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The fates of the Tacoma building's tenants paint a picture of how homelessness happens.
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The surviving tenants of the former Merkle Hotel and their advocates say that what happened after the building's closure points to a gaping mismatch between the help that was available to people facing homelessness and the realities of Tacoma’s modern housing market.
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Throughout the history of residential hotels like the Merkle, there's been a push and pull between concerns about the buildings’ safety and living conditions and the critical role they played in housing markets.
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KNKX reporter Will James tracked down some of former residents of Tacoma's Merkle Hotel to see where they are now, and it created a picture of the forces driving homelessness in the region and their effect on people’s lives. His three-part series aired last week. He sat down with Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick to talk about it.