, and they're not that far away from us, and people will move away from that person because they're afraid, I will stay there. And that has never been a problem, not once. You can tell me that that's dangerous or risky, and I don't care, because I know you're wrong, and I'm going to teach the person that I have the ability to teach that you're wrong [laughs]. And we're gonna stay there, and we're gonna be completely fine. I've been here for 16 years now. I've lived in New York City, and I've been around people having, I've worked with even my clients as a lawyer.These are not alien, weird people having scary freakouts to me. These are real people, who by the way, are fully conscious when they're having their mental health crises, and they can see everyone walking away from them, and they know how afraid everybody is of them, and that affects them deeply.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And I'm not gonna be part of it. I will be the yes in my backyard person, even if nobody else is. There are other people who are. I'm not saying it's me against the world, but that is something that we need to insist on it.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, and honestly I think that ties literally perfectly into Which Tab Is Still Open.Which Tab Is Still Open? — Ta-Nehisi CoatesSy Hoekstra: Oh, yeah. Let's get into it. So this is Which Tab Is Still Open. This is the segment where we dive a little bit deeper into one of the recommendations from our newsletter, which you can get by joining the free mailing list at KTFPress.com. You'll get resources articles, podcasts, books, everything, recommendations from Jonathan and I on ways to grow in your discipleship and in your political education. So go to KTFPress.com, sign up for that free mailing list. Jonathan, we're talking about Ta-Nehisi Coates today. Why don't you tell us what we're talking about exactly?Jonathan Walton: Yes. So Ta-Nehisi Coates has a new book, it's called The Message. A very significant portion of it is about his trip to Israel and Palestine, occupied West Bank, Hebron, places like that. Some important points he makes are that when you see how Palestinians are treated up close, it's not really that hard to see it as apartheid or Jim Crow or any other exploitative, discriminatory system that has been set up. And he took a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, and found it profoundly moving as well, but just couldn't shake that the lesson Zionists took from the Holocaust was that, “We have to obtain our own power at all costs to prevent this from happening again.” He's had some really fascinating media appearances while promoting the book that we'll link to in the show notes.One of them, you mentioned the newsletter, was a great interview with The Daily Show. The interview that instigated a lot of this fervor and dialog and will probably help him sell a lot of books, which he's also said [laughter], was with CBS because he was basically ambushed by Tony Dokoupil, and was called an extremist in asking him pretty nonsensical questions for people who are against genocide, totally normal for people who are for Zionism. And the question he asked that many people ask is, “Does Israel have the right to exist?” And it's a rhetorical question, which Ta-Nehisi Coates actually answered when he said that countries don't have the right to exist, they exist by power. Just that turn was really great.But about the interview, there was controversy, because it came out that the interviewer went around CBS's editorial process and just went off on his own without telling anybody what he was doing. So Sy, what are your thoughts?The Power of Clarity and Focus in Prophetic Truth-TellingSy Hoekstra: I am so happy that Ta-Nehisi Coates is back writing nonfiction [laughter]. That's my main and primary thought. Everything he wrote in the 2010s is very formative for a lot of my thinking. I just love his approach to writing and journalism. He said many times he just, he writes to learn. He really appreciates the power of writing, and he has an incredible amount of moral clarity, a really impressive inability of everyone who's trying to distract him, to distract him. Like he's very focused. Like that question that you just brought up was a good example of it. Somebody says, “Does Israel have the right to exist?” He says, “Israel exists. States don't have the right to exist, they just do. They establish themselves with power. And now I'm gonna talk about, because Israel does exist, how does it exist, and why is that a problem?”It's just, I'm going to acknowledge your question. I'm going to say very quickly why it doesn't make any sense, and then I'm gonna get back to the point that matters [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And that is something I want to emulate in the way that I go about my writing and my commentary and all that. I mean, those are kind of my… [laughs] I'm not sure I have a lot of substantive thoughts about what you just said, I'm just happy he's back. He took a long path down the fiction road and was writing comic books and all kinds of other stuff, which is also very cool. And he also did that because he was like, “That's the challenge for me as a writer right now. I've never done this. I'm a little bit scared of it. I think being nervous is good as a writer. And I'm gonna go do this thing that makes me sort of uncomfortable, instead of just continuing to churn out bestsellers about whatever.” You know what I mean?Jonathan Walton: [laughter]. Right. Let me go and be challenged. Right right right.