All posts tagged: homelessness

Queen Camilla helps homeless people find escape through reading | Royal | News

Queen Camilla helps homeless people find escape through reading | Royal | News

Published by Sam Flores

Queen Camilla Visits St Mungo’s Homelessness Charity (Image: Getty) The Queen was told how a large donation of books her reading charity has made to a homelessness charity has had a “profound and transformative impact” on people sleeping rough. Camilla, 77, joined broadcaster Lorraine Kelly and author Elif Shafak on a visit to a St Mungo’s accommodation service in South East London today, where she learned how a reading scheme is helping to boost the wellbeing and confidence of those recovering from homelessness. The Queen’s Reading Room, whose groundbreaking research has found that stories and shared reading groups can act as a therapeutic tool in trauma recovery, partnered with St Mungo’s in 2024 after a colleague started a book group for people supported by the charity. It’s now an established partnership, and since the beginning of 2025, The Queen’s Reading Room has donated hundreds of books to St Mungo’s services, as well as bookshelves and a bespoke training toolkit for frontline teams and volunteers to run book clubs for people experiencing homelessness. By increasing access …

Commentary: For mayoral candidates and all of L.A., here’s the homelessness conversation we must have

Commentary: For mayoral candidates and all of L.A., here’s the homelessness conversation we must have

Published by Sam Flores

Ron, a West L.A. resident, thinks he knows why former reality TV star and political newcomer Spencer Pratt won so much support in his run for mayor. People are frustrated, frightened and angry about homelessness “and the crime associated with it,” Ron said in an email. He added that he voted for Mayor Karen Bass, but “almost everything Pratt said about the homeless resonated with me. … The homeless run wild here, without consequence.” “Many of us support him not because we think he’s perfect,” said Kathy, “but because we are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of Los Angeles and feel that traditional politicians have not delivered the results we were promised.” Bob, “a left-leaning Palisades resident,” said the issue is not Pratt’s lack of credentials, but the failures of incumbents. “There was a columnist … who documented in depth the situation at MacArthur Park,” Bob wrote in reference to me. “What was his name and what happened to him? Did he change his tune?” These are all fair points, and if Pratt holds onto …

California governor election guide: Immigration, homelessness, affordability

California governor election guide: Immigration, homelessness, affordability

Published by Sam Flores

Democratic and Republican candidates vying to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have been sparring on televised debates and exchanging campaign attacks since April to garner the attention of voters statewide. The candidates include a Riverside County sheriff, a former senior advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, a former Los Angeles mayor, a billionaire hedge fund founder and two former members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Recent polls showed that the leading Democratic candidate is Xavier Becerra, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services whose campaign is focusing on affordability and housing for what he calls “working Californians.” Vying for one of the top two spots in the June 2 primary are Republican contender Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator who was endorsed by President Trump, and Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer, a hedge fund founder turned environmental warrior. Here is what the top candidates have said on important topics such as immigration, housing and homelessness, affordability and the entertainment industry. Immigration and ICE The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that …

Waste Of The Day: Seattle’s Homelessness Fiasco

Waste Of The Day: Seattle’s Homelessness Fiasco

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClear Politics, Topline: The homelessness agency in King County, Wash., has a $45 million deficit, but auditors can’t fully figure out why, according to a state audit publicly released this April. Its accounting records are so poor that it’s impossible to track where portions of its money are being spent. Key facts: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority helps run shelters and outreach to the homeless population in 39 cities. It’s funded jointly by the county and the City of Seattle. Financial records claim that the city and county owe the Homelessness Authority $49.8 million for services already performed, but the Authority could not explain what $8 million of that was for. The Authority also overspent its administrative budget by $4.3 million, auditors found. Officials bought Salesforce, a business analytics platform, in 2024 without approval from the county, the report claims. A budget amendment later allowed them to spend $563,000, but the platform ended up costing more than $2 million. Money was also wasted by hiring contractors from expensive consulting firms …

Monica Galetti on 130 Primrose, the London restaurant tackling homelessness

Monica Galetti on 130 Primrose, the London restaurant tackling homelessness

Published by Daniella Wilson

Sign up to IndyEat’s free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our food and drink newsletter for free Get our food and drink newsletter for free On one side of the street, an advertising agency: well-fed, well-paid people heading out for lunch. On the other, a queue stretching down the pavement – a couple of hundred people waiting for a meal at a soup kitchen. For Michael Brown, the contrast became impossible to ignore. “We’d be off to go and get a seven-quid sandwich from Pret,” he recalls. “And we passed the soup kitchen daily… one day I just said, ‘What are we doing?!’” That moment – that small, uncomfortable realisation – set in motion what would eventually become 130 Primrose, a glamorous new restaurant in north London built on a simple but ambitious idea: that employment, not charity alone, can be a route out of homelessness. 130 Primrose sits in north London – a stylish neighbourhood restaurant and stepping stone into work (130 Primrose/Supplied) The premise is straightforward. Recruit people …

