A homeless man roams the Tompkins Square Plaza, the heart of East Village. In the area bordering the park are very cheap restaurants, a cafe-bar open almost 24 hours, bookshops, clothes shops second hand (affordable). The number of homeless in this city in 2004 reached a record high, exceeding the number of homeless people in the Great Depression of the 30s. Last year 102 600 people sought refuge in government shelters, while in 2003 were 95 300 homeless, showed a study by the Coalition for the Homeless, said PL. During the crisis from 1929 to 1933 thousands of people left homeless, but now statistics show tens of thousands, the report said the Coalition, the association of assistance to the country's oldest homeless. Only last January, 36 600 children and adults slept in city shelters, 18% more than those who stay in these conditions in 2002. The groups most affected by homelessness were minorities, and within infants and single women. Hispanics and African Americans comprised 85% of homeless people in 2004. Moreover, the number of homeless single women reached a record level in January 2005, by resorting to local shelters every day about 2 000 females, which in many cases fleeing domestic violence. Once at the shelters, the study had to face many difficulties and mistreatment, which became more painful your situation.