LOUISVILLE, KY — The Smith family cools off outside on a hot early summer night. The family, plus two large dogs, lives in a roughly 400-sq.ft. room at the Budgetel Inn. Families live in motels because they have nowhere else to go but they are often excluded from HUD’s annual homelessness count.

LOUISVILLE, KY | 2026
30X17 | 1/5 | $2500

THE FAMILY ROOM

HAZARD, KY — Wabaco Penatcostal Church viewed through three wooden crosses, where the train runs and the Main Street bridge crosses over the North Fork Kentucky River. Faith-based organizations operate nearly 30% of America’s emergency shelter beds, making churches and religious nonprofits a major part of the homelessness safety net. 

HAZARD, KY  | 2026
30X17 | 1/5 | $2500

ON HIGH

AUBURN HILLS, MI — A beach ball, pool gear, riding toy, and Snow White camping chair in front of Room 406 at dusk on the Fourth of July at the Rodeway Inn. For many families, a motel is not a vacation destination but their only available housing. Children living here because they lack adequate housing are considered homeless under the McKinney–Vento Act.

AUBURN HILLS, MI  | 2026
30X17 | 1/5 | $2500

STAYCATION

DETROIT, MI — Rayford Mann, Jr. on the day of the forced evacuation from the Hotel Yorba. He slept in his non-running car in the parking lot that night; the car was impounded two days later. Black Americans represent about 12% of the U.S. population but nearly 32% of people experiencing homelessness, more than 2.5 times their proportional share.

DETROIT, MI  | 2025
30X17 | 1/5 | $2500

AFTER THE ORDER

ITHACA, NY — A man with stomach cancer sits along The Commons, an open air mall with upscale restaurants and boutiques, down the hill from Cornell University. Medical debt and illness can cause housing loss, while homelessness itself makes chronic illness harder and more expensive to treat.

A FIGHTING CHANCE

ITHACA, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

YOUNGSTOWN, OH — Three Mexican men return to their room at the Days Inn & Suites after a long, sticky day of performing landscape work. Migrants sent $66.2 billion in remittances to Mexico in 2023, money that often supports relatives’ food, housing, education, and healthcare.

EARNED HERE, SENT THERE

youngstown, oh | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

LOUISVILLE, KY — Jamica Perry and her husband live at the Budgetel Inn in the Bashford Manor neighborhood. Many emergency shelters separate guests by gender or accept individuals rather than couples, forcing partners to choose between a bed and staying together.

LOUISVILLE, KY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

FOR BETTER OR WORSE

SANTA FE, NM — An unmade bed at the Ramada by Wyndham in Santa Fe, NM, at the far end of Cerrillos Road, well outside of view of the posh Santa Fe Plaza.

SANTA FE, NM | 2025
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

HEAVY TRAFFIC

SOUTHFIELD, MI — A young boy peeks through the window at the Red Roof Inn. His mother is in the parking lot with me and calls him to come to the window. U.S. public schools identified approximately 1.4 million students experiencing homelessness during the 2022–23 school year. One in six children faces housing insecurity in America.

INSIDE, LOOKING OUT

SOUTHFIELD, MI | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

MANSFIELD, OH — Melissa shelters in the vestibule of the shuttered Red Cross Community Center, whose slogan, ironically, is “Help Can’t Wait.” Shelter storage limits often force people to discard personal possessions, including clothing, documents, keepsakes, and survival gear.

HELP CAN'T WAIT

MANSFIELD, OH | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

DETROIT, MI — Booker T. Washington searches for his driver’s license and Social Security card, five months following forced evacuation from the Leland Hotel. Without secure storage, losing identification, medication, a phone, or other belongings can erase nearly everything an unhoused person owns at once.

INVENTROY

DETROIT, MI | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

LEXINGTON, KY — A pick-up truck parked outside the Catalina Motel. No rooms were available; they were all filled with long-term residents. More than 274,000 Americans were counted living unsheltered in 2024, including people in cars, vans, and RVs. No national count isolates those living in vehicles.

