Tag: homelessness

New Report: How Extremists Infiltrated Homelessness Advocacy in America

Today, the Capital Research Center (CRC) released a new report in cooperation with Discovery Institute exploring how extremist ideological movements are exploiting America’s homelessness crisis, which can include hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people on any given night.

Using financial data, legal records, and original research, the report uncovers a vast network of homelessness advocates that spend billions in taxpayer dollars and philanthropic grants on everything but obvious solutions. The report demonstrates that counterproductive policies have been used for years which do not solve the homelessness problem, but rather exacerbate common root causes of homelessness, including mental health challenges and substance abuse.

The key findings of the report expose the groups that have co-opted the homelessness issue in order to advance their own policy agenda, which, if left unchecked, will result in radical transformations for the entire nation. Groups aligned with radical — and even extremist — worldviews, ranging from anti-police and anti-capitalist movements to groups that express support for foreign terrorist organizations. They include, among others:

  • Western Regional Advocacy Project: The Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), a 501(c)(3), has received support from Tides-affiliated entities and has coordinated anti-sweep campaigns across cities, tying housing to anti-capitalist critiques in publications like Street Spirit, which labels U.S. governance “neoliberal fascism.” In fact, the nonprofit glorifies violence targeting law enforcement and is a state-level endorser of the Housing Justice platform.
  • Autonomous Tenants Union Network (ATUN): The group believes that “overthrowing capitalism” is required for solving the country’s homelessness problem. Its website states: “We fight for a world without landlords and without rent. We fight to build tenant power in order to end the immiseration of the poor and working classes that housing represents under capitalism and to contribute to the struggle to end capitalism itself.”
  • Right to the City Alliance: This 501(c)(3) nonprofit, known for its protests through the national Homes for All campaign, has engaged in joint endorsement of pro-Hamas 501(c)(3) nonprofits including the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance that declared, “From Palestine to Mexico, all borders and militarized violence have got to go!”

These are a few examples of actors exploiting structural vulnerabilities in the nonprofit sector — including lax oversight, complex funding channels, and even the legal system — to advance ideas that are not merely unorthodox, but deeply destabilizing for our country.

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More Americans Experienced Homelessness During Biden’s Term

The number of adults experiencing homelessness is on the rise in the United States.

As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the chart below, using data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 771,480 people were living in a state of homelessness in 2024, marking an 18 percent increase from the year before.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Two thirds of these were individuals, while one third were people in families.

Last year saw a particularly worrying rise in the number of families entering homelessness, up 39 percent from 2023, as individuals saw a 9.6 percent rise.

While it remains more common for men to experience homelessness than women in the U.S., at 459,568 men (60 percent) to 302,660 women (40 percent), the gap is narrowing.

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2 LA men charged with fraud in misuse of public funds meant for combating homelessness

Two Los Angeles-area men faced federal charges in separate criminal cases as they are both accused of fraudulently acquiring public funds that were allocated to address homelessness and build affordable housing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.

Cody Holmes of Beverly Hills was in custody as of Thursday after he allegedly used fake bank records to receive nearly $26 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for Shangri-La Industries LLC, for which he previously served as a CFO.

The money from Project Homekey was supposed to be used to build affordable housing in Thousand Oaks, but instead, Holmes, 31, spent the money to pay credit card bills and purchase good at luxury retailers, the DOJ alleged.

“Even though the developer received all the money from the state, the developer did not complete the construction of the Thousand Oaks project,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference Thursday. “Essentially, he stole the money.”

In a separate case, Steven Taylor, a developer and real state agent, of Brentwood was released on a $3.6 million bond, the DOJ said, after he was charged with bank fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Federal investigators said Taylor also used fake bank records to obtain loans and lines of credit. The 44-year-old is accused of using the fraudulently obtained funds to flip a Cheviot Hills home and selling it to a homeless housing developer for more than double his original purchase.

