DAILY TRIFECTA: Dunking On Barkley's "Homeless Crooks" Comment
Do people outside even have a shot?
NOTE: Former NBA great Charles Barkley’s remunerative shtick as a “tell it like it is” TV personality was on full-display yesterday during the NBA All-Star game in Indianapolis when he opined about the “homeless crooks” to be found in “bunches” in San Francisco, which plays host to next year’s game.
While it's true that San Francisco’s homeless crisis is acute, I also find dozens of stories detailing crisis-level homelessness in nearly every corner of the United States. And I can easily compile a thread proving as much during most newscycles. But you won’t hear about these overlooked places from the SF-obsessed media.
You will, though, on today’s TRIFECTA:
TITLE: Sinclair’s recipe for TV news: Crime, homelessness, illegal drugs
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/16/sinclair-broadcasting-conservative-media-trump/
EXCERPTS: Sinclair’s local network of 185 stations across the country makes it an influential player in shaping the views of millions of Americans, especially at a time when local newspapers are rapidly being gutted — or closed altogether.
As Sinclair increasingly fills the void, it offers its viewers a perspective that aligns with Trump’s oft-stated opinion that America’s cities, especially those run by Democratic politicians, are dangerous and dysfunctional.
“Sinclair stations deliver messages that appeal to older, White, suburban audiences, and they play up crime stories in a way that is disproportionate to their statistical presence,” said Anne Nelson, a journalist and author of “Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right.” “All of it is fearmongering and feeds into a racialized view of cities.”
Nelson, who has spent decades studying conservative media and political propaganda, said that local TV news reports traditionally cover local crime stories, but Sinclair’s programming does it “more than usual, and with a particular message.” She said that the lack of local papers has changed the role of local TV news.
“When you remove those papers, which would historically feed local radio and TV news programs, you’re left with Sinclair and the internet,” Nelson said.
Research demonstrates that local news reports enjoy a greater level of trust than national outlets. That allows Sinclair to capitalize on that trust, experts say, even as some of its coverage delivers a particular worldview.
In Seattle, a local Sinclair station devotes a special section on its website to “Crisis in the Classroom,” focusing on dysfunction in city schools, and “Project Seattle,” which zeroes in on homelessness. The homepage is often heavy on crime stories.
The station’s focus on urban problems in Seattle gained national attention when the Sinclair station produced an hour-long documentary in 2019 titled “Seattle Is Dying,” which described how “the appeal of the city is giving way to rampant crime, homelessness and disgrace.” The Seattle Times, the main local newspaper, published a rebuttal after the documentary aired, pointing out that Seattle’s crime rates had declined significantly since the 1980s and 1990s.
In Baltimore, a majority-Black city where Democrats have long dominated local politics, the local Sinclair station features “Project Baltimore,” a regular segment that focuses on the failings of the public school system.
A recent dispatch from Project Baltimore noted that “Baltimore is a tough city. Nearly a quarter of its residents live in poverty. The murder rate is one of the highest in the nation. And schools are not immune to the city’s failures.”
While none of that is false, Fox45’s reporting can leave out context, said Liz Bowie, a former Sun education reporter who is now covering the same topic at the Baltimore Banner, a not-for-profit newsroom that launched in 2022 and hired much of its staff from the Sun.
“Many of their education stories lack context, and therefore the public gets a very different impression of the school system in Baltimore,” said Bowie, who wrote about education for the Sun for more than 20 years.
A Sinclair spokeswoman pointed out that Project Baltimore has won dozens of awards, including nearly 30 regional Emmy Awards, seven regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and nine Associated Press Awards.
“We’ve been at it for seven years and we are very proud of our work,” Chris Papst, the lead reporter for Project Baltimore, wrote in an email. Sinclair’s spokeswoman noted that Sinclair’s stations in Baltimore and Seattle are at the top of the ratings in their respective markets, a sign that the coverage is resonating with viewers.
TITLE: As the homeless crisis worsens, unhoused people in these rural areas remain 'invisible'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/19/homeless-shelters-north-carolina-seeing-rural-poverty/72480429007/
EXCERPT: Nationwide, homelessness increased in 2023 to more than any year on record, and people are becoming unhoused in urban and suburban neighborhoods, small country towns and outlying rural communities as the affordable housing crisis worsens.
As Raleigh has increasingly morphed into the seat of a thriving metro region in recent years, hardship has become more visible: A mother and her two small children camp out along a highway off-ramp holding signs letting drivers know they need money for food. In a suburban strip mall, a man asks diners seated on a patio for cash because he hasn't gotten his first paycheck from his job at a restaurant chain yet.
