Most of the time he is on the streets hustling money or walking around the city with his close friends Shell and George, smoking cannabis and drinking liquor. Occasionally, he visits his friend, Craig, who was himself homeless and moved into housing two years ago. He visits Craig sometimes to watch television, do laundry and prepare some food.

Due to his memory loss Morrow recently lost his backpack with all his important things like battery packs, wallet, money, business cards, his identification cards and his phones. Without a phone he says it’s very difficult for him to keep in contact with his friends and more importantly: he cannot track the weather and prepare for rain and keep himself dry in his tent.

Long waitlists for public housing and lack of stable incomes combined with emotional stability, criminal records, health care, mental illness, alcohol and drug problems are a few reasons that resign people to the streets. The shortage of affordable housing leaves the homeless with two options: pursue the long process of getting permanent housing or give up hope and lead life on the streets.

“Lack of providing permanent housing on demand to the people experiencing homelessness is one of the main reasons of losing hope on public housing and I certainly do believe people would be more hopeful and more optimistic if received public housing sooner without long waiting periods,” says Michael Ferrell, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, a non-profit organization in Washington. “Honestly, nobody can understand why people would rather live on the streets as opposed to being housed. It’s the individual’s personal decision.”

Agreeing with Ferrell, David Pirtle, Speaker for the Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau says, “Every failure to help people would encourage them to avoid trying to get help in the future.”

Most individuals experiencing chronic homelessness like Morrow and Walker wait for long periods of time and never receive housing. Walker is trying his best and gaining help from organizations and his case managers to move into permanent housing. Morrow says he applied to all the possible transitional programs to move out of the streets. Unfortunately, he failed to qualify for programs due to his criminal background and his health conditions. “For work, you need to keep yourself clean and tidy. It’s nearly impossible in my case.”