When New York City's Department of Homeless Services was temporarily without beds for a group of local homeless people this month, it did a pretty cool thing: booked 100 rooms at a Radisson in Jamaica, Queens and told the hotel's management they were for a "government group."

Earlier this week, ninety-year-old activist Arnold Abbott was issued a citation for distributing food to the homeless in violation of strict new rules in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He warned that the law wouldn't stop him, and yesterday, he was busted for filling bellies yet again.

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ninety-year-old volunteer worker Arnold Abbott was arrested this week for preparing and serving a meal to a group of homeless people. He faces a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail, local news outlet KHON reports.

The homeless in America are not just old winos perched on the same corner day after day. There are also the young homeless, who ride the rails and sleep on the beach and live equally awful but more mobile lives. Some towns would like to make their lives harder.

Fort Greene is one of the loveliest, and most expensive, neighborhoods in Brooklyn. It's the neighborhood that inspired Spike Lee's anti-gentrification rant earlier this year. Wealthy Fort Greene dog owners will not put up with homeless people, in the park.

What is our responsibility to the homeless? That might seem too big a question, but it is something I wrestle with occasionally. It's impossible to avoid the less fortunate men and women who populate our streets—the father forced to seek charity from strangers on subway cars so he can feed his family or the woman struggling to get back on her feet after being laid off. Sixty-thousand people look for shelter every night in New York. And what of those individuals unable to secure a bed, with no other option than to sleep under the lights of our unforgiving city?

"I'm going to forget about the fact that I should be a millionaire now," Ted Williams told the Columbus Dispatch this week.

The homeless have it hard lately, what with all the anti-homeless measures municipalities have implemented to keep them off benches and sculptures and sidewalks. Except in Vancouver, where one charity is building "pop-up" shelters that invite the weary in.

Gerald Weeks has a master's degree and a firm handshake, and he was looking for something to eat.

The person who has been arrested more than anyone else in Los Angeles in the past six years is not a drug dealer or a gang member. It is Annie Moody, a 59 year-old homeless grandmother who lives on skid row.

Homelessness is slowly declining nationwide, but it's rising in urban areas with a high cost of living. How are some of these areas responding to the needs of their homeless citizens? By making it illegal for them to live in their cars.

In the past month, two major American cities—Salt Lake City and Phoenix—have both announced that they have ended "chronic homelessness" among military veterans in their town. How?

Seven homeless people have now frozen to death in the Bay Area since a harsh winter cold snap first gripped the region in late November. This news comes one week after a startup CEO wrote of San Francisco's homeless, "There is nothing positive gained from having them so close to us."

New figures show that homelessness is down 4% nationwide this year, but up by 13% in New York City, where affordable housing is but a dream.

Homeless veteran Jim Wolf, star of the timelapse makeover viral hit, was arrested on Sunday at a Burger King in Grand Rapids, Mich. Wolf pled guilty to charges of trespassing and creating a disturbance. He will serve 20 days in jail.

A veteran Hawaii lawmaker believes he's come up with the perfect solution to deal with his state's rampant homelessness problem: Hassle homeless people and destroy their stuff with a sledgehammer.

Curtis Peterson, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, lost his civilian job in Georgia in the recession. So he got on a bus to New York. Once here, he promptly had a stroke. Today, he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

U.S. Army Veteran Jim Wolf has struggled with alcoholism, poverty, and homelessness for decades. But in September 2013, with the help of Degage Ministries in Grand Rapids, Mich., he agreed to go through a physical transformation.

The lame duck mayor of New York City has really been speaking his mind lately: From his affinity for women in high heels, to the idea that the NYPD doesn't harass enough minorities. On his own radio show yesterday, he even decided to open up about New York City's lack of affordable housing and record homelessness. Apparently, it's all a "good sign."

Glen James, the homeless man who found a backpack containing over $40,000 in cash and traveler’s checks in front of a Boston Best Buy last month, has now received over $150,000 in donations. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, he’ll be moving into transitional housing in Cambridge this week.