Economics

Center on Wealth & Poverty
tents-set-up-outdoors-on-a-city-street-stockpack-adobe-stock-697298657-stockpack-adobe_stock
Tents set up outdoors on a city street
Discovery Institute
January 6, 2025
Homelessness

Homelessness in America Increases to Highest Number on Record

Discovery Institute
January 6, 2025
Homelessness
Homelessness reached the highest number on record nationwide in 2024 according to a report the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released on December 27 in a likely attempt to avoid public attention. Dr. Robert Marbut, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and former Federal Homelessness Czar, says, “HUD spent over 3.16 billion on homelessness in 2024 and continues to attribute rising homelessness to unavailable housing and systemic racism, while ignoring the fentanyl epidemic and untreated mental illness.” Read More ›
a-man-is-rowing-a-boat-in-the-ocean-stockpack-adobe-stock-810667361-stockpack-adobe_stock
A man is rowing a boat in the ocean
Marvin Olasky
January 3, 2025
Homelessness

Boats Against the Current

Marvin Olasky
January 3, 2025
Homelessness
After writing weekly columns about homelessness for two-and-a-half years, I'm ready to put what I've learned into book form. It will be my 30th book and maybe my last, although (as chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes states) "of making many books there is no end." But since I have written a lot, I'll paraphrase the opening of the Declaration of Independence: "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires" that I declare the reason for writing a book on homelessness when a bunch already exist. Read More ›
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Top down view at group of volunteers giving out simple meals to people in need at soup kitchen
Marvin Olasky
December 27, 2024
Homelessness

Sentimentality vs. Compassion

Marvin Olasky
December 27, 2024
Homelessness
I almost let 2024 slip away without a column about the 30th anniversary of The Homeless, an important book by scholar Christopher Jencks published in 1994. It included these sentences: "The homeless are indeed just like you and me in most respects. . . . But important as such similarities are, our differences are also important. To ignore them when we talk about the homeless is to substitute sentimentality for compassion." Read More ›
homeless-people-sleeping-in-sleeping-bag-and-cardboard-in-a-737602718-stockpack-adobe_stock
Homeless people sleeping in sleeping bag and cardboard in a street, concept of financial crisis, unemployment, lose job, vulnerable groups.
Marvin Olasky
December 20, 2024
Homelessness

In the Life of a Homeless Man

Marvin Olasky
December 20, 2024
Homelessness
With Christmas coming, I'm taking a timeout from my usual columnizing to send greetings to Tony, a homeless man in Colorado. He is 67 years old and may be sleeping in a North Face sleeping bag within an abandoned 144-square-foot wooden structure adjacent to a cemetery. (His summer bed has been a picnic bench about a third of a mile from a Safeway/Starbucks.) Read More ›
Housing Featured Images
Caitlyn McKenney
December 18, 2024
Economics, Homelessness

As Region Faces Shortage, Seattle Needs to Preserve its Existing Housing 

Caitlyn McKenney
December 18, 2024
Economics, Homelessness
According to a 2024 report on housing production from Up For Growth, the metro area encompassing Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue is facing a shortage of 71,060 homes. That amounts to 4.2% of the region’s total housing stock. While the production of new homes is vital to closing the gap between supply and demand, so is the preservation of existing housing, especially affordable housing. Read More ›
poor-homeless-or-refugee-barefoot-man-sleeps-on-the-street-i-190863737-stockpack-adobe_stock
Poor homeless or refugee barefoot man sleeps on the street in the shadow of the building
Marvin Olasky
December 13, 2024
Homelessness

Eighty Years of Homelessness Realism, 1914-1994

Marvin Olasky
December 13, 2024
Homelessness
I've written in recent weeks about the non-sentimental view of homelessness that was common in the late nineteenth century. For much of the twentieth century, that realism carried over into academic work as well. Read More ›
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Time is money
Gale Pooley
December 9, 2024
Economics

Time Equality is Rapidly Increasing

Gale Pooley
December 9, 2024
Economics
Jordan Peterson’s Rule No. 4 says you should “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.” Since we each get exactly 24 hours in a day and no one can buy time (otherwise rich people would never die), isn’t it better to compare differences in how we spend our time? Read More ›