By Frank Hopper for Yes! Media.
Broadcast version by Eric Tegethoff for Washington News Service reporting for the YES! Media/Public News Service Collaboration

The city of Tacoma, Washington, now sits on what was once Puyallup tribal land. Many little villages of wooden longhouses once sat by streams and rivers. Food and shelter for the Puyallup came from the land, as did their identity and sense of being. They were bound to their environment through song, story, art, and ritual.

The Puyallup knew nothing of homelessness. Strong kinship ties made sure everyone had a place to stay and food to eat. Today, that spiritual tapestry is virtually gone. The new non-Native residents of Tacoma don't talk about the spiritual nature of the land. Instead, they refer to it as "the streets."

Befriending Amelia

"Hi! I have something for you," I said, holding out a jar of home-canned smoked salmon strips.

From inside a fortress of apparent junk on a street corner a block from my house, a young, homeless African American woman came out of her makeshift shelter of tarps and took the jar.

"It's smoked salmon," I said. "My friend canned it. I'm Alaskan, Alaska Native. My name's Frank."

"Thank you," she said in a small voice.

"How are you doing? Are you OK?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for Poppy. He said he's coming back," she said, turning away but still keeping an eye on me.

"OK, well, I just want you to know people care about you," I said. "What's your name?"

"Amelia," she said.

I had first noticed Amelia one day last summer when I got off the bus near my house in South Tacoma. A big pile of debris on the sidewalk next to the bus stop nearly blocked the bus door. Tarps, boxes, empty bottles, string, small broken appliances, and cardboard formed an igloo around Amelia.

The police soon shooed Amelia away from the bus stop. She moved her camp a half-block down the street. The dwelling grew over time, and people in the neighborhood got upset. They posted pictures of her camp on social media and griped about her.

I stood up for her by posting a comment saying she's a human being who deserves respect like anyone else. I was attacked viciously. One man wrote that if I cared about her so much, I should let her move in with me. Many pointed out that homelessness can bring drugs, crime, and unhealthy conditions into our neighborhood.

I knew what it was like being homeless. That's why I took the smoked salmon to Amelia. I needed to tell her what no one on the street ever told me: that she was important and her life mattered.

The Maze of Assistance for the Homeless

I wanted to help Amelia, so I contacted Maureen Howard of the Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness, who had recently written a moving piece on the subject for the Tacoma News Tribune.

"Unfortunately, for a single woman on her own, there aren't many options," Howard told me. "She could probably get into a women's shelter, but then she'd have to share living space with other women, and that might be a problem for Amelia."

I emailed the Tacoma Neighborhood and Community Services office requesting help for Amelia and received a response from the office's assistant director, Allyson Griffith. She said they were well aware of Amelia, and that she had refused their attempts to help her.

In a later interview with Griffith, I learned that 1,005 people are living in Pierce County emergency shelters or transitional housing, according to the county's 2021 Homeless Point-in-Time Count. Most live in the county's largest city, Tacoma. No survey of those living outside was done in 2021 due to the pandemic, but the previous year counted an additional 914 unsheltered people living on the streets. So a more realistic current total of those unhoused living in and around Tacoma today-a city of 200,000 people-would be close to 2,000.

According to the survey, half of those experiencing homelessness are White, about one-fifth are Black, 18% are listed as "multi-racial," 6% are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 4% are Indigenous, and 1% are Asian. The top three reasons given by survey respondents for their homelessness were family crisis, no affordable housing, and job loss. About 41% self-reported mental illness as a disability.

Griffith said the city runs several shelters in association with community- and faith-based organizations and also runs two tiny home villages, which they call "micro-shelters." The office also does regular street outreach to homeless camps.

Help was available for Amelia. But there was one major obstacle: She didn't want their help, and the city couldn't force her to take it.

Waiting for Poppy

I checked on Amelia whenever I walked to the store. I'd give her a little money and ask if she needed anything. Understanding her was difficult, because she spoke so quickly and the traffic was so loud. But she kept mentioning the name Poppy, and one day, she cautiously revealed a little more about him.

"Poppy took my children, took them to the hospital. He told me he'd come back and get me. I'm waiting for him," she said.

"Do you really think he's coming back?" I asked.

"He better!" she said.

