Alastair Boone

1 week ago | kalw.org | Alastair Boone

This story aired in the May 29, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents. Lots of unhoused people carry “street names”: Monikers they choose, or are assigned by siblings, classmates, or their “street family” of other unhoused people. Many of these nicknames have a specific story or purpose. And while the concept of a street name is sometimes associated with crime or violence, they can also be about safety, self-esteem, and identity.

2 weeks ago | kalw.org | Alastair Boone

This story and interview aired in the May 21, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents. For unhoused people, the courts are one of the more powerful tools available to challenge encampment sweeps and the laws that criminalize homelessness. But legal resources for unhoused folks are facing new challenges at a time when the state’s encampment crackdown is only escalating. In May, Governor Gavin Newsom asked California cities to ban homeless encampments altogether.

3 weeks ago | kalw.org | Alastair Boone

This story aired in the May 12, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents. The Albany bulb is a beloved fixture of the East Bay shoreline. People visit for kite flying, dog walking and the culture of renegade art making. But if you roll back the decades and dig below the topsoil, you will find the story of a community that made the bulb a home while planting the seeds of creativity that continue to grow there. Today, we go out to the bulb with some former inhabitants to hear their story.

1 month ago | kalw.org | Alastair Boone

This conversation aired in the May 5, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents. Click the button above to listen! Kevin Fagan, is an award-winning journalist, with over 40 years covering homelessness and poverty. In 2003, Kevin spent six months in the streets of San Francisco to produce a series called “Shame of the City.” It ran as a five day series that explored the then newly exploding crisis of homelessness in the area, and talked about possible solutions.

1 month ago | kalw.org | Alastair Boone

An excerpt from this conversation aired in the April 15, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents. Click the button above to listen. Homelessness is undoubtedly a big issue. But who is involved in finding solutions to the web of problems related to it? To understand the lived challenges and real solutions unhoused people and their advocates are working for, KALW recently hosted a live panel as part of our Bay Agenda series: live conversations focused on the ways the Bay Area will change in 2025.