About this project

For the last year, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism has collaborated with universities from coast to coast to examine the impact of homelessness and the threat of homelessness posed by the pandemic.

Our initial stories dove deeply into the criminalization of homelessness and the disparate treatment of homeless encampments in cities across the U.S. As the pandemic caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs — and potentially their homes — we shifted our reporting over the summer to determine whether the first federal moratorium on evictions was working as intended. This fall, we investigated evictions by public housing authorities, often the last safety net between a family and life on the street.

Our reporting for all these stories relied on court records for criminal and eviction cases, arrest records and data from public information requests from local and federal government agencies, property ownership documents, 311 calls and the text of local ordinances that effectively criminalized homelessness. We interviewed landlords, public housing managers, tenants, people living on the streets, people living in shelters, national housing experts and local police and sheriffs. We read reams of studies and reports, as well as details of the CARES Act eviction moratorium, which expired in late July, and the moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control, set to expire Dec. 31.

Photo credits (left to right): Joanne Smith, Will Hembree, Kamome Komiyama
The Nowhere to Go project was led by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

For the homelessness stories on criminalization and encampments, we collaborated with journalism students and faculty at the University of Oregon, Boston University, Stanford University, the University of Florida, the University of Arkansas and Arizona State University.

For the eviction story on the efficacy of the federal CARES Act moratorium, we collaborated with Boston University, the University of Arkansas, Stanford University and the University of Oregon. 

The story on public housing evictions was produced with data help from Stanford University’s Big Local News project.

The work was supported with grants from the Park Foundation, the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Pulitzer Center.

The Howard Center was created with generous support from the Scripps Howard Foundation to honor the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard.

Photo credits: Left: Maris Medina, photo by Susannah Outhier. Right: Lancelot Lin, photo by Susannah Outhier.

Credits

From the University of Maryland, Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Reporting: Trisha Ahmed, Aneurin Canham-Clyne, Christine Condon, Victoria Daniels, Clara Longo de Freitas, Grace Dille, Bradley Dress, Bryan Gallion, Brogan Gerhart, Arya Hodjat, Anastazja Kolodziej, Julia Lerner, Ryan Little, Elizabeth Loewenthal, Allison Mollenkamp, Kara Newhouse, Allison O’Reilly, Jenna Pierson, Morgan Politzer, Elisa Posner, Vanessa Reis, Callie Tansill-Suddath, Luciana Perez Uribe, Brenda Wintrode

Data Analysis: Riin Aljas, Theresa Diffendal, Ryan Little, Sean McGoey, Nick McMillan, Nora O’Reilly, Maya Pottiger, Roxanne Ready, Rina Torchinsky, Luciana Perez Uribe, Philip Van Slooten

Audience Engagement: Camryn DeLuca, Benjamin Gonzalez, Maya Koeppen

Digital Design: Jenna Cohen, Theresa Gebhart, Emma Grazado, Sean McGoey, Camila Velloso.

Graphics: Jenna Cohen, Theresa Diffendal, Emma Grazado, Amina Lampkin, Sean McGoey, Camila Velloso 

Audio Editing: Allison Mollenkamp

Visuals and video editing: Sid Espinosa, Carly Haynes, Lancelot Lin, Nick McMillan, Maris Medina, Susannah Outhier

From the University of Oregon, School of Journalism and Communication

Reporting: Zack Demars, Rachel McKinnon, Donny Morrison, Gina Scalpone

Data Analysis: Lukas Hanson

From the University of Arkansas, School of Journalism and Strategic Communication

Reporting: Michael Adkison, Mary Morgan Ellis, Mary Hennigan, Whitney King, Matthew Moore, Elena Ramirez, Abbi Ross, Katy Seiter, Brooke Tomlin, Abigail Zimmardi

From Boston University, Department of Journalism

Reporting, Public Records Requests and Data Analysis:   Noemi Arellano-Summer, Anoushka Dalmia, Lillian Eden, Miriam Fauzia, Sydney Hager, Mikayla Heiss, Ryoma Komiyama, Emily LeClerc, Nick McCool, Anran Xie, Ran Zhang

 Photojournalist:  Sophie Park

From the University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications

Reporting: Stephanie Cornwell, Edysmar Diaz-Cruz, Karina Elwood, Katie Hyson, Everitt Rosen

 Photojournalists: Chris Day, Sam Thomas

From Stanford University, Department of Communication

Reporting: Samuel Baucom, Seimi Chu, Amy Di Pierro, Joseph Dworetzky, McArdle Hankin, Irena Hwang, Vanessa Ochavillo, Rachel Oh, Matthew Vollrath

Data Analysis:  Celia Anderson, Megan Calfas, Tylar Campbell, Astrid Casimire, Amy DiPierro, Irena Hwang, Max Lee, Salma Loum, Vanessa Ochavillo, Brooke Sparks

From Arizona State University, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Reporting: Jonmaesha Beltran, Jamie Landers, Jorge Santos, Luis Torres

Additional research at Stanford University

Public Records Requests and Reporting: Cyrus Beschloss, Qian Chen, Matt DeButts, Nisa Khan, Rachel Oh, Jia Hui Tan

Public Records Requests: Amara Aarif, Ellie Bowen, Anna Goshua, Austin Maihen, Vikas Maturi, Cameron Scarlett, Michael Spencer, Aparna Verma

