🚨 1 can of Spam for $120. Food stamps have become the new ATM for fraudsters as they partner with local businesses to commit the fraud as they trade SNAP cards like Pokémon cards on the streets. Across America food stamp fraud is happening everywhere. It has become a billion dollar fraudulent industry as taxpayers fund the $100 billion program. We caught a fraudster on the streets of Seattle as she attempted to buy a can of spam and sushi for $120 in a food stamp for cash exchange, it’s a billion dollar fraudulent scheme stealing from the poor and hungry. This is a must watch and is happening everywhere. EXPOSE AND SHUT IT ALL DOWN.

Also a big shout out to the legendary @choeshow @grantadenton and @darren_stallcup for helping expose this fraud 🫡

One thing I’ve learned from sitting on panels and having public conversations about homelessness: we actually agree on more than people think. Most of us agree homelessness desperately needs to be solved. We agree poverty and housing matter. We agree addiction and untreated mental illness are major factors for many people on the streets. Where we become polarized is HOW. Housing vs. treatment. Harm reduction vs. accountability. Individual responsibility vs. government intervention. Compassion for the person vs. responsibility to the broader community. These are difficult conversations—but they’re the conversations we need to have. Homelessness won’t be solved by surrounding ourselves with people who agree with us. It gets solved when people with different philosophies and experiences sit at the same table, challenge each other, look at outcomes, and stay focused on one goal: helping people get off the streets. We largely agree on the WHAT. The real debate is the HOW. @MayorOfLA #Homelessness #HomelessnessSolutions #PublicPolicy #CommunitySolutions #karmaboxproject

Few issues in homelessness generate as much controversy as encampment sweeps. To some, they are plainly inhumane. They displace people. They disrupt fragile routines. Personal belongings are sometimes lost. Those are legitimate concerns, and anyone being honest should acknowledge them. But there’s another question that deserves equal attention: What is the cost of not sweeping a camp? Click on the link for the full article. open.substack.com/pub/granta…

Utah just became the first state in the country to formally align with the Great American Recovery Initiative through Gov. Spencer Cox’s new Recovery Utah Initiative — bringing addiction recovery, mental health, homelessness, housing, public safety and long-term stability into a more coordinated strategy. Even better was getting to spend time with some of the people helping lead this work: Tyler Clancy — Utah’s State Homeless Coordinator and chair of the new Recovery Utah Initiative Council. Dave Durocher — Executive Director of The Other Side Academy. Dr. Timothy Westlake — Chief of Staff at SAMHSA, an emergency physician, national recovery leader. Dr. Monty Burks — Executive Director of the Great American Recovery Initiative and Director of the HHS Center for Faith. Kathryn Burgum — White House Senior Advisor for Addiction Recovery and Co-Chair of Great American Recovery. The Great American Recovery Initiative is important because it recognizes something many of us working on the ground have learned firsthand: Recovery requires treatment, connection, accountability, purpose, employment, community and long-term support. #GreatAmericanRecovery #RecoveryIsPossible #AddictionRecovery #HomelessnessSolutions #KarmaBoxProject

Nick Shirley and Jonathan Choe are the badassess that ask uncomfortable questions, uncover the fraud, document what’s actually happening, and tell stories that might otherwise never get told. I’ve got a ton of respect for the work they do. And the dudes behind the scenes who help make that work possible. Mad respect to the bodyguards and security professionals who keep these guys safe while they’re out doing the work. They may not be the ones holding the camera or asking the questions, but their job is just as real—and just as dangerous. I had an opportunity to ride with these boys the other day and see the behind-the-scenes work that makes all this shit actually happen! These dudes are putting their lives on the line every day they’re out there! Hat off to you Alex and Adley!! Respect to the journalists. Respect to the crew. And mad respect to the guys watching their backs. 💪 #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheScenes #JournalismMatters #RespectTheCrew #IndependentJournalism

I filmed a tent exploding in Portland.

I was proud to participate in a panel with the top independent journalist in America hosted by @DiscoveryInst1. It was awesome to see @choeshow @nickshirleyy @grantadenton @weheartfounder and others.

Sometimes you just have to know when to zoom in. I hit the Seattle streets with @grantadenton and as he was interviewing, a homeless woman talking about how easy it is to use drugs openly a homeless man next to her started smoking fentanyl.

On the streets of Seattle with @grantadenton showing him the illegal markets

Hi @timburchett. If you want me in Washington DC to testify about homelessness, I will. I'm formerly homeless and in recovery from heroin and fentanyl addiction. You will get no ideological word salad from me. Just the truth. @choeshow @kevinvdahlgren @DiscoveryCWP

The Three Ways We Help the Homeless — And Why We Keep Stopping Too Soon grantadenton.substack.com/p/…

NEW: Friday afternoon, far-left activists targeted Cicero Institute's Homelessness Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Most of these professional protesters are aligned with Homeless INC and are deathly afraid of losing their gravy train. That's because the Trump administration defunded Housing First, one of the greatest public policy failures in American history. It's made the street crisis worse and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But now the vast majority of that money will be flowing into treatment and recovery focused providers. Discovery Institute and Cicero Institute played a massive role in helping craft the direction of this new approach that will save lives. We Heart Seattle's Andrea Suarez, Tom Wolf, and North America Recovers Grant Denton are on the ground right now giving us real-time updates. @DiscoveryCWP|@HUDgov|@JTLonsdale|@InstituteCicero|@WhiteHouse|@Twolfrecovery|@grantadenton|@weheartseattle

Just finished the @InstituteCicero conference on homelessness. It was complete with protests and everything. Here's the truth. Housing First doesn't work for people with addictions and must be changed. I told you I was going to help make that happen.

“You know I smoked a lot of grass, and I popped a lot of pills, But I ain’t never done nothin’ that my spirit couldn’t kill; And I walked around with these tombstones in my eyes, But I know the pusher don’t care if you live or if you die!” -Shannon Hoon #wedorecover #soberissexy #overdoseawareness #recoveryworks #recoveryispossible #recoveryisworthit #soberevolution #sober #soberlife #soberstyle

“It is no measure of health, to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Doing outreach in Portland with Kevin Dahlgren, and an explosion in the camp next to the overpass causes us to run over. No one‘s in the tent, it seems like the fire may have been intentional. People in the adjacent tents, pop their head out for a moment. Realize they’re not in danger, and then zip the tents back up, business as usual. We called the fire department, but by time they got there the fire had burned down to a smolder. They slowly roll out the hose, about six of them, squirt, a little water on the already dying fire, and head out. Business as usual. Later that day, we see bodies folded over from fentanyl in the streets, people passed out on the sidewalk half dressed, multiple overdoses, people sitting in their own excrement, people smoking, injecting, or drinking themselves to death. Business as usual. It was insane! What was more insane though, was the communities’s reaction to it. Nothing. There was no reaction. people on the way to work, walking to the store, waiting at the bus stop, kids on the way to school. It was just another day. Business as usual. Navigating the sidewalks, walking over bodies stepping over needles crack and meth pipes, foil and straws. It was just another day. We have unintentionally in the spirit of compassion, normalized this scene. Be careful what you allow your community to get used to. This is a direct result, a bad drug policies and city ordinances. Again: “It is no measure of health, to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” #DrugPolicyFailure #WestCoastCrisis #PortlandReality #SanFranciscoCrisis #SeattleDrugCrisis #AccountabilityMatters #EndStreetSuffering #CompassionWithBoundaries #PublicSafetyFirst #RealRecoveryNow #StopNormalizingHarm #FixThePolicies #StreetLevelTruth #UrbanDecayCrisis #speakhardtruths