Unbroken

Didn't someone once say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Consider the case of the Daily News' Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters, Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. Their reporting in defense of the little guy getting abused or ripped off here in Philadelphia has made them a lot of powerful enemies in the Establishment, from the police union to -- hard as it is to believe -- even some people in the media. But none of that stops them. Their work just gets better, and it's what you might called artisanal journalism, slow-cooking in a 24/7 clickbait world. But it's always worth the wait.

Today's target: Seedy "recovery houses" -- unregulated and unlicensed -- that prey on the drug-addicted of the Philadelphia region:

JEFFREY Jackson, as an addictions counselor, is supposed to save the city's most desperate. At the same time, outside of his job, he's renting rooms to them in hazardous homes that the city has deemed unfit.

In a side business he dubbed "Dignity Recovery," Jackson for years has run shabby "recovery homes" that house former and current clients treated at Addiction Medicine & Health Advocates (AMHA), where he works, and others.

He collects rent even though he has no rental license or zoning permit, and housing officials have repeatedly deemed the properties, including one crammed with as many as 34 beds, "unfit for human habitation," according to city records.

The city's Department of Licenses and Inspections seems unable to stop Jackson from renting rooms. After L&I cites the homes for numerous violations, Jackson opens others elsewhere.

Read the whole thing. You'll be outraged, and it will also help you understand why their remarkable reporting makes some people uncomfortable..