Jewel opens up about health crisis and homelessness: ‘I almost died’

Jewel opens up about health crisis and homelessness: ‘I almost died’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Jewel may be a celebrated musician and beloved star now, but that wasn’t always the case for the “Foolish Games” singer. In a recently resurfaced interview, the 51-year-old opened up about her near-death experience as a young adult, and how one person saved her life out of the kindness of their heart. “I almost died in an emergency room parking lot because they didn’t see me because I didn’t have insurance,” she told PBS’ Tell Me More. “Luckily, a doctor had seen me get turned me away and he went out, and he knocked on my door, and he handed me antibiotics and his card. And he saved my life; it turned out I had sepsis.” “This was just the most transformative time in my life,” she added. Jewel, whose real name is Jewel Kilcher, experienced homelessness in her youth after distancing herself from her abusive father and absent mother.  © FilmMagicJewel opened up about her fraught teenage years The star struggled to pay rent for an apartment until she rebuked her boss’ advances at work and was …

Contributor: May we never grow inured to homelessness

Contributor: May we never grow inured to homelessness

Published by Sam Flores

Most Saturday mornings, I stroll half a mile downhill from my tiny apartment in a bosky part of San Francisco to a farmers market. My usual reverie of anticipation (about carrots with their tops attached, about the price of berries) was interrupted recently by the sight of three bodies. That is, I thought of them as bodies; it was not evident whether they were alive or dead. All lay splayed on the sidewalk, one a couple blocks from my home, the other two, blocks apart, closer to the market, itself located in a neighborhood where need is evident. (Food stamps are often the tender for buying produce.) The bodies belonged to shabbily but fully dressed men — except one man, who was missing a shoe. Maybe the men are sleeping, I thought, or unconscious from drink or drugs. Or maybe they are dead. Nobody walking by — including me — slowed down to pay attention to them, beyond a glance. For decades, encountering such a scene, I used to stop, then wait to see a …

California governor candidates’ views housing and homelessness

California governor candidates’ views housing and homelessness

Published by Sam Flores

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a California governor candidate forum at Skirball Cultural Center. (Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times) Mahan says the high cost of housing is pushing Californians out of the state and is the main driver of homelessness. To address these issues, Mahan wants to lower development fees for infill housing and stop cities from passing “exorbitant sales or transfer taxes on new infill housing” like Los Angeles’ Measure ULA, which a UCLA-Rand Corp. study found reduced apartment construction in the city. Mahan wants to mandate that cities process permits in less than 30 days and if they fail, allow developers to use “properly qualified and licensed third-party planners and building inspectors to review permits instead.” Another proposal is to make “building California homes in California factories a centerpiece of the state’s industrial strategy.” Building this way can be cheaper than building on site, and Mahan would support the creation of modular housing factories by providing incentives for their construction. Mahan also wants to reform a law, Senate …

Georgia Lawmakers Pass Bill That Lets Property Owners File Claims Over Homelessness and Immigration

Georgia Lawmakers Pass Bill That Lets Property Owners File Claims Over Homelessness and Immigration

Published by Sam Flores

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers passed a bill early Friday that would allow property owners to file claims against local governments if the individual believes policies that ban people from sleeping outside and require law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities were not enforced. If Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signs the bill, individuals will be able to demand compensation from local governments amounting to alleged lost property value or expenses incurred because of failure to enforce policies such as bans on public camping, loitering and panhandling, and bans on sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The bill’s sponsor, Athens Republican and U.S. House candidate Rep. Houston Gaines, said it’s important to hold cities accountable for enforcing the law. Business owners and homeowners should not have to spend money because a locality fails to clean up encampments, he added. “Allowing illegal encampments, theft and disorder to flourish is not kindness,” Gaines said. “It’s neglect.” Democrats and homelessness advocates say the bill would cause law enforcement to arrest people because they have nowhere to …

Appeals court upholds block on HUD homelessness overhaul : NPR

Appeals court upholds block on HUD homelessness overhaul : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Tents are lined up on Skid Row Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption toggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP A federal appeals court late Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s push to impose new conditions on homelessness funding, saying implementing them “would be immediately destabilizing and disastrous.” The ruling upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction, the latest rebuke to a major shift that advocates warn would push 170,000 people in federally subsidized housing back into homelessness. That would include many who are disabled, elderly and veterans. The Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to slash money for permanent housing and shift it to transitional programs that require sobriety, mental health treatment and other conditions. HUD Secretary Scott Turner has said this would nudge people toward self-sufficiency. The agency did not say whether it would appeal the ruling, but said in a statement that it “remains committed to reforming the misguided ‘Housing First’ approach that for years funded the self-serving homeless industrial complex, rewarded activists, and ignored solutions.” The change in …