"She arrives by 8 most nights, shuffling past City Hall plaza, her backpack in tow with her orange and black blankets, a cardboard mat, a change of socks, and a pair of fleece-lined slippers, all she needs even on the coldest rainy nights.

Settling down on the hard, concrete steps of a downtown police station, the small, plump woman nestles into her blankets, twitches and shakes when she tries to sleep. Patrol officers step over and around her as they bound out the doors on their way to the nightly medley of emergencies."