Kevin Dahlgren

Contributor, Fix Homelessmess Initiative

Kevin Dahlgren is a grassroots journalist documenting homelessness, addiction, and systemic failure on the West Coast. He worked in social services for over two decades and saw the dysfunction firsthand. Through firsthand reporting, photography, and on-the-ground observation, he exposes the gap between public spending and real-world outcomes. His work centers on humanizing people living on the streets while holding nonprofits, local governments, and policies accountable for results. Drawing from direct encounters rather than press releases, Dahlgren highlights lived experience, public safety, and overlooked consequences of failed interventions. His journalism challenges dominant narratives, sparks uncomfortable conversations, and advocates for practical, measurable solutions rooted in accountability, preparation, and dignity.

Archives

LA’s Skid Row a Painful Monument of “Housing First” Policy

Skid Row in Los Angeles stands as a stark example of what happens when ideology overrides reality. Spanning roughly fifty blocks, it is one of the most concentrated homeless zones in the United States, filled with people trapped in addiction and untreated, severe mental illness, often marked by psychosis — a loss of contact with reality. For years, Los Angeles has wrapped its homelessness policies in the language of empathy and housing justice. But Skid Row reveals a harsher truth. What exists there is not simply poverty. It is a concentration of addiction, untreated mental illness, disorder, and human collapse in one of America’s most visible zones of urban breakdown. Los Angeles has embraced Housing First, a model that places people in permanent housing without

Seattle Homeless Report More Sweeps, No Offers of Services, Under Mayor Wilson

Dashed Hopes The support Mayor Katie Wilson once had among the homeless is fading faster than many expected. On the street, a different narrative is emerging, one that doesn’t match the optimism that followed her election. No Solutions Several people I spoke with say sweeps have actually increased since she took office, with little meaningful progress toward permanent solutions. For many, it feels like more movement without direction being pushed from block to block, but never off the street. What makes this shift more striking is who’s saying it. Broken Promises Many of the homeless individuals I interviewed identify as far left and were genuinely excited when Wilson was elected. They believed they were finally getting an ally in City Hall someone who understood

Kevin Dahlgren and Jonathan Choe Talk Cash-for-Ballots Scheme on Newsmax

Kevin Dahlgren and Jonathan Choe recently appeared on Newsmax’s Finnerty, hosted by Rob Finnerty, to discuss their joint investigation with Frontlines TPUSA and other independent journalists into a cash-for-ballots scheme in Skid Row. Dahlgren and Choe explain how ballot initiative workers are paying the homeless to fraudulently sign petitions in Los Angeles’ notoriously drug-infested and crime-ridden Skid Row. Dahlgren called the scheme “irresponsible, exploitative, cruel, illegal.” "This is literally third world." @kevinvdahlgren and @choeshow are making the rounds, exposing the exploitative and illegal behavior of ballot initiative workers in Skid Row. WATCH ⤵️@NEWSMAX @RobFinnertyUSA pic.twitter.com/gRFjRZL3W6— Center on Wealth &

Skid Row’s Cash-for-Ballots Scheme

Discovery Institute has joined up with Frontlines Turning Point USA, O’Keefe Media Group, and other independent journalists in a multi-part investigation into a cash-for-ballots scheme in Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Jonathan Choe and Kevin Dahlgren help expose the exploitation of the homeless, the theft of the identities of innocent Americans, and the violation of state law in some of America’s most crime-ridden streets. Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America, a human dumping ground infested with crime, open-air drug use, and unimaginable suffering on virtually every block. “This is hell on Earth,” I commented at one point. This chaos is also what allows alleged fraudsters to blend in and prey on the

Graffiti, Squalor, and Destruction: What Housing First Actually Looks Like

“Egg God’s” Apartment Breaking. We gained exclusive access to ‘Egg God’s’ apartment in Los Angeles with @choeshow and we interviewed him. He has a video that went insane, viral for destroying his subsidized apartment and then mocking his eviction notice. System Struggles to Respond The reality: Under Los Angeles’ strict tenant protection laws, what he’s implying is largely true. Evicting him won’t be easy, no matter how extreme the behavior. This is the flaw in the Housing First model. People are often placed into housing with no expectations on the front end and very few real consequences on the back end. When things go wrong, the system struggles to respond. Housing First Fails the Vulnerable Jonathan and I actually thought he

Sights from LA’s Skid Row

Skid Row I spent the last several days on Skid Row Los Angeles with @choeshow and what we documented is some of the best and most shocking footage I’ve ever done which is gonna come out soon in a longer form. Fix Homelessness Special thanks to @DiscoveryCWP who funded my trip. Learn more about our work here.

