Reputation
A nine-episode podcast on homelessness in L.A. It starts with Ethan’s own time living in his car, then turns to older adults, young people leaving foster care, trans people in shelters, and the families of people who died unhoused.
Guests include Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and former City Councilmember Mike Bonin, their titles when the episodes aired.
- 2023 Housing Narrative Award, Best Podcast Episode
- Second place, Best Limited Series, 2024 LA Press Club Awards
- Format
- Podcast, 9 episodes
- Released
- April to May 2023
- Host
- Ethan Ward
- Status
- Complete
The episodes
Nine episodes, about four and a half hours in all.
Episode 1: Through the Looking Glass
Ethan goes back to the streets where he slept in his car, then talks with Saba Mwine-Chang of USC’s Homelessness Policy Research Institute about the racial inequities behind the crisis.
- 2023 Housing Narrative Award, Best Podcast Episode
Episode 2: Unaffordable Housing + Aging Adults = Increase in Homelessness
Lisa Chilton couch-surfed for five years after losing several family members and her savings. She talks about what losing a home takes from an older adult.
Episode 3: Stopping the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline
Joel, a former foster youth who fought to avoid becoming unhoused, and Gail Winston of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, on finding housing after aging out of the system.
Episode 4: How Shelters Fail Trans People
Emily Garcia and Yahni Rose, trans women who were unhoused young, on being misgendered and turned away from shelters, with Bamby Salcedo of the TransLatin@ Coalition.
Episode 5: Remembering Joshua Ray Williams, Unhoused Man Who Died From Overdose
Ethan found Joshua’s story while reporting on unhoused people who died in L.A. His last journal entries, the place he died, and his former guardian, David Mayes.
Episode 6: What Happens After an Unhoused Person Dies?
Forensic pathologist Dr. Jan Gorniak and medical death investigator Lauren Silver on identifying unhoused people after death and telling their families.
Episode 7: Mike Bonin Talks What Happened & What’s Next in Los Angeles
Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin on homelessness, the city’s response, and what shaped him as a public servant.
Episode 8: Mayor Karen Bass on Homelessness & Fear of Failure
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on how her own experience shapes her approach, community-based solutions, and her fear of failure. Taped April 12, 2023.
Episode 9: Look in the Mirror
What regular people can do. Film editor Lizzy Calhoun on serving food on Skid Row as a mutual aid volunteer.
Who made it
Ethan leads every project and brings in specialists for each one.
- Host, executive producer, editor, and fact-checker
- Ethan Ward
- Sound design and engineering
- Jaeha Joshua Chang
- Original theme music
- James Ingram of Mega Dream Plus
- Podcast art and creative direction
- Kelly Bernard
Adapt or license Reputation
For producers and platforms
The series has an audience, two awards, and nine episodes of reporting and interviews behind it. It can become a documentary, a scripted series, or a book.
How it starts: tell us the format you have in mind. We’ll send what’s available and what it would take.
Ask about ReputationWe reply within two business days.