Will James

Dr. Nick Mark usually takes 10 or 15 seconds to breathe, relax and focus before starting a delicate procedure like inserting a breathing tube into a patient.

But, on a recent day, the tactic backfired. Mark was about to perform a procedure on a patient with COVID-19, a situation that puts him at risk of catching the coronavirus if his protective gear were to fail. 

When the novel coronavirus outbreak hits Olympia, it arrives in the middle of a "state of emergency" around homelessness. What happens to people surviving outside when the government says to stay at home? This crossover episode with the KNKX podcast Transmission looks at the effects of the pandemic on the homeless population. 

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For more dispatches from a COVID-19 "hot spot," subscribe to Transmission by KNKX.

When the novel coronavirus made its way to the United States, it landed here, in the Pacific Northwest. Transmission is a podcast about life at the heart of an epidemic. 

Today’s episode: Houseless. In this episode, Transmission teams up with the Outsiders podcast.  

Does something about Olympia attract desperate people from all over? We examine the “magnet theory” of homelessness.

The Outsiders team holds a live event to explain how we made the series and what we learned. We answer listeners’ questions: Are some people homeless by choice? After a year of reporting, do we feel society is any closer to solving homelessness?

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Officials across the Puget Sound region are bracing for the novel coronavirus to hit homeless shelters and encampments, where they say the virus could pose more of a threat than in the general population. 

Discussion of the virus is expected to dominate a meeting of service providers Friday in Pierce County, where cases have yet to be reported. 

Homelessness divides Olympia and forces people to re-examine their politics. Emotions converge on an encampment under the Fourth Avenue Bridge.

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Sam Miller is a husband, a father of two, and a comedian with a growing following in the Puget Sound region.

But, a little over a decade ago, he was homeless in downtown Olympia, struggling with addictions to alcohol and methamphetamine.

The story of Miller’s fall into homelessness and substance use, and his journey back out, is featured in Episode 5 of Outsiders, a podcast about homelessness by KNKX and The Seattle Times’ Project Homeless team.

Sam Miller can help us understand how addiction and homelessness intersect because he’s lived them both. Plus he can make us laugh. He points to one reason he was able to overcome homelessness while many others get trapped.

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Despite Olympia’s efforts, hundreds of people remain in unsanctioned camps around the city. They invent ways to stay alive and help each other survive.

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In late 2018, the number of tents in downtown Olympia swelled from around 30 to more than 300 in about a three-month period.

It was an extreme example of what cities up and down the West Coast have wrestled with during the post-recession years: unprecedented levels of visible, unsheltered homelessness.

How did people end up on the streets of Olympia? Some can point to a catastrophe that bent their lives toward homelessness. For others, it almost seemed like life was moving in that direction from the very beginning.

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The rise of homelessness in Olympia looked different depending on where you were standing. To many people, it swept over the city like a storm in a matter of weeks. But a few could see the pressure building for decades.

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In the new podcast Outsiders, KNKX partnered with The Seattle Times' Project Homeless team to provide an up-close look at life and death among people who are unsheltered, and delve into some of the most pressing questions about the rise of homelessness on the West Coast.

The West Coast's homelessness crisis arrives in Olympia, Washington. City leaders scramble to respond, and wonder if they can succeed where larger cities have failed. People trying to survive outside face a choice: whether to set aside years of distrust and go along with the city’s plans. 

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Homelessness on the West Coast is rising to crisis levels at a time of historic economic growth and prosperity. Why? KNKX Public Radio and The Seattle Times' Project Homeless spent one year in a city that’s grappling with homelessness. What’s it like to live outside for months on end? What’s it like when tents come to your neighborhood? What new solutions can city leaders find?

This is Outsiders.

Outsiders is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe now so you don't miss the first episode debuting Jan. 29.

Right-wing protesters and their left-wing critics held opposing rallies in downtown Seattle on Sunday.

Author's note: I've covered homelessness for more than three years for KNKX. I knew how challenging it was for anyone to get out of that situation, especially those considered chronically homeless. But this story was the first time I got to witness just how difficult that path can be. I interviewed Jayson Chambers both at the beginning and the end of a one-year journey from a tent on Tacoma's tideflats to an apartment in Puyallup. The journey literally almost killed him. For me, it was a lesson in how people can get lost in the interlocking systems that touch their lives. But it also showed how even people facing some of the most daunting obstacles can escape homelessness. (This story originally aired March 14).