Face of NYC’s Homeless Crisis: Meet One of 3,000 on the Street

Fernando Lopez is ready to die. It’s a bitter-cold Saturday morning, just before dawn, and Lopez is trudging along Lexington Avenue, his shoulders hunched and hands jammed into his pants pockets in a determined effort to stay warm. He has been up since just after 4 a.m., when a stiff breeze jolted him awake in the subway station at East 51st Street. Lopez had been sleeping upright on a hard wooden bench, eight steps up from the 6 train platform, just past the turnstiles. Air gushing in from the tunnels makes it feel even colder by the tracks, which is why he settles a level higher. When you live outdoors, though, you’re never really sheltered.