Fault Lines

Shadow City: Homeless in New York

Fault Lines examines New York’s homelessness crisis and looks at the forces displacing many from their homes.

One in 30 American children is homeless, according to a recent report published by the National Center on Family Homelessness – marking an all-time high for the United States.

Homelessness is so complicated. It's not just this guy on the street with that shopping cart. And it isn't just this person who made the wrong choice or had bad luck.

by Bertha Lewis, The Black Institute

About 8.4 million people call the city of New York home, but more people in New York City are homeless today than at any point since the 1930s.

In just one decade the number of people living in New York’s homeless shelters has nearly doubled, reaching 60,000 per night in 2014.

It is a homelessness crisis – unprecedented in any other American city.

Why are so many in News York homeless? And why has the city failed to address its homelessness crisis?

Fault Lines looks at the forces that are displacing thousands from their homes and investigates what life is like for homeless people in New York City.