Parking lot living

The calculus of homelessness downtown

by Jan Schlain

posted 9/18/2009

"This is a nice area compared to Detroit," says John Andrew Gonzales, Jr., sitting on his crumpled sleeping bag in the parking lot of 200 South Ashley, a few blocks from the Delonis Center homeless shelter. He's plainly visible to early morning patrons at Sweetwaters, but, Gonzales says, "No one bothers me."

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