HeyJaredTruth on the Streets
Three decades working in social services writing on homelessness, addiction and the Homeless Industrial Complex.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest issues
Homelessness Has Become an Ideological War (opens the original)
Read excerpt
The reason the country is so divided over homelessness is that liberals and conservatives often look at the same homeless encampment and see two completely different problems.<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="1941" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$
The Hidden Homeless (opens the original)
Read excerpt
The homeless who want help are often out in the open. The homeless who need help the most are often hidden. I woke up early and hit the streets with Jason, my little brother. We decided to head into inner Southeast Portland, an area with one of the higher concentrations of homelessness in the city. It is also surrounded by bridges, freeway ramps, Interstate 84 and miles of Union Pacific railroad tracks near the Willamette River. Underneath the freeway are massive concrete pillars, dark corners a
Homelessness Is a Death Sentence (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Homelessness is a death sentence in cities where ideology replaces intervention, and too often the system funded to prevent those deaths fails to act before it is too late. Over the course of my work, I have witnessed well over a hundred people die, found hundreds of bodies, and witnessed several hundred overdoses. The reality is simple: the longer someone remains on the streets, the greater the likelihood that person will die prematurely. Drugs are one of the most common causes, particularly in
More Money, More Programs, More Homelessness. (opens the original)
Read excerpt
After more than two decades working in social services at the city, county, state, nonprofit, for-profit, and faith-based levels, with most of that time spent working directly with homeless people, I walked away and became an independent journalist. I did so more out of necessity than desire. After decades inside a deeply dysfunctional system, I watched what had once been a cause slowly become a multibillion-dollar industry. Budgets grew, programs multiplied, and new layers of bureaucracy were a
Old Town Portland Is What Failure Looks Like (opens the original)
Read excerpt
When you step into Old Town Portland, you can feel the atmosphere change immediately. The streets seem heavier. The noise is different. Within minutes, you may hear someone screaming at nobody in particular, another person crying on a sidewalk, or see someone folded over from fentanyl. People wander into traffic, argue with unseen voices, collapse in doorways, or sit motionless beside piles of belongings. Familiar groups gather throughout the neighborhood—using drugs, recovering from them, searc
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.