Housing Is Survival: Harrison Tuttle on Rhode Island’s Unhoused Crisis

Last week, a man died in the cold on the streets of Providence — a tragic reminder of the stakes in Rhode Island’s ongoing unhoused crisis.

On this episode, we’re joined by Harrison Tuttle, a Rhode Island–based organizer and housing justice advocate, to talk about what’s driving homelessness in the state, why existing systems continue to fail people in crisis, and what his organization is doing right now to get people housed.

We discuss the realities of street homelessness, the shortage of shelter and permanent housing, the role of government at the state and municipal level, and why advocates argue that homelessness is not inevitable — but the result of policy choices.

This conversation also examines how the public talks about homelessness, the human cost of inaction, and what meaningful solutions could look like if Rhode Island treated housing as a public good rather than a market commodity.