A home would be a place where me and my brothers and my mom could all sit down and eat supper together. There would be plenty of food and milk for all of us. After supper we would watch TV together or maybe play ball if we had a yard. Then we'd go to sleep, just our family, each person in their own bed. There wouldn't be no screaming or fighting, so I wouldn't be scared. And there wouldn't be trash everywhere.

THIS IS TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Fernando's idea of a home, something he hasn't had for nearly two years. Fernando is homeless, but this does not mean he has no place to sleep. It means he has no permanent place to sleep. One night he slept in a shelter the city of New York provides for homeless people. Before that, he and his mother and brothers lived in a...