“Taylor had contracted to sell the property, which he acquired for only $11 million, fraudulently, to Weingart, a homeless housing developer, that purchased the property for a whopping $27 million in a transaction that was hidden from the victim lender and others,” Essayli added.

Akil Davis, FBI’s assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office. said Taylor also tried to enrich his business in high-end neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

“Taylor’s actions not only misled banks, but also took advantage of the city and state’s efforts to combat the homelessness crisis, Davis said.

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Sin City’s shame: As tourists abandon Las Vegas, 1,500 forgotten ‘Mole People’ are left behind in rat-infested tunnels below the Strip

Tourists may have deserted the gambling capital of the world but the number of homeless has skyrocketed. Among them are the ‘Mole People’ who dwell in the decaying tunnels below the Las Vegas Strip. 

A petite blonde-haired woman in a red sundress, who goes by Natasha, emerges from her home under the Sahara Hotel and Casino on a sweltering late September day.

She is just one of an estimated 1,500 people, many of whom are drug, alcohol or gambling addicts, who live underneath the glittering Strip in a vast 600-mile system of storm drain tunnels built in the early 1990s.

At first glance she could be mistaken for an average tourist in town to play blackjack or see a show.

It’s not until she makes her way through the piles of garbage, including discarded shoes, a broken stroller, used syringes, old pizza boxes, dirty blankets, torn-open pillows, and leftover bags of junk food, and comes closer that you can see she’s missing a front tooth and has sores all over her legs that are a telltale sign of fentanyl abuse.

Natasha, from Anchorage, Alaska, admits she’s high but is also lucid enough to explain her situation and describe life in the tunnels because, she says, many who live alongside her cannot. 

She has been underground on and off for two years.

‘When I first came on the Strip – I’ve been here for a year – I was living in a truck,’ she told Daily Mail.

‘Then my boyfriend died [of an overdose] and so I’ve been down here off and on for weeks. I never knew how bad the whole [homeless] situation was here.

‘People are sleeping in alleyways and living by dumpsters or they’re in shelters. The people in the tunnels don’t want to stop using drugs. It makes them happy. 

‘They can’t do that with a normal lifestyle or any place where they have to follow rules.’

Since 2022, homelessness in Las Vegas (and the wider Southern Nevada/Clark County area) has risen sharply, according to federal Point-in-Time counts.

In 2022, there were just over 6,000 people counted as homeless on a single night. By 2023 that number grew to 6,566, and by 2024 it had jumped to about 7,906 — an increase of 20 percent in one year and about 36 percent over two years.

By contrast, Vegas has seen a sharp decline in tourism through 2025, with visitor numbers down more than 11 percent year-over-year in June and about 7 percent for the first half of the year. 

Analysts say rising prices – bottled water can cost as much as $12 or $14 in hotels along the Strip and resort fees, parking and food costs have increased exponentially – along with weaker foreign currencies and a slump in international visitors have caused Vegas to be a city currently down on its luck. 

International tourism has suffered the steepest drop: visitors were down by more than 13 percent in June alone.

Homeless people in Vegas do not have to live in the tunnels. They have the option of going to what locals call The Courtyard, the primary hub for unhoused people in the city.

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Bombshell: Antifa Is Funded by Taxpayers Through Nonprofits

Jonathan Choe, an investigative reporter for TPUSA and a senior journalist fellow for Discovery Institute, explained to President Trump today during a roundtable on Antifa that Antifa is heavily embedded in the homeless and housing nonprofit sector.

“Hot off the presses,” Choe began, “what I wanted to bring to your attention today is a report from a Capital Research Center here in DC, in conjunction with Discovery Institute. They just put out this study right now. And what it shows is that Antifa is heavily embedded in the homeless and housing nonprofit sector. In many cases, the homeless industrial complex is running cover for Antifa.

