Economics

Center on Wealth & Poverty

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Power, Politics, and Seattle’s Homelessness Machine

In an eerie, “zombie-like” incident last September, a homeless woman in Seattle attacked another woman, biting a chunk out of her forehead. The homeless woman lives in Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) apartments, a homeless service provider that follows the Housing First model, providing housing without any requirements for treatment or sobriety. In this investigation, Senior Fellow and journalist Read More ›

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The Statistical Gimmicks Hiding America’s Homelessness Crisis

The official U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness count is 746,000 people. But the real number is closer to 1.5 million. Why the discrepancy? Because for over a decade, HUD has been employing clever gimmicks that exclude hundreds of thousands of people experiencing homelessness from their numbers. Now, HUD is changing course with meaningful reforms. Senior Fellow Michele Read More ›

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Photo courtesy of Kevin Dahlgren

HUD’s Homelessness Reforms Put Human Lives Ahead of Housing Bureaucracy

For more than a decade, federal homelessness policy has centered heavily on permanent housing placement, while the measures used to define and count homelessness have often obscured important differences between who is counted as homeless and who is being served through homelessness programs. Success will now be measured by whether people are getting better: recovering, working, reconnecting and reclaiming their lives. Read More ›
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Jonathan Choe Testifies Before Congressional Subcommittee on Housing First Fraud and Failure

Independent journalist and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Choe appeared on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, September 15, to testify before the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the invitation of Chairman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). The hearing was titled, “Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services.” Read More ›
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Photo courtesy of Kevin Dahlgren

We’re Ignoring the Cause of Homelessness, and How to Solve It

Owning a home, or at least having one, has long been considered an essential part of the American dream. But what if Americans judged success not by whether people had housing, but by whether they discovered — or rediscovered — who they were created to become? Read More ›
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HUD Announces Treatment First Toolkit, Putting Harm Reduction on Notice

In partnership with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the new “Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction Through Treatment First.” Read More ›
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Michele Steeb Talks HUD’s Treatment First Toolkit on NTD Newsroom

Senior Fellow Michele Steeb appeared on NTD Newsroom to discuss the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new Treatment First Toolkit. On August 12, HUD released “Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction through ‘Treatment First.’” The Toolkit addresses the insufficiencies of Housing First to address the problems faced by a large population of the homeless who suffer from Read More ›

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Close-up view on a new semiconductor microchip in gloved hand of computer scientist. Modern technology and hardware development
Image Credit: vladdeep - Adobe Stock

Beware, Broad Semiconductor Tariffs Would Make Everything More Expensive

The Trump administration has consistently implemented (and recently lowered) Section 232 tariffs on industries critical to America's economic and national security, including aluminum and steel. But as it considers similar action on semiconductors, we face a fundamentally different challenge. Read More ›
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Stop Treating Homeless People Like Outlaws. It’s Killing Them

Maria DeSersa was 34 years old when she was found dead of a fentanyl overdose in an apartment laundry facility in Federal Way, Washington. She had been a defendant in 24 cases over the span of seven years. Research Fellow and Program Coordinator Marsha Michaelis explores Maria’s tragic story to expose the failures of a lenient criminal justice system and Read More ›

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Kevin Dahlgren Discusses Skid Row on Newsmax

Kevin Dahlgren appeared on Newsmax on July 22, 2026, alongside Harrison Baum to discuss the suffering and exploitation of the homeless in Skid Row. Dahlgren described Skid Row as one of the worst and most corrupt places he has ever been. It’s “the embodiment of radicalized policies run amok,” he explained.