Hollywood Walk of Fame…or Shame?

Homeless Crisis Amid Stars The Hollywood walk of shame. I spent the last several days in Los Angeles, California documenting the homeless crisis with @choeshow. A majority of the time I spent on Skid Row, the highest concentration of homelessness in the United States, but I spent half a day at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where, despite this obvious wealth, has its own Homeless crisis. I witnessed people smoking me standing on various stars. Full-Blown Crisis There was a lot of mental health issues and a lot of panhandling. It was extra busy as they were preparing for the Oscars. California is in a full-blown crisis with no plan in sight. Go to https://fixhomelessness.org to learn more.

The Tragic Tale of the Las Vegas “Mole People”

The Las Vegas Secret Las Vegas “mole people” are real. It’s the worst-kept secret in the city. In Part 1 of this investigation, Kevin Dahlgren and I are showing the problem, but also trying to figure out why elected officials want this crisis hidden instead of solved.

Homeless, Incorporated

After decades of working inside homelessness services, I’ve learned that the greatest lie we tell ourselves is that we don’t know what works. We do. The problem isn’t a lack of data, innovation, or funding. The problem is that real solutions require decisions we are unwilling to make and truths we are afraid to say out loud. It is easier to expand systems than to fix them. Easier to signal compassion than to practice it in ways that are uncomfortable. Easier to manage homelessness than to end it. Most people assume homelessness persists because it is too complex to solve. In reality, it persists because solving it would disrupt an entire industry built around its permanence. Over time, the system stopped being accountable to outcomes and became accountable to

Beneath the Driftwood: One Homeless Man’s Underground Life

A homeless man has burrowed himself beneath thousands of pieces of driftwood and built what can only be described as an apartment. I went inside and looked around. There are two bedrooms, one still under construction, framed by uneven piles of driftwood and debris. Two small windows let in slivers of natural light through the gaps, barely illuminating the space. Shadows crawl across the walls and floor, giving the room a claustrophobic, almost surreal quality. The living area is chaotic, more workshop than home. Boards, nails, and hand tools are scattered across the dirt floor, evidence of ongoing construction and repair. Among the clutter, hundreds of used needles glint dangerously in the dim light. The smell of damp wood and river water is thick, mixing with the metallic tang

Stopping the Sweep Didn’t Fix Anything at Seattle’s Ballard Encampment

I went to the Ballard homeless encampment that has been dominating Seattle headlines, and what I found there was not clarity or compassion colliding with cruelty, but a system quietly failing almost everyone involved. Business owners and nearby residents are frustrated and exhausted. They’ve watched the encampment grow while public spaces deteriorate and safety concerns mount. On the other side, homeless advocates are fiercely defending the right of people to remain where they are, arguing that sweeps only deepen trauma and solve nothing. Caught in the middle is a city trying to signal change under new leadership, while offering very little evidence that real change is actually happening. This encampment was scheduled to be swept, but Mayor Katie Wilson halted those

A Street-Level Interview with Portland’s Mayor on Shelter and Safety

I interviewed Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on the streets of Portland about the state of the city and its response to homelessness. I asked whether his administration requires measurable outcomes from the homeless service providers it funds. In response, Mayor Wilson pointed to his new policy of ending the distribution of tents, arguing that tents do not help people exit homelessness and are not life-saving care. He cited the heightened danger faced by vulnerable women living outside, noting that women experiencing homelessness face roughly a 40% chance of being assaulted. I followed up by asking whether there are consequences for providers who fail to meet expectations or move people off the streets. Mayor Wilson said the providers are aligned with his vision and are doing