Homelessness, Step by Step

From the windows of a seven-story building on East 151st Street in the Bronx, Manhattan rises like Oz in the distance, a glittering reminder of why so many people want to live in New York City.

Inside the building, children sense something is wrong. Their parents are bogged down by backpacks, suitcases, strollers and worries — the burdens carried by many people, unemployed and underemployed, who cannot afford to live in New York.