Homeless Unfiltered by Invisible People
Episodes
We've Learned a Lot About Homelessness—Now What?
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone keeps arguing about how to solve homelessness. Housing First. Treatment First. More shelters. More police.But what if we're asking the wr...
Housing vs. Religion: What Actually Solves Homelessness?
11 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What role should faith-based organizations play in solving homelessness, and why are so many failing?In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Nye, a lea...
Ending Homelessness Isn’t a Mystery. We Just Don’t Fund It
28 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I’m really excited to share this conversation with Jennifer Ho. When we were producing our documentary on Hennepin County, several people told me we...
Dangerous Homelessness Policies That Will Hurt All of Us
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Right now, dangerous federal policy changes could make homelessness in America dramatically worse. Instead of working together to prevent and solve ho...
The Hidden Homeless: America’s Growing Family Crisis
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Family homelessness is rising in America, but most people do not see it.While public attention focuses on tents and encampments, thousands of families...
Why Housing Reduces Crime and Saves Taxpayer Money
22 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When people leave prison with nowhere to go, the outcome is predictable. Homelessness. Survival. And too often, a return to jail.One of the leading dr...
Unseen and Uncounted: Indigenous Homelessness in California
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"There are still tribes that don't have running water. There is no electricity. This is California, not a third-world country. It's in ou...
Street Medicine: When Homeless People Can’t Access Healthcare
24 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I sit down with Brett Feldman, one of my all-time favorite people and a national leader addressing homelessness through street medici...
Housing First Works. So Why Are They Attacking It?
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Homelessness isn’t getting worse because solutions don’t work. It’s getting worse because we keep ignoring the real cause — the lack of afford...
Can Shared Housing Help Solve Homelessness?
10 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Shared housing is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood tools we have to help solve homelessness.In this episode, we dig into how shared housin...
Why Cities Are Making It Harder to Help Homeless People
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cities across the country are making it harder to help homeless people, and what’s happening in Kensington, Philadelphia, shows exactly why this mat...
Why Homelessness Messaging Isn’t Working — A Journalist’s Perspective
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do so many homelessness messages fail to reach the public — even when the solutions work?In this episode, I sit down with journalist and Invisib...
Two Mayors Talk Honestly About Homelessness
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the Mayor of Allentown reached out to say he listens to Homeless Unfiltered, it confirmed something big: this podcast is reaching the leaders who...
What REAL Christianity Looks Like on Skid Row
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does real Christianity look like? For Pastor Blue, it looks like taking his shoes off, stepping into the mud on Skid Row, and loving people with ...
She Watched the System Kill Her Friend — Now She’s Fighting Back
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soma Snakeoil is a sex worker, artist, and activist leading The Sidewalk Project — a women-led harm reduction organization on Skid Row saving lives ...
The Shocking Truth About America’s Illegal Drug Trade
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This might be the most important conversation about drugs you’ll ever hear. Fernando Montero, an anthropologist from Columbia University, actually l...
Internment Camps for Homeless People — Disguised as ‘Help’
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Politicians are calling it “help.” In reality, it looks a lot more like forced labor and internment camps for homeless people.In this episode, I s...
The War on Harm Reduction: “Recovery First” Is a Death Sentence
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Harm reduction is under attack—and when harm reduction loses, people die. “Treatment First/Only” promises a simple fix, but addiction isn’t a ...
Faith, Trauma, and Leadership: Leading San Diego’s Homelessness Response
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tamera Kohler leads one of the most complex homelessness responses in America — San Diego’s. In this episode, she opens up about how faith, trauma...
3,000 Homeless Youth in LA: How to Solve It
28 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Los Angeles, more than 3,000 young people experience homelessness on any given night. Many come out of foster care or the juvenile justice system, ...
Homeless Hunger Games: Shelters, Soundbites, and a Sector at Breaking Point
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The homeless services system is cracking under pressure. In this candid conversation with Iain De Jong, we unpack how the pandemic showed the sector a...
Why Veteran Homelessness Fell — And Latino Homelessness Increased
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why has veteran homelessness dropped while Latino homelessness keeps increasing? In this episode, I talk with Melissa Chinchilla, PhD, a homelessness ...
Inside CSH: Creating Housing Solutions That Help People Thrive
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it really take to make Housing First work? In this episode, I sit down with Deb DeSantis, President & CEO of the Corporation for Support...
The Screwed Scale: Why We’re at 9.7 Out of 10
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is our sixth podcast with Iain De Jong, and it may be the most urgent one yet. Across the country, criminalization of homelessness continues to g...
