No Easy Fix | An Update on Evan

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.3 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

In July, we published a series of stories about San Francisco’s attempt to address a crisis unfolding on the city’s streets. We followed Evan, who had been homeless for years, as he sought an escape from the addiction that was threatening his life. Four months later, we check in on how he’s doing. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Hannah Rosen. This is Radio Atlantic. Last year, we published a series called No Easy Fix.
0:10.0	If you haven't heard it, you should go back and listen. It's about San Francisco's attempts
0:15.0	to address pockets of homelessness and addiction. It's also a close and unusually humane portrait of one man.
0:23.0	His name is Evan, living on the streets and barely managing his fentanyl addiction.
0:28.6	Today, we have an update on that series.
0:33.4	When reporter Ethan Brooks met Evan, he was in bad shape.
0:38.2	It's raining.
0:39.6	I'm cold.
0:41.2	I'm hungry.
0:42.9	And I'm over it.
0:46.1	I'm so over it.
0:48.3	Years of addiction had left him with a leg that was so swollen and infected that he was at risk of losing it.
0:54.9	On top of that, he couldn't keep food down, and he didn't know why.
0:59.3	His best friend, Joe, was worried.
1:01.5	I mean, I expect Evan to die out there.
1:03.6	I have seen no pieces of evidence that persisted beyond 72 hours of him heading in any other direction,
1:11.0	and I've seen 10,000 pieces of evidence of him headed towards death.
1:15.8	Evan ended up in the hospital,
1:17.4	and he agreed to enter an addiction treatment program in San Francisco,
1:21.4	one that looked a lot like the rehabs where he had tried and failed to get clean before.
1:27.1	I could feel like in my head, I'm like, I'm going to be successful this time.
1:31.4	But like, I'm still a little worried about having that.
	...

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