Show Your WorkInvestigation
How We Investigated L.A.’s Homelessness Scoring System
Year after year, White people have been rated highly “vulnerable” more often than Black people
Colin Lecher
Reporter
Colin Lecher is an enterprise reporter based in New York with a focus on children and families. He’s passionate about the ways governments and businesses use technology to make crucial decisions, and the ways those decisions sometimes fall short.
Before joining The Markup, he was a senior reporter with The Verge. There, he reported on issues like automated cuts to healthcare, access to phone services in prisons, and the online gun market.
Investigation
L.A.’s Scoring System for Subsidized Housing Gives Black and Latino People Experiencing Homelessness Lower Priority Scores
An investigation by The Markup found racial disparities in L.A.’s intake system for unhoused people
Story Recipes
Journalists: Investigate Homeless Vulnerability Scoring in Your City
The survey we investigated was also used in dozens of other cities and counties, according to its creators. Here are our tips for looking into it
Hello World
Your Tax Data Shouldn’t Be Up for Grabs
Especially when there’s a better way
Pixel Hunt
Members of Congress Call for IRS to Investigate Tax Companies Sharing Data with Facebook
The Markup revealed the companies’ practices last year
Pixel Hunt
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Questions Tax Filing Companies, Meta, and Google About Sharing of Financial Data
Letters to the companies, signed by Warren and others, cite a recent Markup investigation
Pixel Hunt
Meta Sued for Collecting Financial Information Through Tax Filing Websites
A proposed class action was filed on Dec. 1
Pixel Hunt
Tax Filing Websites Have Been Sending Users’ Financial Information to Facebook
The Markup found services including TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block sending sensitive data
The Breakdown
Police Are Looking to Algorithms to Predict Domestic Violence
But will they be effective or reinforce bias-based practices?
Citizen Browser
Facebook Promised to Remove “Sensitive” Ads. Here’s What It Left Behind
Facebook pledged to remove race, health conditions, and political affiliation from ad-targeting options, but The Markup found advertisers can still easily target the same people
Page 1 of 6