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, which I really respect that too, even though it means there were several years where I didn't get his commentary on stuff that I would have appreciated [laughter]. That's what I have been thinking as I've been watching him. But how about you, and you said you were gonna connect it back to what we were talking about before?Jonathan Walton: Yes. So one, amen, I'm glad he's writing nonfiction as well.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: It's really powerful to me what truth telling does. He is stewarding a platform. He is leveraging his voice. He is doing what I would hope followers of Jesus would do in the ways that we can and the lives that we live every day. You're leveraging your platform with your daughter. You are her biggest influence. You and Gabrielle. The stewardship of his power and platform to elevate and center the most marginalized voice in the media landscape over the last 65 years, people from the Middle East. That we say the Middle East, because we're the center of the world.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: And so that reality comes from… I've listened to so many interviews. I listened to his one with The Daily Show, MSNBC, Zeteo with Mehdi Hassan. I listened to the one with Trevor Noah. I'm gonna listen to the one for Democracy Now!, I'm gonna listen to the one with The Gray Area, because I need to be reminded every day that there are people willing and able to say the hard things, not be distracted or dissuaded from what they're trying to say, and be willing to communicate that they would risk their own injury. He said, “It doesn't matter what someone else has done to me or how evil someone is, we should not kill them.” Over and over again. There is no world where it's, “Oh, it's complex. Oh, it's complicated.”No, no, no, it's not. It's not complicated. It becomes complicated if you don't think about it. Everything's complicated if we don't think about it. But if you actually sit down and think about what it would mean to be Palestinian and what it would mean to be a Jewish person post Holocaust, post multiple pogroms, I would love for us to arrive at the point where we're like, “I don't want to perpetuate that against anyone else, because it was perpetrated against me,” which is love your neighbor as yourself.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Which he's not a follower of Jesus, but where we have instead landed is where he is willing to wrestle, he talked about this with Trevor Noah, he would hope that he would not become someone who would commit acts of violence to keep acts of violence from happening to him. That, I think is a rub. Like Nat Turner's rebellion and what happened on October the seventh when the quote- unquote, Hamas escaped. Even the words we use to describe the attack that happened, it literally is described like a breakout a lot of the times, in Zionist literature and communication. All of these things frame the Lebanese, or frame now the Iranians as not people. And what Ta-Nehisi Coates is trying to do is actually say they are people.And that gets back to what you're talking about with, yes in my backyard. This is a person. Jordan Neely is a person. The person on the street having the mental health crisis, the person who's going through a messy divorce and doesn't have anywhere to go, the folks that are unemployed or bust up here from Texas, these are individuals made in the image of God, who do not deserve harm. That is the thing that draws me back to Coates' interviews, because he's not avoiding the hard questions, but what he is doing is communicating a truth that the people asking hard questions don't like. We are no better than the person that we're shooting or bombing or killing. We're just not. And so why are we doing that to someone who is literally just like us?And so I will keep watching, I will keep listening, keep reading. I hope that there is a shift happening. I'm not optimistic. I'm grateful for him and driving the conversation, because it feels something has broken through that I hope continues, because that was a conversation on CBS Morning Show. That was a conversation on progressive, liberal, conservative. Like people are talking about the book, even if you're critiquing it, you got to talk about it. I'm glad that that's happening, and I hope that this is taking the trajectory of what happened in South Africa, that's the best case scenario.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: It's not the best case scenario, but politically in the limits that we have, it's the best case scenario.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. And I think he thinks that way. Like when he talks about the power of writing, he's not talking about the power of my book to end the war, he's talking about the power of my book to influence some people who so

