The Streets Over Family

By Stephany Chung

In front of a McDonald’s by Union Square, Jessica, a 30-year-old Caucasian homeless woman sleeps alone on a sheet she carries around in her bag over a piece of cardboard she finds around the park. She sleeps with two pairs of scissors, one under the cardboard and one in her sleeve. She dozes off but tries not completely fall asleep; she is always aware of her surroundings. The two bags filled with a fruit or two, hygienic products, clothes, and other necessities she always carries around lie beside her. Once night becomes day, she usually walks back to her usual spot in front of Chipotle on 6th Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets.

Jessica Holding Up Her Sign.

Instead of returning to her distant family or abusive ex-fiancé, Jessica prefers to live alone on the streets of Manhattan. However, this decision has its own consequences and struggles.

However, an expert believes that she does not have a choice to return home.

“It’s not a choice to go back to her fiancé who abused her,” said Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst of Coalition for the Homeless, the country’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization assisting homeless people. “It’s like going back to a burning building.”

Jessica, who wishes not to disclose her last name, left her abusive fiancé -- to whom she has been together for seven years -- six months ago due to domestic violence. They have been living together in Morristown, New Jersey, the town she grew up in.

Based on Coalition for the Homeless’ website and although Jessica is a single adult, it states that one out of the four immediate causes of homelessness for families is domestic violence. In addition, 6% of homeless shelter residents in New York City are white.

She lost her mother last year and had not seen or spoken to her father and younger brother since the age of 12.

Her parents divorced when she was four and her brother chose to live more comfortably with her father while she chose to be raised under the care of her impoverished mother.

Jessica’s father remarried and his family lives in Pennsylvania, only three and a half hours away from Morristown. Some of her relatives also live in Pennsylvania but Jessica prefers to live on New York City’s streets and parks.

According to Coalition for the Homeless, there is no accurate number for the unsheltered people except that thousands are living on the streets of New York City.

She has to constantly be aware of her own safety, especially at night and with “the crazies.” In addition to sleeping with scissors, she also keeps a switchblade underneath the piece of cardboard or sleeping bag. When she was homeless at age 18, she was afraid of “knocking out.”

“There’s been so many times I’ve woken up by guys standing over me jerking off,” said Jessica.

When she was sitting in her usual spot in front of Chipotle, one Caucasian woman with dirty blonde hair acted as if she were taking out cash from her purse when suddenly, she took a photo of Jessica with her phone and yelled, “I’m putting it on Facebook!” then mockingly laughs at Jessica.

This concerned Jessica since she fears that her fiancé, to whom she placed a restraining order, will find and kill her.

However, some people regularly and amicably greet her or give her money, food, and other necessities. One of which is Ken Heyman, a famous photojournalist who first greeted her about two months ago and from then on greets her everyday. He also gave her a book of his work.

“He gave it [his book of his work] to me yesterday [Monday]. He signed it and everything,” said Jessica. “He gives me a kiss my forehead.”

Jessica also has to fight for “good spots.” A little further south of her current spot, she fights for a spot in front of Citarella with a “short black guy.”

The spot Jessica fights for with the black man sitting on 6th Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets.

“Even me, when I wasn’t homeless and I saw two homeless people [next to each other], you just get annoyed by their presence,” stated Jessica.  

The spot also needs to be comfortable and safe. She does not prefer shelters because she does not want to sleep with many people, many who are alcoholics and drug addicts in fine quarters.

She said that there are “nicer people than in other locations” on her current spot. Another spot she is fond of is by Union Square on 1st or 2nd Street by Houston Street.

Jessica feels uneasy in certain locations, such as 23rd Street & 6th Avenue and Broadway between 24th and 25th Streets. She encounters more “crazies” in these areas.

She also faces health problems, both of which are hereditary traits: hypoglycemia, a condition when her glucose level is low and heart problems. In order to manage her hypoglycemia, she needs to eat every couple of hours.

Many homeless people she has met have lice or scabies – a skin disease caused by a certain type of mite.

Day by day as she sits out on the streets all day and face such circumstances, she is waiting for her birth certificate and social security card so she can go on food stamps.