A year and a half on the street...so far.

Suzanne has a Master's degree in social work and is a certified teacher of English as a Second Language. When she returned to Portland after teaching English to high school students in Hungary for four months, she wasn't able to find another job, was unable to pay rent, and joined the ranks of the unhoused--a population she served as a social worker just a few years ago.

"I know I can survive without housing. I learned the system as a social worker. I know how to get free clothing, enough food to stay alive, a place to shower and clean up. I can hang out in Powell's Bookstore in the daytime. I cycle through the various shelters--most of them only offer housing for a short time, and you have to move to another one. I can manage. But the hardest thing for me is never being alone. I miss privacy. The only time I can ever be alone is when I go to a restroom in a coffee house. I sleep with others, I eat with others, and I'm always surrounded by others. It's hard for me to sleep, and I long for quiet."

Suzanne is still hoping to find a job and doesn't want to be publicly identified as "homeless," which is why she prefers not to be photographed. She has recently started working with others at Sisters of the Road and Street Roots, hoping to contribute to systemic change. "It's economic," she explains; "capitalism only works for those who are already rich. It has been in a state of collapse since 2008. Those of us at the bottom are the first ones to see that. I want to be part of telling that story, I want to be part of making that change, but much of my energy now is absorbed by survival."

Suzanne would like to return to Hungary. She found it "beautiful and enchanting," and she felt strangely at home there. Her ancestors were Russian Jews, and she says many older Hungarians hate Russians, and hate Jews, but there is something about the villages and the young people she met there that calls to her. She says if she can just find a job, and some relatively inexpensive housing, she'll save up till she can go back.