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Tech NewsTrump Says Homeless Americans Are Polluting Ocean With ‘Needles’ and EPA Will Take Action
President Donald Trump claims the homeless population in San Francisco is polluting the ocean and says the Environmental Protection Agency will issue some kind of notice to the city within a week, according to reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One last night. Trump said that “needles” and “other things” were pouring into … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsThis Viral Photo of a Homeless Person Freezing on the Street Is Actually From 2013… in Canada
It’s a heartbreaking photo. But it doesn’t show what you think it does. The viral photo, which shows a person sleeping on the sidewalk and covered in snow, has been making the rounds on politically conservative social media this week in an attempt at commentary on immigration. It’s been tweeted by actor James Woods, retweeted … Continued
By Matt Novak -
EartherEnvironmental JusticeChicago Scrambles to Protect Its Homeless From Life-Threatening Polar Vortex
Sandi Robinson was sure to layer up before hitting the Chicago streets Monday night. Sweatpants? Check. Tights underneath? Check. Long sleeves, gloves, hat, and boots? All check. Robinson is the co-founder of the community organization ChiGivesBack, and her priority right now is the 5,600 people who live on the streets of Chicago. You see, the … Continued
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Tech News
GoFundMe Issues Refunds to Donors of Alleged Scam Involving Couple and Homeless Man
GoFundMe has refunded people who donated to a viral campaign ostensibly intended to benefit a Philadelphia homeless man and that authorities now allege was an elaborate scam, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The incident began after a New Jersey couple, Mark D’Amico and Kate McClure, claimed that a homeless man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., came to … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech News
Couple and Homeless Man Charged With Conspiracy Over $400,000 GoFundMe
On Thursday, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey announced formal charges against the three people involved in a viral GoFundMe campaign that raised $400,000 last year to help a homeless man get on his feet. Authorities said that “the entire campaign was predicated on a lie.” At a press conference this afternoon, prosecutor … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech News
$400,000 Raised for Homeless Man on GoFundMe Is Completely Gone, Lawyer Says
Last year, a New Jersey couple raised $400,000 on GoFundMe to help a kind homeless man get his life back together. Now, the man’s attorney says all the money is gone and his client received only a fraction of the donations. Last October, Johnny Bobbitt, Jr. came across Kate McClure while she sat in her … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech News
Judge Orders Couple to Hand Over GoFundMe Money Intended for Homeless Man
It should’ve been a simple, feel-good story. A homeless man used his last $20 to help a woman with car troubles, and she returned the favor by starting a GoFundMe that raised $400,000 to get the man on his feet. Now a judge has ordered all the funds handed over to the man’s legal team … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech News
San Francisco’s So Literally Shitty, It’s Getting a ‘Poop Patrol’
A spectre is haunting San Francisco—the spectre of feces. The Golden City has the second-highest cost of living in the U.S. and a major factor contributing to that fact is its housing crisis. Jeff Kositsky, director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, told ABC in June that homelessness isn’t on the … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
EartherEnvironmental Justice
Global Homelessness Is on the Rise Due to Disasters
Around the world, 24.2 million more people became homeless last year—and disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, and tsunamis are to primarily blame. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an international group that’s been monitoring the issue since 1998, released a report Friday that shows natural disasters—many of which are driven in part by climate change—are leading … Continued
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Tech News
Twitter Fires Its VR Project Manager After Homeless Rant Resurfaces
This was Greg Gopman’s third week at Twitter. Today was his last day. Twitter just hired Gopman to work on the company’s virtual reality efforts. But then TechCrunch resurfaced his vile, disgusting rant about San Fransisco’s homeless population. Gopman got fired just a couple weeks after he started his fancy new job, and about 12 … Continued
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Tech News
The Best and Worst Ideas from San Francisco’s Big Homelessness Project
You might have noticed an uptick of stories about the Bay Area’s homeless crisis in your social media feeds recently. Dozens of news organizations worked together to coordinate the publication of stories on homelessness today—all of which are mean to specifically focus on solutions for housing the region’s homeless population. Back in May a coalition … Continued
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Tech News
Bangkok’s Homeless Are Turning These Decommissioned Airplanes Into Makeshift Homes
Somewhere in the outskirts of the Thai capital, unused airplanes stored in a private field have become homes for three poor families. This is the darker side of the most populous city in Thailand. Over 8 million people live in Bangkok, in a city where migration, unemployment and poverty force tens of thousands to live … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech News
Lessons Learned From A Year Living In A Van
I’ve been living on the road for more than a year. Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Baja, Las Vegas, Tempe. Something like 20,000 miles. Let me break down a few of the things I’ve learned along the way. Prepare to be judged: By your friends, your family, co-workers. Both past and present. And pretty much … Continued
Justin W Coffey -
Tech NewsSploidThe fascinating underworld living in flood channels beneath Las Vegas
Around 400 people live inside the flood channels underneath Las Vegas and it’s such a fascinating underworld that is so different from the neon-lit indulgence and styrofoam opulence that Sin City is known for. Matthew O’Brien has been visiting the community for 12 years and takes a tour of it in this video. O’Brien, who … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
One Danish City Turns to GPS Tracking to Help the Homeless
Without any context, that headline could seem incredibly scary, almost dystopian in nature. A city’s most vulnerable residents tracked for unknown purposes would serve as a pretty good plot for some Orwellian nightmare. Luckily, the Danish city Odense doesn’t want to harm but instead help. According to CityLab and The Copenhagen Post, Odense has launched … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech News
Anti-Homeless Laws and @HiddenCash: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week
Legislation that criminalizes the homeless in Maine. A report that recommends bulldozing a fifth of Detroit. And treasure hunters digging up a California park. Plus an update: One man’s plan to ruin an entire state by carving it up WITH LIES. It’s What’s Ruining Our Cities. Anti-homeless legislation is ruining Portland, Maine This is one … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidDang, people don’t notice the homeless even when they’re family members
To most people living in cities around the world, the homeless have essentially become invisible. They blend into the streets, they’re background noise, they’re just a part of the fabric of a city like buildings and street lights and crosswalks. Only… they’re human. Just like us. To prove how invisible the homeless are to normal … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Homeless New Yorkers Are Living Inside the Manhattan Bridge
We’ve all heard of the lengths to which NYC’s homeless have gone to find shelter, from living in abandoned factories to building whole encampments inside subway tunnels. But a report from the New York Post goes one step further, describing how people are now making homes out of small nooks and crannies between the Manhattan … Continued
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Tech News
The Teeny, Tiny Microhouse Revolution That’s Giving the Homeless Homes
When most of us hear the term “microhouse,” we think of the chic, wedge-shaped homes that have colonized the world’s wealthiest cities. But in a number of U.S. cities, microhouses are being used to house a different demographic—the very poor. 144 square feet is the size of the average McMansion master bathroom. However, for residents … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Are Playground Porta-Potties America’s Worst Public Toilets?
Airports, parks, stadiums—where are the nation’s filthiest public toilets? An unscientific survey of the country’s shared facilities finds that a single porta-potty at a playground is the absolute worst, followed closely in revulsion by a row of porta-potties, a dog racing rack, and the back of a long-distance bus.
By Ken Layne