  When we put our faith into action and center justice, fighting for the rights of everyone, particularly those most marginalized, we embody Christ. Mom and I caught up with Lindsey Krinks, Advocacy Director and co-founder of Open Table Nashville, a non-profit and interfaith community based in Tennessee whose work includes four core pillars: “street outreach, education on issues of homelessness, a solidarity network, and advocacy with our friends on the streets.”   Throughout this episode we discuss Lindsey's spiritual journey and embrace of liberation theology, and how it led her to the work she does now through Open Table Nashville (OTN) which focuses on collective liberation. OTN understands that without a systemic analysis of homelessness and poverty, we cannot, as a society, shift away from these issues. We also dive into the many ways scripture and spiritual teachers such as Saint Francis of Assisi (“Preach the gospel at all times; use words when necessary.”), call us out of the pews and into purposeful action. Lindsey shares practical tips for showing up in our church spaces, and within our day-to-day lives in support of our friends experiencing homelessness.  In addition to her work with OTN, Lindsey is the author of Praying with our Feet: Pursuing Justice and Healing on the Street which invites readers into her story as a street chaplain, activist, and nonprofit leader standing at the margins of American society, and on the front lines of social justice movements where faith means getting your hands dirty in the struggle for a better world. You can support the work of OTN by making a donation (at any level) , signing up for an educational training session (so you can show up in your community and make a difference), or reach out to them to do a speaking engagement at your church / within your community.  Stay Connected with Lindsey's Work: Lindsey KrinksOpen Table Nashville  Instagram: Open Table Nashville (@opentablenashville)  Facebook: Open Table Nashville, Inc. Twitter: @OpenTableNash  Resources / Info. Mentioned: The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12  Praying with our Feet: Pursuing Justice and Healing on the Streets  by Lindsey Krinks // Watch the book trailer here.  Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness by Kevin Nye. Check out our interview with him here.   Some of Lindsey's spiritual teachers:  Dorothy Day  Archbishop Oscar Romero  Richard Rohr  Walter Bruggemann Help Us Spread the Word! If you enjoy the Pray with our Feet podcast, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, where you can subscribe to the show. You can also listen on Spotify, and on all major streaming platforms. BE in Community with Us:  Find devotionals, blog posts, and shop in our  online store.  Head over to Instagram and Threads where the conversation continues between episodes.   Enjoy our @PrayWithOurFeet IG Live series, Move it Forward Monday, uplifting conversations that spark change with activists, community leaders, artists and more.   Special thank you to my husband Keston De Coteau, for podcast production; he is an award-winning videographer and photographer. 

It should not feel astonishing, but it does. In a national debate and many state campaign stops, presidential and vice presidential candidates are asserting that housing is a human right and sounding a call to end homelessness in America. Their declaration is both overdue and exhilarating. Getting there is the North Star of Funders Together to End Homelessness, which brings together grant makers, nonprofits that advance housing justice through federal policy advocacy, and those who have lived experience with homelessness and housing insecurity. As its indomitable CEO, Amanda Misiko Andere explains on this episode of Power Station, learning how racism is baked into this nation's policy making and public systems and unlearning assumptions about why Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by homelessness requires a good deal of sitting in discomfort. Funders Together is mobilizing philanthropy to be a part of the solution by taking grant makers on this journey and encouraging investment in nonprofits on the frontline of policy advocacy. As Amanda says, racial justice is housing justice. Undoing racial inequities is an urgent but long term project. She is a philanthropy influencer who I am proud to follow.    

According to government data, homelessness in the U.S. increased 12 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. But one group has seen significant improvement over the last 15 years: veterans. Much of that can be credited to a government housing program known as HUD-VASH. Lisa Desjardins speaks with Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, to learn more. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Church at the Park, the nonprofit that operates Village of Hope homeless micro shelter site in Salem, plans to add 40 additional beds, according to the Salem Reporter.  The expansion aims to serve people who are experiencing homelessness and are 55 and older. People 50 or older are the fastest growing group of those experiencing homelessness in the US, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. We learn more about the Salem expansion from DJ Vincent, the founding pastor and CEO of Church at the Park.