Because Homelessness is a shared experience in New York City — either you have been homeless, know someone who has been homeless, or have shared the sidewalk or a subway car with someone who is homeless, or know someone who sleeps on a friend or family members couch who is homeless, it is important to know the facts about how someone becomes homeless. In a city of 8.5 million people, more than 65,000 families sleep in homeless shelters, over 4,000 sleep on the streets and subways in the dead of winter, and there are no records of people who are sleeping on someone’s couch.
My project takes a broad look at the different types of homeless people, and shows Homelessness is both the problem and the symptom of other problems that can range from chronic substance abuse, financial instability caused by unemployment or underemployment, mental illness, domestic violence, sexual victimization and more. Often, it is a complex set of circumstances, choices, and traumas that lead a person to homelessness.
Because there are a lot of preconceptions about homeless people, many turn their backs on people they see in the street or on the subway. Breaking the homeless cycle means offering permanent housing to families and single adults. Cities can deal with homelessness in a compassionate way, and use some of the alternatives that are offered.
This website offers some of those insights in various links and information.
