Young and Homeless in New York

Directed by Benjamin Alvarez Gruber (2024)

Film Review

This short film profiles a homeless family with a new baby. John, the father, works nights at a clinic but his wages are too low to afford an apartment. According to the director of a prion diversion program, apartments that cost $200 a month 10 years ago, cost $4,000 a month now.

John, his partner and their baby currently stay in a homeless shelter for families that provides them with a cubicle containing a stove, a sink and a bed.

At present 90,000 unhoused New Yorkers stay in shelters. One third are children.

Graeber also profiles a woman who works for the Avenues for Justice Program.She was referred there a a 16 year old facing state prison time for selling drugs. The program offers and after school support program for teenagers when home isn’t a sae space for them.