Rural Homelessness Ground Zero: Inside West Virginia’s Hidden Crisis
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rural homelessness is exploding across America — and West Virginia is Ground Zero.People are living in tents on their own land. Others survive in tr...
They Got Housed — and Still Got Hurt
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tiffany Duvernay-Smith and Amiyoko Shabazz are fierce, funny, and full of truth. Both were once homeless. Both now lead advocacy efforts to reform a s...
Why So Many Homeless People Are Black
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why are Black people so overrepresented in homelessness, and what can be done about it?Christine Haley, Chief Homelessness Officer for the State of Il...
Housing First Didn’t Fail. We Did.
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Housing First didn’t fail — it was never fully funded.In this episode, Marcy Thompson, Vice President of Programs and Policy at the National Allia...
They Lived It — Now They Lead It: The Model That’s Changing Homelessness
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What if the people who lived through homelessness were the ones in charge of solving it?In this powerful podcast episode, we speak with Jack Robinson ...
The Hidden Crisis: Why Rural Homelessness in Canada Is Ignored
28 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Terrilee Kelford is a Registered Psychotherapist, CEO of the Carleton Place Collective, and Chair of Cornerstone Landing Youth Services and the Nation...
We Tested Homelessness Messaging—Here’s What Actually Works
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The way we talk about homelessness is broken, and it's fueling criminalization, not solutions. In this behind-the-scenes conversation, I’m joine...
Why Mainstream Solutions Fail Indigenous Homelessness—And What Actually Works
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shane Pelletier, Executive Director of the National Indigenous Homelessness Council, joins us for a powerful conversation on why Canada’s mainstream...
What If the Problem Isn’t the Homeless Tents, But the System?
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Homeless encampments are growing, and cities keep sending in police to clear them out, which only makes the crisis worse. But what if the real problem...
How Housing After Prison Helps Everyone
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when someone finally gets a second chance and a place to call home? In this episode, we reunite with Heather, Willard, and Shanel, three ...
They Said People Don’t Want Housing. We Proved Them Wrong.
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Carter Hewgley is the Senior Manager at the L.A. County Homeless Initiative, working across 88 cities to confront one of the nation’s largest homele...
He Slept in a Car. Then Spent 40 Years Covering Homelessness.
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin Fagan isn’t just a reporter — he lived the stories he covered. Kicked out at 16 and sleeping in cars, his experience shaped a 40-year career...
They Were Once Homeless. Now, They’re Shaping Policy
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They Don’t Just Share Their Story—They Make the DecisionsDee Martineau and Rico Morales are part of Hennepin County’s Lived Experience Advisory ...
Speaking the Truth in Homeless Services—Even When It Hurts
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David Gillanders, Executive Director of Pathways of Hope, brings brutal honesty to this conversation. He challenges inflated success rates, explains w...
Why Warehousing Homeless People Doesn’t Work—And What Does
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we want to end homelessness, we must fix the system meant to help—starting with our shelters. In this podcast episode, we speak with Sandra Clark...
6 Overdoses to Saving Lives: A Story of Harm Reduction and Hope
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guy Felicella survived six overdoses and spent 20 years in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside battling addiction and homelessness. Now he’s saving live...
Thrown Out, Left Behind: The Hidden Crisis Facing 2SLGBTQ+ Homeless Youth
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when home isn’t safe—and the shelter system isn’t either? Dr. Alex Abramovich is a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and...
Fires, Rising Rents, and Homelessness: LA Is in Crisis. How Do We Fix It?
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath joins us to break down the perfect storm hitting LA: devastating fires, rising rents, and a worsening ho...
This City Cut Homelessness by 30%—Here’s How
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most cities talk about ending homelessness. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, is actually doing it. This year alone, they’ve reduced chronic homelessness...
I Never Went to Jail for Being in a Gang—But I Did for Being Homeless
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Former gang member Curtis Howard spent 30 years cycling between homelessness and incarceration, not because of gang activity, but because the system p...
Trump’s Homeless Disaster Is Coming—How Bad Will It Get?
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
🚨 A homelessness disaster is coming. With Trump’s potential return, the landscape of homelessness policy is shifting in dangerous ways—internme...
The Smarter Way to End Homelessness—And Why It Works
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is homelessness truly solvable? Rosanne Haggerty believes it is—and she has the data to prove it. As the founder and CEO of Community Solutions, Ros...
From Progress to Crisis: What Went Wrong & How Canada Can Fix It
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada was making real progress on homelessness—so what happened?In this episode, we sit down with Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End ...
