Homelessness Marathon

Along the German coast, ships are being abandoned and their crews are being left unpaid. Ivan Gorelik, the Belorussian captain of one such ship is making a stand, even as the vessel he defiantly occupies becomes unseaworthy. [link]...

Bob Geldoff, who organized the 1984 "Live Aid" famine-relief concert and has stayed active since, warned that global warming may undo the progress that has been made in Ethiopia over the past 25 years. [link]...

According to disputed reports from internally displaced Afghans, they and their children have been left to die by the UN, relief agencies and the Afghan government.  [link]

A new survey shows that Hamburg's homeless population, which is quite small by American standards,is shrinking, but the problems of the people on the streets may be becoming more intractable. [link]

A report from First American Core Logic shows that 25% of mortgages are for sums greater than than the value of the property being mortgaged, sparking fears of widespread defaults. [link]

After police destroyed their tent city, the Safe Ground folks have tried to keep fighting and keep together.  [link]

Contrary to upbeat reports circulating about the economy, the Mortgage Bankers Association, more homes with better-than-subprime mortgages are slipping into foreclosure and the overall foreclosure rate has reached a ninth consecutive quarterly high.   [link]

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is encouraging the planting of to native crops in order to reduce hunger.  [link]

Over protests from the archbishop, 400,000 squatters may be evicted and made even more destitute by the Philippine government, which blames them for altering a watercourse and causing floods.    [link]

The leaders of six "progressive" organizations convened to warn against what one called a looming "social catastrophe," if the current high levels of unemployment, especially in communities of color, are not quickly reduced.  [link]

This latest visit to Detroit was much more intricate and affecting. I do not think this is because of any deficiency in my previous visit, but because the first visit helped me to get located and prepared me for the second. As I don't think I can make sense out of it all at this stage, I will just list some of my exper...iences in no particular order except for the...

Even the host of the much hyped UN Food Summit expressed his "regret" that the conference produced, "neither measurable targets nor specific deadlines."  Meanwhile, an estimated 51,000 children died of hunger during the three days the talks dragged on.  [link]

In Cincinnati, revitalizing the downtown means turning the lives of poor people upside down and throwing them out of their low-income apartments.  The only problem is that the poor people don't want to go along with it.  [link]

The number of American households experiencing difficulty putting food on the table has shot up by 1.6 million in just a year.  [link]

Despite the country's economic growth, 47% of the country's children are malnourished, 3000 die each day from malnutrition, 2.1 million a year die from preventable diseases, an estimated 53% face sexual abuse, and Indian girls make up fully one-third of the world's child brides. [link]

Mississippi Agriculture still has not recovered post-Katrina, with farms disappearing and the value of crops continuing to slide. [link]

A UN Report has concluded that "undernutrition" contributes to "a third of deaths of all children under five each year," and stunts the growth of 200 million.  [link]

Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute show there are 6.1 job seekers for every job opening.  That's up from 1.7 job seekers per opening less than two years ago in December of 2007.  [link]

Raquel Rolnik, the U.N. Special Rapporteur scheduled to file an official report in March has said preliminary that, "The number of homeless continues to rise with increasing numbers of working families and individuals finding themselves on the streets."  [link]...

At least 90 people are dead and 7000 homeless in flooding which has left many more people missing and also caused widespread devastation in neighboring countries. [link]

New Vatican guidelines declare, "Homeless people are valued by listening and consideration of their needs," and, "The Church has a major role in challenging the stereotypes that society makes of the homeless." [link]...

Scurvy is making a comeback among British children.  Though the numbers are still very small, they have risen 54% in three years.  [link]

A new report from Egypt's Ministry of Health and the UN Development Programme shows that nearly one-third of Egypt's children are malnourished with 29% of toddlers showing stunted growth. The situation seems to have deteriorated despite economic reforms.  [link]...

A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that many states tax two-parent families living at the poverty line and that six states even tax families living in "severe poverty." [link]

An informational meeting about the Housing Network will be held at the Catholic Worker House, 317 S. Randolph, on Wed., November 4th at 7 p.m....

At a time when many mainstream newspapers are in trouble, street papers are seeing their circulations rise dramatically.  [link]

"I have never been so lucky in my life, until now," were there words of 58-year-old Therese, upon learning that she had been named "Miss Homeless."  The prize comes with one year in a rent-free apartment.  [link]

Renowned author and activist Arundhati Roy has written a well-informed and impassioned attack on India's economic policies and their impact on the poor.  [link]

Going hungry, dropping out of school, being abused and entering prostitution have become some of the predictable outcomes for Philippine children in the current economic crisis.  [link]

Six months after the L'Aquilla earthquake, thousands of people remain in tents as the temperature drops below freezing. [link]