Author

Christiaan Mader

Christiaan Mader is the founder and executive editor of The Current. An award-winning investigative and culture journalist, Christiaan’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Vice, Offbeat, Gambit, the USA Today Network and The Advocate. He is a Lafayette native, a recovering musician and serves on the programming committee for Leadership Lafayette. He is also a member of The Current’s board of directors.

Aggressive policing has Lafayette panhandlers caught in a cycle of jail and homelessness

By: Christiaan Mader and Leslie Turk - August 4, 2021

Anthony Wayne Willis sat in a cell at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center for 48 days, leaving July 12 and returning to the street. His last known address was the shuttered Salvation Army shelter. And before that, the Desiard Street Shelter in Monroe. Willis is well-known to Lafayette Police. Over a period of seven months, […]

Acadiana’s hotel shelters wind down as COVID-19 and housing insecurity persist

By: Christiaan Mader - April 2, 2021

This story was originally published by The Current, a nonprofit news organization serving Lafayette and southern Louisiana. Pillows are in short supply at the Lafayette warehouse operated by the Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing. But not pillowcases. Workers with ARCH have gathered and stocked home necessities for dozens of families delivered into stable housing […]

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