Justice
How the Cycle of Chronic Homelessness Begins—and Ends
Untreated mental illness, addiction, and childhood trauma can spin a life out of control. This is a story about taking it back.
This story is part of a CityLab series on the state of homelessness in American cities. See more of our coverage here, here, and here.
For the nearly two decades that Charles lived on the streets of Washington, D.C., the nation’s elite hustled past him with their eyes mostly averted. They saw only a homeless crack addict, not a man carrying a weight that finally dragged him all the way down.