“Antifa is benefiting from American tax dollars, and they’re essentially being used as the muscle. Let me give you an example. There’s a group called Stop the Sweeps in many US cities right now. They get in front of encampment sweeps. What they’re doing, quietly is they’re bringing in Antifa militants to manufacture a crisis, to make the police look bad.

“Another group right now that is behind Antifa and working with Antifa very closely, based on the research that we have right now that we’re going to give to you and your team, are the democratic socialists of America, also known as DSA. Again, these far left progressive groups tend to be aligning themselves with Antifa.

“So finally, in closing… is that a few months ago, earlier this year, you put out an executive order on homelessness and the drug addiction crisis in America, and that’s sent the entire homeless industrial complex on the run. You have absolutely moved the needle and changed the game. But what’s also come out again is that there is a connection, a deeply embedded connection, with the homeless housing nonprofit game in America, connected to Antifa and the far left activists.

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Homeless Camps Are Morphing Into Larger Homeless ‘Cities’ In LA

A massive homeless encampment in Koreatown has grown into what neighbors describe as a “city” of its own — complete with a tennis court, garden, barbecue pit, and even illegally rigged electricity, according to the NY Post.

“The reason why people are sleeping here is because you leaders are sleeping on not taking initiative and action to clean this place up,” resident Daniel King told ABC7.

Neighbors say they’ve watched people pry open a streetlight, install a surge protector inside, and run extension cords across the street to power the camp. “Thank God it hasn’t rained in a while,” said Sangmin Lee. “It’s a fire hazard … then they run the cable across the street, and it’s a trip hazard for everyone.”

Lee also pointed out, “There’s a tennis court, there’s a garden where they’re growing stuff… There’s a barbecue pit.” Another neighbor, Max Smith, summed it up: “It’s a city in there. It’s crazy. It’s crazy.”

The Post writes that residents say the camp has created safety concerns, with one woman telling ABC7 she avoids walking her dog near the site after being approached by people from the encampment. An ABC7 crew was also threatened while reporting there.

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Fox News host on mentally ill people who commit crimes: “Just kill them”

LAWRENCE JONES (FOX HOST):  We don’t have to — we feel so compassionate because you see the mental health crisis happening.

AINSLEY EARHARDT (FOX HOST): You just get — exactly.

JONES  But it’s not our job — we shouldn’t have to live in fear while they figure out what is going on right there.

EARHARDT: Right, right.

JONES: Put him in a mental institution, put him in a jail, and you guys figure it out. But people having to duck and dive on the trains and the buses, walking through the street, this is one case, but this is happening all across the country, and it’s not a money issue. They have given billions of dollars to mental health and the homeless population. A lot of them don’t want to take the programs, a lot of them don’t want to get the help that is necessary. You can’t give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we’re going to give you and — or you decide that you are going to be locked up in jail. That’s the way it has to be now.

BRIAN KILMEADE (FOX HOST): Or involuntary lethal injection.

JONES: Yeah.

KILMEADE : Or something. Just kill them.

EARHARDT: Yeah, Brian, why did it have to get to this point?

KILMEADE: Right, I would say this, we are not voting for the right people. In North Carolina, wake up. You can’t put — keep putting these people in power. They woke up in Los Angeles, they got a stronger D.A. They woke up and they got rid of Chesa Boudin in San Francisco. Hopefully they will get rid of this terrible guy Alvin Bragg in New York. And now it’s up to the people in the election which is whoever is up in November and that Senate seat that belongs to Thom Tillis who by the way yesterday said I don’t want any help from the federal government to bring crime under control in cities like Charlotte. That’s your decision. But Michael Whatley or you could have Governor Cooper. Governor Cooper gave you these terrible laws. Mike Whatley wouldn’t. And he ran the RNC. These are the people in North Carolina. Purple leaning red state. They got a big choice. On this element, it is political. Because it’s political because politics has to change this.

