Homelessness

The nonprofit Mobile Integrative Navigation Team, or MINT, now has a permanent home.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced this week the state will dole out another $920 million to localities to combat homelessness. The new funds come with more accountability measures – some that have already drawn criticism.

Cities across California have passed measures banning or restricting encampments following the U.S. Supreme Court giving the go-ahead in a ruling out of Grants Pass, Oregon. Now some attorneys who represent homeless campers are champing at the bit to put these new ordinances before a jury

Homeless people in Grants Pass now have more options for legally camping in the city.

Outreach workers in the Bay Area city of Fremont worry the new ordinance could target them, despite assurances from the city.

Every January, across the country, local social service groups set out to count the number of homeless people in their communities. Data from what’s called the Point in Time Count is sent to the federal government and used to decide how funding is distributed. JPR reporter Jane Vaughan recently followed one team in Grants Pass.

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the top news stories they've been working on this week.

The non-profit group Disability Rights Oregon and five disabled homeless residents have sued the city of Grants Pass claiming new camping restrictions violate state laws.

On Friday morning, homeless residents dragged tarps and carried piles on their backs, heaping their belongings just outside the fence. They were given until 9 a.m. to get their possessions off the city-owned site.

Despite billions spent and thousands of people helped, the most recent available data shows homelessness is still increasing in the state.

In a sometimes raucous, nearly five-hour-long meeting on Tuesday, the recently-sworn in councilors clawed back a key grant, sharply reduced official camping opportunities for homeless people and pulled the plug on several advisory committees.

This year the Redding Police Department is losing one of its teams trained in responding to mental health emergencies.