Additional research at the University of Maryland

Lawsuit Analysis: Shreeya Agarwal, David Akerman, Nicholas Albicocco,  Anne Archer, Jeffrey Barnes, Daniel Berger,  Isabel Cleary, Yakira Cohen, Lindsey Collins, Spencer Dobkin, Cameron Doney, Alexis Duda, Hannah Fields, Jason Fontelieu, Kaitlyn Francis, Theresa Gebhart, Brogan Gerhart, Alexandra Glover, Jordan Gold, Aleah Green, Hannah Greenberg, Dominic Gugliotta, Cameron Hasbrouck, Thomas Hindle, Kaliah Hobbs, Analeigh Hughes, Annabelle Janssens, Ryan Kamber, Jaclyn Kaufman, Alborz Lakeh, Amina Lampkin, Haemee Lee, Daniel Longest, Makea Luzader, Sean Mahoney, Max Marcilla, Garrett Mogge, Cailey Muraca, Jenna Pierson, Angela Roberts, Maristela Romero, Mia Salenetri, Megan Sayles, Jack Schemmel, Catherine Scott, Jamal Seaforth, Samantha Subin, Dominick Waldman, Morgan Weaver, Audrey Widodo, Jacqueline Zegler

Public Records Requests: Amanda Allen, Kira Barrett, Vivian Caesar, Rachel Clair, Suzanne Creedon, Kathleen Deblasis, Audrey Decker, Victoria Ebner, Reid Flumbaum, Tyler Golsen, Benjamin Gonzalez, Halle Grossett, Brendan Hartlove, Julianne Heberlein, John Hogan, April Howard, Owen Hynes, Joseph Ilardi, Hallie Kay, Abbigail Klein, Maya Koeppen, Shruti Kumar, Paige Leckie, Elizabeth Loewenthal, Jennifer Mandato, Alexandra Marquez, Sean Montiel, Elana Morris, Erika Muller, Sofia Parrela Castro, Vanessa Reis, Taylor Roar, Maryam Shahzad, Scott Shapiro, Melissa Signorini, Zachary Solon, Jacob Steinberg, Alexis Sugar, Maria Trovato, Isabelle Tyshing, Jalen Wade, Haoran Wu, Nicole Zibelman, Luciana Perez-Uribe, Logan Arneson, Kaitlyn Cupelli, Benjamin Curtis, Michael Cutler, Alexander Dacy, Camryn DeLuca, Taylor Dove, Casey Fair, Laura Franklin, Casey Gannon, Julia Gastwirth, Chloe Goldberg, Emma Grazado, Eric Harkleroad, Patrick Hauf, Sahana Jayaraman, Austin Kalt, Styliani Lappas, Connor Leff, Reese Levin, Kaitlyn Levinson, Clara Longo De Freitas, Carmen Molina Acosta, Ambika Narula, Charles Nyonga, Jared Ochacher, Samantha Payer, Elisa Posner, Morgan Pravato, Michael Purdie, Celia Richardson, Emily Riley, Kate Savinelli, Kimberly Seif, Jordan Swarm, Jaelyn Watson, Lillian Andemicael, Jonah Anderson, Aneeta Ashton, Jennifer Attanasio, Oyinkansola Awosika, Tori Bergel, Margot Biamon, Patrick Britt, Lila Bromberg, Rachel Bucchino, Malika Budd, Madison Burinsky, Travis Chase, Zamir Courtney, Dylan D’Andrea, Abigail Espiritu, Toluwalase Famuyide, Nolan Gelbard, Anna Hovey, Kaanita Iyer, Jesse Johnson, Henry Malone, Grace Mottley, Benjamin Palmer, Fatemeh Paryavi, Khloe Quill, Borja Rebaza, Lillian Reese, Jamal Seaforth, Jeremy Tombs, Alexander Tuerk, Andrea Wenck

Data Requests: Aneurin Canham-Clyne, Sydney Clark, Victoria Daniels, Renee Foose, Madison Hunt, Darryl Kinsey, Ryan McFadden, Sean McGoey, Laina Miller, Jacob Rousseau, Michelle Siegel, Callan Tansill-Suddath, Grace Todd, Philip Van Slooten, Brenda Wintrode, Mohan Xu, Charlotte Dulany

Faculty and Staff Advisers

University of Maryland: Howard Center Data Editor Sean Mussenden and Director Kathy Best; Merrill College faculty members Deborah Nelson, Adam Marton, Alexander Pyles, Bethany Swain, Sandra Banisky and LaMonte Summers; Merrill College Communications Manager Josh Land.

University of Oregon: Brent Walth, assistant professor of journalism, and Nicole Dahmen, associate professor of journalism, co-directors of The Catalyst Journalism Project.

University of Arkansas: Rob Wells, assistant professor and graduate coordinator.

Boston University: Maggie Mulvihill, associate professor of computational journalism, and Greg Marinovich, photojournalist and master lecturer in journalism.

University of Florida: Moni Basu, the Michael and Linda Connelly lecturer in narrative nonfiction, and Richard Shaw, photojournalist and adjunct professor.

Stanford University: Cheryl Phillips, Hearst Professional in Residence and director of Big Local news; R.B. Brenner, lecturer; Justin Mayo, data analyst

Arizona State University: Christina Leonard, professor of practice and executive editor of Cronkite News, and Venita Hawthorne James, professor of practice and Phoenix bureau chief for Cronkite News.

Nowhere To Go

University of Maryland’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and Capital News Service, the University of Oregon, Stanford University, Arizona State University, the University of Arkansas, Boston University and the University of Florida.

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