Sign in Subscribe

Homelessness

Climbing off the Streets, Part 4: How Hard Can It Be to Get an ID?

Climbing off the Streets, Part 4: How Hard Can It Be to Get an ID?

"I'm never gonna get a license. I knew it." Dale Malone bends forward in the plastic chair, hands flat on the edge of the DPS desk. The black-haired woman behind it has just told him that management wouldn’t accept his METRO disability ID card as

Climbing off the Streets, Part 3: Acceptance and Rejection

Climbing off the Streets, Part 3: Acceptance and Rejection

Running late, I pull up to a Sharpstown tattoo shop at 11:40 AM on the first Tuesday of 2024. Dale Malone and Leroy Conner—who both slept under the nearby freeway bridge for months until they changed locations a week or so ago—are waiting for me. Fortunately, they’

Climbing off the Streets, Part 2: Catch-22?

Climbing off the Streets, Part 2: Catch-22?

Last time, I said that it was “difficult” for a homeless person to get housing or a job without a photo ID. That was an understatement. It’s more like a Catch-22. Or, as Barbara Allen—executive director of Houston nonprofit Main Street Ministries—says a homeless man told her,

Climbing off the Streets, Part 1: What an ID Really Means

Climbing off the Streets, Part 1: What an ID Really Means

To American teenagers, a driver’s license is the gateway to independence, quick transportation, and...insurance bills. But for America’s homeless population, a driver’s license can mean the difference between getting housing or being stuck on the streets. But most homeless Houstonians I know—and I’ve talked

Being Homeless in Sharpstown: Leroy Conner’s Story

Being Homeless in Sharpstown: Leroy Conner’s Story

Under the bridge, Leroy Conner keeps things well-swept and trash-free. It’s where he lives, after all. As semis rumble overhead on 59 and a fire engine wails by on the frontage road, Conner sits on a low metal railing, drinking a watermelon Arizona tea. In his jeans, checkered blue