Henry: Mott Haven, Bronx by Chris Arnade on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I was walking the dreary long stretch beneath the Bruckner Expressway taking pictures. Henry and I eyed each other, then he shuffled up to me and asked to have his picture taken.

Disarmingly well spoken I asked him what he was doing “I am a panhandler sir.” I asked him how long he’s been homeless. “Since I got addicted to coke, about twenty years ago. I was a high school english teacher in Harlem, clean, then my mother passed and left me some money. I blew it on coke. I lost my job, my family, everything.”

More on Addiction: Faces of Addiction
More Bronx photos here: Bronx