Year: 2015

For every 10,000 Americans, about 20 have no place to live. Across the country, that homeless population would be big enough to fill the 51st state. In good economic times and bad, the number of homeless remains difficult to push down. Courtney Kealy examines ..Read More

Are more people homeless in New York City than ever before? For many weeks the New York Post and other media have been running stories about people experiencing homelessness in the city, using increased homelessness as a measure of declining “quality of ..Read More

“You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.” That right—enshrined in many minds thanks to repeat viewings of cop shows—comes with an asterisk: it applies only to criminal cases. But a growing coalition of ..Read More

It is no secret that there is a great rift between the NYPD Sergeant’s Benevolent Association (SBA) and the mayor. Although the SBA is entitled to its opinion, encouraging members to take photos of the homeless and post them online to insult the mayor’s po ..Read More

This week, members of the United Nations brought up the issue of increasing homelessness in New York. At about the same time, at a rally at City Hall Tuesday, Communities United for Police Reform, elected officials and a diverse group of homeless and anti-pove ..Read More

He never gave his name but did say that he was a hired hand with a traveling carnival over six weeks ago before getting fired during a dispute about contested wages. In his first unsheltered week he was rudely awoken in the wee hours by a violent kick to the g ..Read More

The phone rings just as Katrina Fingerson and Latoya McClary are about to leave to start their shift at the Goddard Riverside Community Center. It comes in on the line reserved for the 311 calls from concerned citizens and businesses who report homeless people ..Read More

When Karen finally decided to leave a husband who had been abusing her for years, she found out that fleeing was the easy part. She and her little boy spent the next three years homeless, in and out of shelters, because she couldn’t afford New York City ..Read More

Advocates took to the City Hall steps today to demand action to help the homeless—and bashing the Sergeants Benevolent Association and the media outlets for vilifying people on the street. The rally comes after weeks of coverage of homeless people on the str ..Read More