Giving Booze to Alcoholics: Managed Alcohol Programs Work
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For people with severe alcohol addiction, providing alcohol isn’t controversial—it’s life-saving. In this powerful episode, we explore Managed A...
Why People Stopped Caring About Homelessness—And How to Fix It
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Public empathy toward homelessness is fading fast—so what now? In this eye-opening episode, Iain De Jong returns to discuss why people have stopped ...
Don’t Be Afraid of Authenticity: Messaging Homelessness in a Polarized World
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a world filled with soundbites and spin, authenticity isn’t just a strategy—it’s a necessity. In this eye-opening episode, Marisol Bello, Exe...
This Can’t Be My End – From Addiction to Leadership
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kris Freed’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary. From a privileged upbringing to battling addiction, surviving incarceration, and experiencin...
Dead Addicts Don’t Recover: Why Kensington Needs Harm Reduction
04 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Kensington, Philadelphia, the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast, people are caught in a relentless cycle of survival. "Dead addicts do...
We’re Not Solving Homelessness: Businessman Explains
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, we don’t see what’s right in front of us. It takes an outsider’s perspective to reveal the hard truths we’re missing. Retired busin...
17 Attempts at Rehab: How Harm Reduction Saves Lives in Kensington
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kensington, Philadelphia, is at the epicenter of America’s addiction and homelessness crises, and Melanie Beddis’s story reveals the harsh realiti...
A Crisis of Compassion: Why We’re Failing on Homelessness
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The homelessness crisis in America is growing at an alarming rate, but instead of investing in solutions that work, leaders across the country are dou...
Expert Tips for Journalists: Better Reporting on Homelessness
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the third and final episode of Invisible People’s series on how journalists can cover homelessness better. Lisa Halverstadt, senior investig...
This Doctor Built Homeless Housing on a Parking Lot
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This isn’t just another podcast; it’s a call to reimagine how we value human life. In this powerful episode, Dr. Andrew Boozary, primary care phys...
The Key to Finland’s 12-Year Homelessness Decline
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we sit down with Juha Kahila, Head of International Affairs at the Y-Foundation, to explore Finland's effective approach to ending ho...
Lived Experience: Truth, Challenges, and Moving Beyond Tokenism
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Lived Experience programs are all the rage in the homelessness sector, but are they really making a difference, or just ticking boxes? In this episode...
Authentic Reporting: Journalism, Homelessness, and Trauma
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the second episode of this three-part series, we explore how journalists can improve their reporting on homelessness with special guest Kate Cagle,...
Homelessness Truth Bombs: 41 Years of It Only Getting Worse
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join us for an unfiltered conversation with Paul Boden, the Executive Director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), as he breaks down 41 y...
A Politician Who Gets It: Real Solutions to Homelessness
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, we bring you a compelling interview with Commissioner Irene Fernando, a trailblazing leader from Hennepin County, Minnesota. ...
A Formerly Homeless Person’s Guide for Journalists
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this powerful first episode of a three-part series on journalism and homelessness, we sit down with Shawn Pleasants, a Yale graduate and former bus...
California's Homeless Crisis: Uncovering the Truth
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
California’s homeless crisis is reaching unprecedented levels, but what’s really driving it? In this episode, Dr. Margot Kushel, Professor of Medi...
The Power of Giving Cash to Homeless People
10 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this powerful episode, we sit down with Mark Donovan, Founder & Executive Director of The Denver Basic Income Project, to discuss a revolutiona...
Love and Disruption: Advancing Housing Justice and Racial Equity
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this compelling episode, we explore the transformative power of love and disruption in advancing housing justice and racial equity with Amanda Ande...
Soft Power in Action: Transforming the Response to Homelessness
13 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s podcast, we have the privilege of sitting down with Ann Oliva, the CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). Ann Oliva...
Turning Hope Into Action: Ending Homelessness In Tough Times
06 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join us in this riveting episode as we dive deep into the complexities of homelessness with Jeff Olivet, the Executive Director of the United States I...
Experts Agree: Stop Arresting Homeless People
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Discover the harsh realities of homelessness across America in this compelling episode. We explore the criminalization of homelessness, from Miami's O...
Radical Acceptance: How Misfits Can Solve the Homeless Crisis
22 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this powerful and eye-opening podcast episode, we sit down with Iain De Jong, a renowned expert in homelessness and social issues. Iain shares his ...
$300-a-Day Drug Habit to Homeless Advocate
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the inaugural episode of Changing the Narrative: The Invisible People Podcast! Join us as we kick off our series with an in-depth and heart...