Amelia refused help from the city because she was waiting for Poppy to come back and take her to her children. She had been waiting since last summer, and here it was November. I felt like crying as I walked home after she told me that.

A Place of Transformation

I discovered the Puyallup tribe has its own tiny home village for the homeless called "ʔay'gʷasilali" (pronounced Igwasilali), which is a Whulshootseed word meaning "place of transformation." Located on Puyallup trust land, the village has 30 tiny homes, each with heating and electricity. On-site staff from the Low Income Housing Institute are available 24 hours a day, helping residents connect with social services. Plumbing, cooking, and laundry facilities are located in a separate communal building.

The land was blessed last February in a ceremony by the tribe before construction began. Tribal members danced, drummed, and sang. Puyallup Culture Director Connie McCloud offered a prayer that the land be a place where homeless tribal members are welcomed and helped to heal.

Sharon Lee, executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute, first came up with the idea for tiny home villages in 2015. Her office determined that structures under 120 square feet are exempt from most building code requirements. They could be built quickly and without complex permits. Tiny homes are a vast improvement over tents and tent cities. The institute now operates 16 tiny home villages in the Puget Sound region.

"They are a transitional housing option," Lee said. "Most residents typically stay about three weeks before we're able to place them in more stable housing."

I asked Lee about my friend Amelia. Since she's not Puyallup, she's not eligible for their tiny home village, but Lee told me there are two other villages in Tacoma. She would have someone from the institute go out with me to talk with Amelia about her options. I was ecstatic.

Amelia Disappears

The next day, I went to Amelia's camp to tell her the good news. As I approached, I saw three city workers loading her belongings into a dump truck. I ran up to them and asked what happened to the woman who was living there.

"She got into a hotel," one worker told me.

The city of Tacoma, the city of Lakewood, and Pierce County had assisted the Low Income Housing Institute in purchasing the Comfort Inn located just south of Tacoma in Lakewood and converting it into a homeless shelter. The outreach people came and offered Amelia housing there, and this time, she accepted.

"I guess because the weather is getting cold, or who knows why, but she finally accepted help," the worker said.

As I walked home, I felt happy but also empty. Did all my concern for her do any good? She wound up getting help all on her own. Did I make any difference?

I know not all homeless people are like Amelia. Many different paths lead to homelessness. But from a Native perspective, the ultimate cause of homelessness is our spiritual break with the land.

The modern world commodifies every aspect of our lives, requiring most of us to sell our labor to survive. If we are forced by circumstance to live outside this economic system, we are banished to the streets.

Once, love and kinship held together the Indigenous people of what is now Tacoma. They did not control the land with money. They were the land. That's what Indigenous means. Balance was of utmost importance. And the sight of a confused young woman living outside in squalor is something they would have tried to set right instead of complaining about it.

I remembered the smoked salmon. Amelia made a point on several occasions to tell me how much she liked it. That always made me feel good. The salmon was caught, smoked, and canned by Indigenous people, people of the land, and it made a big impression on her.

I'll never know if she was reunited with her children. But I do know I treated her with honor and respect. I fed her Native food and cared about her problems. Maybe that eased some of the crisis from her mind. I realized I was not her rescuer. I was her friend. That was enough.

Frank Hopper wrote this article for YES! Magazine.


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The Supreme Court case Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson could upend homeless populations in Connecticut and nationwide.

The case centers around whether municipalities can fine or ticket people for sleeping outside when there is no shelter available. Connecticut had an eight-year decline in homelessness, but the last two Point-in-Time snapshots indicated it is rising again.

Sarah Fox, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, said ticketing and fining homeless people only harms them.

"It in fact prolongs their experience of homelessness," Fox asserted. "Once someone is engaged with the criminal legal system, it impacts and affects every other part of their life and their world."

She argued the state needs to work proactively to reduce homelessness, such as tackling the affordable-housing crisis. Connecticut has a shortage of more than 98,000 affordable rental homes. Fox suggested an interagency council on homelessness can ensure homeless people have better access to services and emphasized more funding will create a more effective system for sheltering homeless people. Homelessness has risen 6% nationally since 2017.

Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said affordable housing and services are key to ending homelessness. She stressed along with state- and local-level work, federal investments can help squelch rising homelessness.

