Legislation moving through the Louisiana Senate would punish unhoused people with fines, incarceration, forced labor and compulsory treatment they would have to pay for themselves. House Bill 211 would “create the crime of unauthorized camping on public property” punishable with…
Judge says church can run emergency homeless shelter on property
A judge has ruled that a church in Massachusetts can operate an emergency homeless shelter on its property despite objections from some neighbors.
Court again limits HUD changes on care for homeless
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling temporarily blocking the federal government from limiting the scope of subsidized housing grants designed to help cities and states address homelessness. “As the Trump-Vance administration continues to weaponize…
Judge blocks HUD attempt to change homeless aid
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce the effectiveness of grants to provide dependable housing to people who are homeless. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced its intent to limit the…
Church altar featuring homeless man goes on display a stone’s throw from his grave at the Vatican
In 2018, German artist Michael Triegel asked a homeless man in Rome to pose for a drawing, thinking that he would make an ideal model for St. Peter if he ever needed to paint the first pope.
Trump’s HUD reverses cuts to housing aid after lawsuit threat
The Trump administration suddenly reversed course Dec. 10 on a planned shift in housing policy that would have sent hundreds of thousands of children and adults into homelessness during the winter months, according to advocacy groups. The move came just…
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for local homeless people, invites them to lunch at summer villa
Pope Leo XIV spent the last Sunday of his summer vacation with several dozen refugees, homeless and poor people and the church volunteers who help them, celebrating a special Mass for them and inviting them into the Vatican’s lakeside estate…
How a teacher’s kindness can change a student’s life
I was a fifth-year senior, which was one of the most embarrassing times of my life. It meant I hadn’t finished high school in the usual four years, and I would be required to go back to the same high…
The Supreme Court is afflicted with a deadly empathy deficit
The Supreme Court has upheld a ban on sleeping outdoors in a homelessness case. By a 6-3 vote along partisan lines, the court ruled homeless residents are prohibited from sleeping outdoors. My own sense of the prophetic, especially when indignant,…
Supreme Court says cities may fine or arrest homeless people for sleeping
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling frees municipalities to fine or arrest homeless people who camp on sidewalks or in parks and other public spaces. Justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that an ordinance in Grants Pass, Ore., prohibiting public…
The Jesus Room
The Jesus Room lies in the bowels of Richmond’s cavernous First Baptist Church, one of those stately old churches that takes up most of a city block. It’s a part of the basement floor of the church, comprising a community…
Homeless is not the way you want to spend your sunset years, but more and more older Americans find themselves there
Scott, a 63-year-old former chef and factory worker, was trudging toward the tent encampment where he lived on the outskirts of Richmond, Va., when he found fellow camper Ed sprawled on the path, unconscious. “It scared the hootenannies out of…