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NYC to Open Nation’s First Trans-Only Homeless Shelter — Will Cost Taxpayers $65 Million

The city of New York is opening the nation’s first transgender-only homeless shelter.

The shelter, a partnership between a local LGBTQ nonprofit and the city government, will cost the city an extraordinary $65 million and will be the first transgender homeless shelter in the nation.

Further details were outlined in a joint press release:

There will also be a full-time psychiatric nurse practitioner onsite who will work closely with the social workers and other credentialed staff to provide comprehensive mental health support.

On-site clinical staff will provide health education through coaching and counseling with the end goal of improved health outcomes and increasing clients’ self-sufficiency.

This model will offer specialized services to address depression, anxiety, and other challenges our residents may experience.

Destination Tomorrow will also employ holistic approaches to health and mental wellness with programs offering yoga and meditation.

In addition, Destination Tomorrow is developing a work study program for culinary arts, this will provide hands-on experience and internship opportunities for residents seeking careers in hospitality and food service.

DSS and Destination Tomorrow will work closely with key community stakeholders to identify collaborative ways to better serve and support New York City’s thriving LGBTQ+ community.

“ We’ve watched so many other corporations and foundations and businesses just like completely turn their back on the community and the city didn’t do it,” said Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, the nonprofit that will manage the shelter for the city.

“The city is keeping in line with what New York City has always been, a sanctuary city, a safe haven, but more importantly, a trendsetter when it comes to LGBTQ rights.”

City officials are openly championing the initiative, with Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park declaring they “could not be prouder” of the announcement.

“Ace’s Place will offer Transgender New Yorkers a safe place to heal and stabilize in trauma-informed settings with the support of staff who are deeply invested in their growth and wellbeing,” she added.

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Trump’s Anti-Crime Order Brings Back Long Term Facilities to House the Mentally Ill and Addicted

President Donald Trump issued a July 24 executive order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” A record of more than 274,000 individuals were found to be experiencing homelessness. Homelessness often leads to increased crime and fires. Trump’s order pushes local governments to redirect the homeless to “long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment.” Cabinet heads have been instructed to prioritize funding to cities that work to abolish open drug use and camping on the streets. During the Biden administration, from 2022 – 2024, the federal government spent $28 billion, with most of the money going to Democrat cities that include New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Portland and San Francisco. During this period, homelessness increased by a whopping  33%. 

As of 2025, an estimated 72,308 people experienced homelessness in Los Angeles County. Homelessness is a business, and non-profit organizations are getting rich, in Democrat -majority California. The state currently is “missing” $24 billion in funds intended for the homeless! The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is set to lose $300 million in funding, about 40% of its $875-million budget. LAHSA the lead agency that coordinates and manages federal, state, county, and city funds for the homeless.

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Comatose woman woke up moments before organ harvesting surgery… but pushy donor boss ‘told doctors to operate anyway’

An organ harvesting organization has faced allegations that it urged doctors to remove body parts from a comatose woman – who went on to make a full recovery after medics insisted she showed signs of life. 

Danella Gallegos said she feels lucky to be alive after her organs were almost taken by ‘pushy’ donor bosses when she fell into a coma in 2022.

Gallegos, who was 38 at the time, was homeless when she suffered an unspecified medical emergency, and doctors at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico told her family she would never recover. 

Without any hope, her family agreed to donate her organs and preparations were made with procurement organization New Mexico Donor Services. 

In her final days, Gallegos’ family said they saw tears in her eyes – a sign that they say donation coordinators quickly brushed off, claiming watery eyes were just a reflex.

On the day her organs were set to be taken, one of Gallegos’ sisters said she was adamant Danella was still sentient because she saw her move while holding her hand.

Doctors in a pre-surgery room were left stunned when Gallegos, deep in a coma but still medically alive, was able to blink her eyes on the medic’s command.

But the organ coordinator in the room told doctors that they should ply the patient with morphine and move ahead anyway, according to a New York Times report.

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