Addressing America’s Homelessness and Squalor: What We Could Do If We Cared

The nation’s homeless could be housed for $10 billion a year, less than the price of one aircraft carrier.

Eleanor Goldfield
By Eleanor Goldfield
DC Housing Feature photo

WASHINGTON, WARD 1 -- “I wanna know where the $2.5 million is – that's my reaction.” Muhsin Boe Luther Umar -- or as we call him, Uncle Boe -- throws his hands up and shakes his head. In his role as both Resident Council President at Garfield Terrace and D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B03 Member, he's had more than his fair share of

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Rich Investors Flock To Puerto Rico As Debt Crisis Pushes Poor To The Mainland

Devastating economic times and myriad tax incentives are driving the wealthy to Puerto Rico, but they’re also forcing Puerto Ricans off the island.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
A private security guard sits in front of a closed down business in the colonial district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON --- Hundreds of thousands of residents of Puerto Rico are being forced from their homeland in search of better economic conditions on mainland America. The Caribbean island recently defaulted on a $58 million debt for the first time in its history, and the super rich are descending upon the island to buy up homes and businesses that have

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Gentrification Targets DC’s Public Schools, Extracts Resources From The Poor

“The lens that we operate under is that we view this as structural racism,” a community organizer tells MintPress. “While we have a mayor and a chancellor that are black, they’re kind of operating under this system that values white folks in a better light.”

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
A teacher uses flash cards to teach kindergarten students including Nailiah Harping, 6, seated at left of the front row, and Jason Moncure, also 6, next to her her during Spanish class at the charter school Oakhurst Elementary in Decatur, Ga. (AP Photo/John Amis)

WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, the National Academy of Sciences released an assessment of the Washington, D.C., public school system from 2009 to 2013 -- the period shortly after then-Mayor Adrian Fenty took control of the system in 2007 under the Public Education Reform Amendment Act, or PERAA. The controversial law drew national attention

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How Federal Policies, Johns Hopkins, And ‘Redevelopment’ Led To The Slumification Of Baltimore

“I can’t tell the difference, even in some of the areas that were supposedly hardest hit by looting … because some of these areas that the protesters are in even before these so-called riots have already looked like they’ve been burned down,” one activist tells MintPress.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Children play at a party at the public housing complex where Freddie Gray was arrested as a six-day curfew was lifted, Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Children play at a party at the public housing complex where Freddie Gray was arrested as a six-day curfew was lifted, Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Baltimore. BALTIMORE --- The world watched last week as protesters stormed the streets of Baltimore to oppose police brutality and demand justice for Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man, who died of

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Beyond Gentrification: Hundreds Of DC Residents Being Forced From Their Homes

It’s no secret that the nation’s capital is also the country’s capital of gentrification. But when MintPress investigated, we found that the city’s poor residents aren’t just getting squeezed out by skyrocketing rents — they’re victims of forced evictions.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
A row of townhomes in Barry Farm housing project, Washington DC.

Phyllissa Bilal, resident and co-founder of the Barry Farm Study Circle, has lived in the neighborhood for about 3 years. WASHINGTON --- Hundreds of predominantly black families in Washington, D.C., are preparing to be forced from their homes to make way for massive redevelopment projects in the nation’s capital city. Scattered throughout

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Detroit’s Water Crisis A Symptom Of Urban Shrinkage

Water shutoffs are affecting huge swathes of a city that can’t afford to pay, prompting nearly 80 people to steal water. Is urban renewal worth the costs?

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
Detroit Water Shutoffs

Dewilda Hershey moved into her home in Detroit’s west side last year, and since then, she says she’s been contacting the city’s water company to get a bill. "The hold time is ridiculous. One time I was on hold for an hour and a half," she told Detroit’s WDIV-TV. Without warning and without ever sending Hershey a bill, the Detroit Water and

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