Danielle was 13-years-old when she left her home and her mother in the Congo.  She came to New York hoping to pursue the American dream, but she wound up living in a shelter. Hear why Danielle keeps the truth about her life in America to herself - even though it means lying to her mother.

Covenant House international president Kevin Ryan and poet and journalist Tina Kelley, both co-authors of Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope, talk about helping homeless teens.

Two local app developers are finalists in a Department of Veterans Affairs contest to help reduce Veteran homelessness.

WNYC reporter Cindy Rodriguez discusses why there's been a spike in homelessness in New York.

Sam Tsemberis discusses founding Pathways to Housing in 1992, a program that addresses homelessness among people with psychiatric disabilities. Since its founding, Pathways has housed more than 600 people in New York alone, and the program maintains an 85% retention rate. In addition to its New York headquarters, Pathways to Housing now has program offices in Washington DC, Philadelphia and Vermont, and the Pathways Housing First model has been replicated in more than 40 cities across the United States, as well as in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.

Obesity is one of the most pressing concerns in contemporary American life, and a new study finds that it affects the country's homeless population as much as it does the general population. Andrea De Mink, the founder and executive of an Indianapolis-based homelessness organization The PourHouse, strives to provide her patrons with the healthiest food possible in order to combat this rising concern, and Barbara DiPietro, the policy director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, explains why this research is largely unsurprising.

A court ruled Tuesday that they city cannot move forward with its requirement for homeless single adults to prove they have no other place to go before being found eligible for shelter.

The ripple effect of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and a chronically sluggish economy have changed the face of poverty in America. Sections of the population who never previously utilized the "safety net" have experienced long periods of under, or unemployment and struggled to get by. According to recent Census data, 47 million Americans now live below the poverty line. In 55 cities across the country, the new urban poor have responded by living in tent cities.

Reverend Steve Brigham discusses the state of Tent City, which he founded outside of Lakewood, N.J. The county does not provide shelter for the homeless. Brigham's attorney from Lowenstein and Sandler, Jeff Wild, joins the conversation.

Gail Robinson, editor in chief of GothamGazette.com, explains the new homeless shelter policy which has been halted by the City Council and discusses the significance of a lawsuit against the Mayor.

Nicole Young, producer for 60 Minutes and the Evening News with Scott Pelley, talks about the 60 Minutes piece Hard Times Generation: Families Living in Cars, which aired this weekend. Mary Brosnahan, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless, explains why homeless families in the five boroughs are not in the same position as those in Florida.

A new controversial homeless policy set to take effect Monday will be halted until December 9. The new policy would have allowed staff at an intake center to deny shelter to individuals if, after reviewing where they've lived over the past year, they determined someone such as a friend or relative could take them in.

Last week, The Takeaway reported that student loan debt is rising along with the college tuition rate. According to the College Board, the average cost per year of tuition is up more 8.3 percent for public four year colleges and up 4.5 percent for private schools. The average college student now finishes school with between $22,000 and $28,000 of debt. While President Obama announced a new program that the White House says will help lower student loan interest rates, some students refuse to take on the burden of debt. Celeste is in Los Angeles this week and she spoke to one such student, a UCLA undergraduate who is so concerned about debt, he's decided to finish his education homeless.

New York is not doing a good job preparing its foster children for the workforce, charges a new report.

On Sunday homeless men and women from across the globe will meet in Paris, France to compete in the ninth Homeless World Cup. The decade-old event is an international four-on-four soccer tournament that brings together homeless athletes, and also draws attention to the plight of the 100 million homeless people around the world. Games are spectator-friendly, and will take place in the city's center.

Brianna Karp tells how she became homeless after she lost her job during the economic collapse. Her memoir, The Girl's Guide to Homelessness, is an account of landing, then losing, her dream job as an executive assistant. When the hundreds of job applications led to no offers, she lost her home and ended up living in an inherited Winnebago in a Walmart parking lot.

For homeless New Yorkers, finding shelter from the elements can be a life or death situation.

First Seth Diamond, commissioner of the NYC Department of Homeless Services, then Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst at the Coalition for the Homeless, talk about the effectiveness of homeless services and a controversial plan to measure what's working.

This weekend marks five years since Hurricane Katrina swept through and ravaged New Orleans. Earlier in the week, we spoke about recovery efforts with the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, and Grammy award winning Jazz musician Terence Blanchard explained how the rich musical community in New Orleans has evolved since. Many Katrina victims are still very much in the recovery process. Five years after Hurricane Katrina there are 12,000 homeless people New Orleans. That’s double what it was before the storm.

With all of the enormous tasks that President Obama is juggling – oil gushing into the Gulf, two wars, a recession – he decided to add another big one to the mix yesterday: ending homelessness. The president announced the first ever national plan to end homelessness on Tuesday at the White House. It’s ambitious: the 74-page plan aims to end chronic homelessness and homelessness among veterans within five years, and homelessness for families and children within ten years.