"You see the need," Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin told USA TODAY this month. "People here didn't see tent cities before. Now you do."
Rural homelessness, particularly unhoused people living outdoors, has also been on the rise for years, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nationwide, nearly 1 in 5 Americans lacking housing are in rural areas, defined as more than 10 miles away from an urbanized area.
In the small towns and rural counties that dot the map between North Carolina's major cities, resources don't exist for people who become unhoused, service providers told USA TODAY. People in rural areas struggling with substance use, evictions, past incarceration and unemployment come to cities like Raleigh for the help that's only available there.
"That divide between rural and urban is brutal in North Carolina and it makes it very difficult to figure out a pathway forward for our future," said Gene R. Nichol, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the book "The Faces of Poverty in North Carolina: Stories from Our Invisible Citizens."
It's not just in North Carolina. Some rural areas in states like Tennessee and Florida reported among the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness in the country, with more than 80% of unhoused people living outdoors in tents, cars, or other makeshift structures, according to HUD.
In Raleigh, homeless service providers said more unhoused people than ever have jobs and are earning income and more families with children are showing up at shelters after being kicked out onto the street.
TITLE: Homelessness jumped in 10 Michigan counties. What’s being done about it?
https://www.mlive.com/news/2024/02/homelessness-jumped-in-10-michigan-counties-whats-being-done-about-it.html
EXCERPTS: More people are experiencing homelessness in the northwest corner of Michigan as affordable housing has become harder to find. The region saw homelessness increase by 56% from 2021 to 2022, the latest state data shows, going from 940 to 1,471 people. That’s the biggest jump in the state compared to 47% in the Upper Peninsula, 31% in the Detroit area and 21% in West Michigan.
The bulk of the increase came from five rural counties Wexford, Missaukee, Manistee, Charlevoix and Emmett, according to Hughes. In the remaining five counties, there are roughly 270 people experiencing homelessness. They are served by the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness.
Ashley Halladay-Schmandt, director of the coalition, says homelessness has risen, but not the 56% jump across the entire region.
“What we’re seeing, at least in that five-county region, is a significant strain with people who have been homeless for the longest periods of time,” she said.
The coalition is in its second year of a five-year plan to end chronic homelessness, which is anyone who has been experiencing homelessness for a year or longer and has a disability. Seventy people are currently considered chronically homeless in the region.
The goal is to get that number to zero by 2028.
“If we don’t figure out the solution for the 70 folks, the numbers are just going to get bigger and bigger and bigger because our resources get stretched more and more and more,” Halladay-Schmandt said.
Community agencies are focused on keeping people out of shelters. A shelter diversion and rapid exit program has helped redirect up to 30% of the people who could end up in a shelter by finding them other places to stay, according to Hughes. This targets first-time homeless people or those facing an eviction.
“The amount that are coming in equals out to the amount that are going out or being diverted,” Hughes said. “So, we’re not seeing a huge increase in numbers, even though we’re seeing new people.”
An encampment outside of Traverse City called The Pines brought the city and homelessness prevention groups together “to tackle the multifaceted challenges of homelessness,” interim city manager Nate Geinzer said. The Goodwill Inn provides 120 beds to people facing homelessness, and Safe Harbor, a seasonal shelter, provides emergency housing throughout the winter.
But Halladay-Schmandt says this is the first year Safe Harbor has been at capacity.
“Year-round, we have really limited shelter space because there’s only two for 10 counties. Our encampments are out in the middle of nowhere in the woods with 20 to 50 to 100 people sometimes,” Hughes said. “And some of those people who’ve been out there for five years.”
The other driving force behind homelessness: a housing shortage.
There’s a 0.7% vacancy rate for housing across Northern Michigan, according to a housing needs assessment from Housing North, with eight counties that have no empty units. This is considered “extremely low” compared to a healthy market with a 4% to 6% vacancy rate.
To keep up with demand, Housing North estimates the 10-county region needs 32,000 additional units by 2027.
“We just have a sheer lack of number of available units for the different price points people need, especially those experiencing homelessness who are on the lower end of the income spectrum,” said Yarrow Brown, executive director of Housing North.
The existing housing is only getting more expensive as more people move to Northern Michigan and short-term rentals eat away at supply. The median home price was nearly $400,000 last February with average homes costing more than $1 million in Charlevoix and Leelanau counties.
This has priced retail and hospitality workers – vital for the region’s tourism industry – out of the housing market.
“There’s just nobody up here who wants those jobs because they can’t afford to live here,” Hughes said.