Rhode Island's struggles with unemployment and homelessness continue to land in the national press. The latest account, on The Atlantic's web site, personalizes the issue with a look at a newly homeless young father:

Douglas Edward Coates is polite, soft spoken, and articulate. He looks like a typical 29-year-old professional in his black wool coat and wire-rimmed glasses, his sandy hair and goatee neatly cropped.

In this week's Phoenix, Marion Davis writes about Housing First.

Think of permanent housing not as something you earn, but as a human right, and as a foundation people need to rebuild their lives.

It's called Housing First, and since its beginnings in New York City in the early 1990s, it has been proven to more effectively move people out of homelessness — especially chronic cases — than the traditional system of shelters and tightly structured social services.

An action being staged later this week by Ocean State Action and some other groups:

Next Wednesday, Dec. 10 - Join us as we say, "Housing is a human right"
Dec. 5, 2008

JOIN THE PEOPLE'S BAILOUT WEEK OF ACTION in PROVIDENCE:
While the banks get bailed out, they are throwing families out of their homes.

From Rasmussen Reports:

As the Senate inches toward passage of a $300 billion bill to help homeowners facing foreclosure, a new Rasmussen Reports national survey shows that only 21% of voters think the federal government should provide such assistance.

Slightly more than half (51%) say the government should not help these troubled homeowners and 27% are undecided.