I’m writing today’s newsletter from Seattle, a city famous for its coffee and rainy weather.

Unfortunately, it’s also well-known for a serious homelessness problem. With about 12,500 people living on the streets or in shelters, Seattle ranks third in the country for homelessness.

Graham Pruss, a doctoral student at the University of Washington, has spent the last few years studying people who shelter in cars, RVs or other vehicles. Often skipped in official homeless censuses, many in this group have difficulty accessing social services.

Through storytelling and original photography, Pruss shows us what life is like for people who live in their cars – and what all cities can do to help this group to survive and thrive.

Also today: politics and property taxes in NYC, an app to protect special education students and celebrating the ethos of Mad Magazine.

Top story

Without off-street space, vehicle residents crowd available public parking in Seattle. May 8, 2016. Graham Pruss

Without parking, thousands of Americans who live in vehicles have nowhere to go

Graham Pruss, University of Washington

Many cities have no standard method for counting the number of people who live in their cars. This means that their issues are often overlooked in policies designed to help the homeless.

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