MOBILE HOME

LEXINGTON, KY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

LEXINGTON, KY — Zachary Allen lives at the Sunset Motel. When asked what he wants to do, he responds “YouTuber” or “gamer” despite not having internet or a computer. Among young adults without a high-school diploma or GED, 35% reported experiencing homelessness, compared with 10% of those who completed high school.

NINETEEN

LEXINGTON, KY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

HUNTINGTON, WV —  Michael Spencer, a disabled Vietnam veteran awaits VA medical care. He has lived at the Days Inn since November 2025. His wife and home are in the Philippines.  32,882 U.S. veterans were counted as experiencing homelessness on a single night during the Point-In-Time (PIT) count on January 31, 2024.

NO SOLDIER'S HOME

HUNTINGTON, WV | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

MANSFIELD, OH — The Mansfield Inn was condemned and forcibly evacuated in February 2026. Residents were put out with less than 24 hours notice on a bitterly cold day. When a long-term motel falls out of compliance with fire, health, or building codes, condemnation may remove residents from immediate danger while simultaneously eliminating the only housing they can afford.

OUT BY ELEVEN

MANSFIELD, OH | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

LOUISVILLE, KY — Nell Smith returns to the Budgetel Inn after receiving chemotherapy for prostate cancer. He lives with a urostomy bag. People experiencing homelessness are hospitalized more often than housed people, diagnosed later in illness, and discharged with no safe place to recover.

OUTPATIENT

ITHACA, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

LEXINGTON, KY — An owner shouts from the distance, “Don’t worry! She’s only a mouse!” The “mouse” charges at me, unleashed, barking hard in the Sunset Motel parking lot. Pet deposits and breed restrictions can make an already limited supply of affordable rooms even harder to access.

PET POLICY

LEXINGTON, KY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

NEW YORK, NY — A young man shelters in the 96th Street subway on a hot, summer afternoon. New York City recognizes a legal right to shelter. (Michigan does not.) In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit cities from enforcing generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property, even when adequate shelter is unavailable.

RIGHT TO REMAIN

NEW YORK, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

SANTA FE, NM — A man smokes outside the Palace of the Governors along Santa Fe Plaza during an outdoor concert on a warm, summer night. Nearly 70% of adults experiencing homelessness smoke cigarettes, compared with roughly 12% of U.S. adults overall

SMOKE SCREEN

SANTA FE, NM | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

NEW YORK, NY — A man collapsed on a busy NYC boulevard after an apparent overdose. The world passes by. A stark image of how callously unhoused people are sometimes treated. A potential bystander was present in nearly 43% of fatal overdoses in 2023, yet naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose when given in time.

STILL LIFE

NEW, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

MANSFIELD, OH — A child’s Christmas coloring pages decorate the window of room 114 next to a Richland County eviction notice at the Mansfield Inn. The motel was condemned and forcibly evacuated in February 2026. Under the McKinney–Vento Act, a child living in a motel because the family has nowhere else to go is legally considered homeless.

TIME TO OPEN PRESENTS

ITHACA, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

ITHACA, NY — Jessie Bartholomew and his service dog, Dog, are refuse a room at the Economy Inn (because of Dog), a clear violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the ADA, shelters and motels generally must admit trained service dogs, regardless of “no pets” policies; a service animal is not legally considered a pet. 

WE STAY TOGETHER

ITHACA, NY | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

CUMBERLAND, MD  — Todd scrapes paint and renovates the Cumberland Motel sign. He performs this and other work on the property in exchange for a room. In some motels, residents work where they live and owe rent where they work, creating an informal “closed-loop” economy in which employer, landlord, paycheck, and housing are all intertwined.

WORK FROM HOME

CUMBERLAND, MD | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375

HUNTINGTON, WV  — The Days Inn sign visible along Braley Road and from the I-64 freeway reflected in a parking lot puddle at night. A motel room may prevent someone from sleeping outside but that person is typically not counted as homeless under federal guidelines.

THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

HUNTINGTON, WV | 2026
14x8 | 1/15 | $375