The Unhoused

There are people we pass every day without really seeing them.

We may see the tent, the cardboard sign, the shopping cart, or the person sitting alone on a street corner. We may wonder how they got there, or what went wrong.

But rarely do we stop to ask who they are.

During my travels across America, I spent time with people living without a permanent home. I listened to their stories, shared their spaces, and discovered—as I have so often discovered along the way—that the circumstances of a person's life tell us very little about the entirety of that person.

They are parents and grandparents. They are workers, dreamers, musicians, veterans, wanderers, believers, skeptics, and friends. They have histories. They have disappointments. They have hopes.

And they have stories.

This work is not an attempt to explain homelessness.

It is an attempt to look beyond it.

To see the person first.

Ronnie: Merry Christmas (Copy)
December 16, 2023 Early in the morning people gathered in a small park by the river, in Nashville, Tennessee for a memorial service to honor the homeless who have died in 2023. The number was 181 At the end of the service those in attendance
Under the Pedestrian Bridge (Copy)
As I moved closer I realized that the person on the left, near the wheelchair, was covered only by a thin polyester blanket that was barely large enough to cover their upper torso.
Single Encampment (Copy)
River Encampment (Copy)
Mark (Copy)
Campground with tents, some damaged, amidst trees with green leaves, and a cloudy sky overhead.
Rebel (Copy)
Red and Peckerwood/ Old Tent City, Nashville, Tennesseee (Copy)
Ed (Copy)
A person in a red shirt standing in front of a partially constructed house made of plywood and boards. The house has black and blue tarps covering the roof, ladders, tools, and construction materials around. A red tent with white text is visible on t
This is Michael, who was one of two people to build solid structures in Nashville’s Old Tent City, which was torn down by the State in 2024.
One of the ironies is that a few months before the State, and the City decided to demolish Michael’s house, in Old Tent City, he received an address from the City of Nashville.
The back section of Old Tent City (Copy)
A partially constructed wooden house with a person standing on the second floor balcony, surrounded by trees and construction materials, in a backyard.
The House That Dallas Built (Copy)
One unhoused man is walking across the street, while another—in a wheelchair crosses behind, on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve.
The Greyhound Bus Station on Lafayette Street in Nashville, Tennessee is a popular gathering place for those living on the streets, especially during the winter months. But this night, Christmas Eve, the bus station was busy with travelers so those
This young homeless man sits along the sidewalk of Eighth Avenue that parallels the Music City Convention Center .in Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve.
Christ’s Church Cathedral along upper Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee offers the sanctuary of its concrete steps for those needing a place to sleep, in each of the entrances to the church.
Unhoused man sleeping on the concrete steps of Christ's Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee. (Copy)
Kevin, and his dog, Salem sit Oon the front lawn of Hume-Fogg High School, along upper Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee, Salem came into Kevin’s life under a tiwist of events that make’s one believe in desitiny.