"Investments by Congress in housing affordability, that means rental assistance for everybody who is eligible for rental assistance," Oliva stressed. "Right now, only one out of every four households that's eligible for federal rental assistance can get it because of funding challenges."

Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, she feels ordinances criminalizing homelessness could increase. Even so, Oliva added all three levels of government should be aware of actual solutions to curb homelessness.


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Residents in a rural North Carolina town grappling with economic challenges are getting a pathway to homeownership.

In Enfield, the average annual income is about $25,000, while the average home price in the state exceeds $300,000. The significant gap between income and housing costs makes homeownership unattainable for many residents.

Mondale Robinson, mayor of Enfield, said it is an issue with which he is all too familiar, having grown up in the town. He acknowledged the dire housing conditions faced by many residents.

"Housing there is third-world," Robinson asserted. "And I know that term is not politically correct, but I use it intentionally to remind people that while we may be in the so-called richest country in the world, my people are suffering from houses that are killing them."

He pointed out many people in the town are living things like severe mold or failing foundations. Recognizing the challenges posed by limited resources both on a town and federal level, Robinson explained he is tackling the issue by forming partnerships with construction firms and lending institutions. He noted through the Horizon Project, they aim to build energy-efficient homes priced affordably at about $105,000.

Robinson highlighted historically, the majority of Black residents there have been marginalized from experiencing positive changes in their neighborhoods. He explained previous investments focused on constructing homes that were unaffordable for the community. Robinson expressed optimism the initiative will serve as a foundation for achieving long-term equality and stability.

"We had a qualification seminar where we brought people in to see if they qualify for homes," Robinson recounted. "Of those 400 people that showed up, 174 already prequalified and have already started ordering their model homes and on the process to become homeowners."

He added families who qualify will receive smart homes with two to four bedrooms, an opportunity most people living on an hourly wage in the town would not have had access to.

In addition to the housing aspect of the project, Robinson emphasized the importance of economic development and sustainability. He said they will offer training to help new homeowners maintain their property.

He stressed another major part of the Horizon project is meant to help promote growth in the town and return ownership to the people who live there.

"When all of these new houses pop up in this rural space, we know what's to follow, businesses to follow," Robinson projected. "Also, we're looking for the mental victory that folk feel when they've purchased a home, alleviating the fact that you have a landlord that is not concerned with how your health is affected by the house you're living in."

By addressing housing affordability and promoting economic empowerment, Robinson hopes the Horizon Project will serve as a blueprint for similar initiatives across North Carolina and beyond. Qualified families will move into new homes by June, while ongoing support aims to assist others in future qualification.


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New York State housing advocates say they are furious about the so-called "good cause eviction bill" in the new state budget.

It grants tenant protections to people in New York City but all other municipalities will need to opt in. It also requires renters to know their landlord's portfolio to determine eligibility for "good cause" eviction protections and the information can be hard to find.

Ritti Singh, communications organizer for the group Housing Justice for All, said previous iterations would have balanced tenant and landlord interests.

"What it required landlords to do was to show they had a valid cause of eviction, which would include nonpayment, violating the lease, causing trouble, if the landlord wanted to move into the unit," Singh outlined. "It also allowed tenants to contest rent increases over 3%, or 1.5 times the rate of inflation."

For all its potential benefits, a New York University study noted "good cause" eviction comes with just as many drawbacks. It can discourage maintenance investments in buildings, and increase the cost of resolving landlord-tenant disputes. Singh noted the bill was not designed to crimp a landlord's ability to do business but to make the housing system fairer.

Cities like Rochester and Ithaca are close to declaring housing emergencies due to rising rents. Municipalities must have a vacancy study rate below 5% to declare a housing emergency. Singh pointed out the housing crisis affects renters statewide.

"Rents are rising faster in Syracuse than they are in New York City," Singh emphasized. "In March, rents hit record highs in New York City. Rural New York is expected to see a surge of evictions over the next decade, and Long Island renters face the highest cost burdens in all of New York State."

Newburgh declared a housing emergency last year but the Orange County Supreme Court recently overturned the decision. The petitioners' attorney argued Newburgh's vacancy study was inaccurate. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act does not cover the city's renters now and jeopardizes other tenant protections the city has proposed.


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