Sheltering From Winter, the Poor Become Invisible

Using the popular social network Instagram, Ruddy Roye (@ruddyroye) has earned a large group of followers from photographing issues of poverty around New York City. He is a self-described “Instagram activist.” Given this focus, NBC News asked Roye to explore the concept of how the poor can be ignored by society to the point of becoming "invisible." To do this assignment, he photographed the homeless in Penn Station in wintertime.

 

Penn Station is "homeless central," said Moe (not shown), a homeless man from New Jersey. "It is one of the places that the homeless feel safe at," he said. While it is difficult to estimate the total number of

homeless in New York City, 53,270 homeless people slept in the New York City municipal shelter system in Nov. 2013, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

 

A traveler is preoccupied with finding the schedule of his train while a homeless person catches a quick nap behind a column away from the eyes of the patrolling officers. According to the city of New York, the number of homeless individuals living in public places like streets, in parks and in subways is down nearly 30%. The Coalition says the city's surveys underestimate the population

 

Gladys Castro carried two large shopping bags on her way to the warmth of Penn Station. "Inside you will see people walking around like zombies or the walking dead. Homeless people do not appear to be living to the rest of the society. Money is nothing when it makes you look down on another human being," Castro said. The fifty-year-old woman from Puerto Rico said that sometimes people look at her with scorn and avoid her on the subway.

 

"We live in a sad reality but I understand why all these people are here, including me. You see people have their own lives and things to do. They have no time for us. Furthermore how much they can do? Most people are thinking that we in here had the same responsibility as they did and we screwed up," said Dwayne who is from New York. He recalled his time as a student who dropped out at Harry S 

Truman high school. "I dropped out and went right into Rikers for 22 years," he said with a sarcastic grin. Dwayne was convicted of armed robbery, drug possession and assault. Ever since leaving prison, Dwayne has been homeless."Our lives are stagnant. We stay homeless until we disappear. If we do not take our lives seriously, there is no reason why other people will."

 

A homeless man prays near his belongings in Penn Station, New York.