In The NoCo

Northern Colorado students increasingly face housing insecurity. A KUNC series investigates why

By In The NoCo,

Lucas Brady Woods, Rae Solomon, Emma VandenEinde

Published February 23, 2024 at 3:45 AM MST

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Lukas Moody, 14 poses for a photo with his mother, Marygrace Lankhorst, at a motel in Fort Morgan, Colo on January 16, 2024. Their family has struggled with homelessness for years in rural Fort Morgan, Colo. — Lukas Moody, 14, poses for a photo with his mother, Marygrace Lankhorst, at a motel in Fort Morgan, Colo., on January 16, 2024. Their family has struggled with homelessness for years.

One in 27 students in the Poudre School District is experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. KUNC senior editor and reporter Leigh Paterson recently stumbled on that statistic and it surprised her. Paterson's reporting on youth mental health had suggested there was a problem, but this number told her the issue was more urgent than she had thought.

“It is on the radar of all of the school districts that I interact with and it is just a very difficult problem to solve because it involves so many overlapping social and systemic issues,” Paterson said.

She directed the new KUNC series “Unseen but Everywhere,” airing Mondays on KUNC this month. It brings together the lived experiences of unhoused and housing-insecure students. The reporters who spent time with those students — Rae Solomon, Emma VandenEinde and Lucas Brady-Woods — joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to discuss what they learned.

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In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Lucas Brady Woods

Originally from Southern California, Lucas spent the last decade living in New York City, which is where he started his journalism career. He's been an NPR junkie for as long as he can remember, but really fell in love with reporting radio news at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he received his master's degree. He's reported on a variety of issues, including covering healthcare at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.

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Rae Solomon

I am the Rural and Small Communities Reporter at KUNC. That means my focus is building relationships and telling stories from under-covered pockets of Colorado.

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Emma VandenEinde

I'm the General Assignment Reporter and Back-Up Host for KUNC, here to keep you up-to-date on news in Northern Colorado — whether I'm out in the field or sitting in the host chair. From city climate policies, to businesses closing, to the creativity of Indigenous people, I'll research what is happening in your backyard and share those stories with you as you go about your day.

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