Will James

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?

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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).  

Residents of a Tacoma RV park say they’re fighting an order by their landlord to leave the property.

People living at the River Lane RV Park, also known as the Puyallup River RV Park, say they received written notice early this month that they’d have to leave by Nov. 30.

A new report says rising housing costs have had particular impacts on King County's LGBTQ communities, and have left some people struggling to find social connection.

Homelessness is at the top of many voters’ minds across the Puget Sound region heading into the Nov. 5 general election.

A few years ago, frustration around the issue might have been contained in Seattle — where nearly two-thirds of residents disapprove of the response by Washington’s largest city, according to a recent poll by Crosscut and Elway.

Tacoma has appeared on recent lists of the nation's fastest-rising rents and most-gentrified ZIP codes. 

It's a city in the throes of change. At the center of that change is Tacoma's historically black Hilltop neighborhood. Few communities stand to lose ⁠— or gain ⁠— more from the transformations sweeping the city.

This story originally aired on Feb. 17, 2018.

If you visit Tacoma's Point Defiance Park most any afternoon, you'll see raccoons lounging about the trails by day, often next to signs warning visitors to not feed them. 

If you drive slowly enough through the park's roads, they might rush out of the misty old-growth forest to greet you, tiny paws outstretched for food. If you're on a bike, they might scurry after you for a stretch.

Tacoma's mayor and city manager have called Saturday's fatal shooting by police outside an ICE detention center a tragedy, and linked the death to "increasingly divisive national rhetoric" and intensifying actions by immigration authorities. 

A series of changes to state housing laws are weeks away from going into effect July 28. They're the result of a push this year by state lawmakers to stem rising homelessness in Washington.

The policies include protections designed to shield tenants from sudden evictions or rent increases, as well as incentives and funding intended to spur cities and counties to increase the supply of housing. 

KNKX reporter Will James spoke with Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick about the policy changes and how different groups, including landlords and city officials, are preparing.

The owner of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma plans to expand the immigrant detention facility to add more courtrooms, a training building, administrative offices and other spaces, according to court documents.

Three of the Seattle region's largest health care organizations have announced a $15 million effort to fight chronic homelessness, framing the region's housing woes as a health care crisis that strains providers and raises costs throughout the medical system. 

When David Slack thinks about why he became a hospice and palliative care doctor, he thinks back to his grandmother's death when he was about 12. 

"Rather than it being a terrifying or frightening thing for me, my family, my mother in particular, made it really safe," he said. He remembers his mother taking him by the hand, leading him to his grandmother's bedside, and telling him to say goodbye. 

Slack, a doctor for Kaiser Permanente in Washington, now cares for patients in the final months of their lives, helping them live as comfortably and fully as possible once they've discontinued treatments aimed at curing their conditions. 

May 1 is celebrated around the world as International Workers’ Day. But in the Seattle area, the celebrations have long emphasized immigrant workers in particular.

This is the 20th straight year that local activists will mark May Day with a march for immigrant rights, according to organizers with the Seattle group El Comite. The event, which begins in Judkins Park at 1 p.m., has drawn hundreds of people in past years. 

A Pierce County employee who has gone public with criticisms of her boss, the chief death investigator, should not get whistleblower protection, county officials say.

Megan Quinn's complaints against Medical Examiner Thomas Clark earlier this year sparked investigations by the county and state, and prompted other current and former employees to come forward with their own allegations.

Results from Pierce County's annual census of the homeless population show a striking, but familiar, pattern around race. 

How tense is the debate around homelessness in Olympia? Enough that business owners have sought to conceal their identities in a lawsuit against the city, saying they fear "retribution" from activists.

Eleven business owners sued the city late last year in a bid to halt the opening of a sanctioned encampment for unsheltered people.

Years of rising rents and worsening homelessness have made housing a central topic in this year’s state legislative session.

The issue has gained urgency, and the attention of a broader swath of legislators, as housing problems have spilled out of Seattle into smaller cities from Tacoma to Aberdeen to Ellensburg. 

Lawmakers in Olympia are moving ahead with an array of reforms designed to stabilize housing markets and strengthen protections for tenants.