When the Mayor of Allentown reached out to say he listens to Homeless Unfiltered, it confirmed something big: this podcast is reaching the leaders who are actively looking to learn, grow, and find real solutions to homelessness. In this episode, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and former Rockford, Illinois, Mayor Larry Morrissey sit down for an unfiltered conversation about what mayors are actually facing on the ground. We get into the truth about PIT counts, the impact of Grants Pass, the pressure to “clean up” homelessness, why cities stay stuck, and what approaches actually work. If you want a rare, honest look at how city leaders think about homelessness, this is an episode you’ll want to watch and share.
Soma Snakeoil is a sex worker, artist, and activist leading The Sidewalk Project — a women-led harm reduction organization on Skid Row saving lives the system has abandoned.
In this conversation, Soma shares the heartbreaking story of Jamie — a woman with developmental disabilities who was illegally released from care, dumped on the streets, and later died from a preventable medical condition. Her story exposes how hospitals, social services, and government systems keep failing homeless people.
We also discuss harm reduction, patient dumping, sex work, art, and what it really means to show up for people everyone else turns away.
🎥 Watch our documentary on The Sidewalk Project
Politicians are calling it “help.” In reality, it looks a lot more like forced labor and internment camps for homeless people.
In this episode, I sit down with Eric Tars from the National Homelessness Law Center to unpack how billionaire-backed lobbyists and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are driving policies that punish poverty instead of solving it. From federal funding threats to communities being pressured to criminalize homelessness, Eric explains how America’s response to homelessness is turning into a human rights crisis — and what it will take to stop it.
This isn’t fiction. It’s already happening.
To learn more, visit https://housingnothandcuffs.org
CLICK HERE to watch our documentaries on harm reduction
People are living in tents on their own land. Others survive in trailers without water, power, or help. Zach Brown, CEO of the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, joins us to expose the hidden crisis most Americans never see.
We talk about the lack of shelter beds, the rise in criminalization, the failure of mental health systems, and how one rural organization is building housing from the ground up — not waiting for someone else to fix it.
If you think homelessness is just an urban issue, this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew.
This is rural homelessness. This is Ground Zero. This is West Virginia.