WASHINGTON — Joseph Young spent months on the streets of D.C. documenting a growing crisis: homelessness. Rather than capturing the epidemic from a distance, Young embedded himself in the heart of the problem.
"With this photo essay, I took close up shots of people because I wanted others to see them,"Young said. "I want people to see themselves in them. This could be me, it could be any one of us born with a mental illness and our family puts us out."
According to city records, there are more than 6,500 homeless individuals in D.C., and 600 of them are living without shelter. Advocates for the homeless said 81 people died on the streets of D.C. in 2019 – the highest in five years.
"They have options," Young, a photojournalist, said. "They can stay in the shelters, but the shelters have problems like theft and fights."
He said many homeless people prefer to sleep in tent encampments under various underpasses in Northeast instead. Young published his photo essay in Law at the Margins, an online publication that highlights "the ways our laws and legal institutions expand or limit the rights and social justice aspirations of people and communities."
Young has used his camera to tell powerful stories of the final days of the Barry Farm housing development when the promise of new development displaced hundreds of residents.
He also completed a photo essay documenting the gentrification of the H street corridor.
Young said his time on the streets allowed him to listen to the stories of those he was photographing, and many of the people he talked to "didn’t do drugs before they were homeless, but they use them now as a way to cope."
"I want people to look at this photo essay and ask themselves 'what can I do to help?'" Young said. "What can the government do to help?"