When encampments are shut down, it's not just the physical turf that's lost; a social experiment in working out the issues that have divided people for centuries gets crimped.
In Zuccotti Park, occupiers do their best to handle drug use on their own terms, but it may stretch beyond their resources and give police an excuse to intervene.
In recent months, a blizzard of new data has laid bare the dilapidated condition of the American economy, and particularly of the once-mighty American middle class.
Thousands of people across the US have been moved into permanent housing in recent years as part of a new approach that supporters believe could end homelessness within a decade.
Propelled by wealthy donors and business interests, a new sit-lie ordinance in San Francisco gives police the power to fine and arrest people for resting on the sidewalk.
Ali Kareem, Institute for War and Peace Reporting. May 27, 2010.
Iraq's illegal squatter settlements are spreading so rapidly, one senior UN official considers homelessness "the greatest humanitarian problem facing Iraq."
Across the country, thousands of kids are kicked out of their homes each year for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. I wanted to know who they were and how they survived.
Barbara Ehrenreich, The New York Times. August 19, 2009.
If you're living on the streets, engaging in the biological necessities of life -- like sitting, sleeping, lying down or loitering -- will get you in jail.
